Road trip "Deep South" Can you check our itinerary were from the UK!!
 

Ok so we fly into NYC see the yankees and then catch our flight to New Orleans, we land in NO on the Saturday 4th Sept 2010... its decadent week so we will leave the boys to it. This is our itinerary we would be so grateful if you could check it and give advice to travelling times, best routes, routes to avoid, great places to eat, places to stay and avoid!! Were both in our late twenties, love a laugh and both foodies!

Sept 4 2010
Leave New Orleans at 11 in hired car and drive up the Mississippi River to Clarksdale. Stay the night and experience blues at Morgan Freemans club and cajun food.

Sept 5 2010
Leave Clarksdale and drive to Memphis. Visit Graceland, Sun Studios and Civil Rights Museum, plus eat all the lovely food in Memphis including Gus's Chicken!! Which is the best area to stay? We were thinking of The Days Inn at Graceland as its 2 minute walk there.

Sept 7 2010
Leave Memphis and do the long journey to The Great Smokies (stopping for lunch in Nashville), we are planning on staying 3 nights in Gatlinburg. We want a day exploring the smokies on foot/cycle, but dont know which area to do?? Where to stay?? Thinking of staying at The Chalet Company. We want great views and a hot tub outside!
We are also thinking of Dollywood for the day?

Sept 10 2010
Leave Gatlinburg and drive to Charlotte, North Carolina. We are there to see Kings of Leon at the amphitheatre here, its just by the university. We are just staying for 1 night to see the Kings, so we need somewhere close by and cheap and a recommendation for some authentic North Carolina food and beer.

Sept 11 2010
Leave Charlotte and drive to either Birmingham or Montgomery? We just have 1 night and half a day and want to experience lots of history to do with the civil rights and Martin Luther King etc which place would be better?

Sept 12 2010
Leave Montgomery or Birmingham and drive to Orange Beach for 2 days, get a little bit of sunshine on the beach!! chill out. Will it be hot and sunny at this time of year?

Sept 14th 2010
After the beach that day were going to drive to New Orleans and spend our last 3 nights there partying.

Sept 17th 2010
Get the Crescent amtrak train back to NYC.

Sept 18th 2010
2pm arrive back in NYC for our last 2 nights.

Sept 20th 2010
Fly back to London :O(

You are pretty ambitious. You are very ambitious. I couldn't keep up this schedule, but perhaps you can. I am only going to offer some comments on specific items.

In general, I would urge you to check driving times between your destinations on Mapquest. I find them more reliable than Google Maps. Some of these road segments are very long and boring, esp Memphis to Nashville. Others (Charlotte to Birmingham or especially Montgomery) are long and filled with traffic, especially in the Atlanta area and between Charlotte and Atlanta on I-85.

My sister has taken the Crescent Limited from NY to NO and back. I have only done it as far as South Carolina. We agree that it is a very long ride. Bring snacks and expect the train to arrive late.

It is going to be tropically hot in NO and on the coast at that time. Expect temperatures higher than 90F, high humidity, and a late afternoon thunderstorm every day. Memphis will not be much different, but the mountains should be warm but pleasant.

Among the good things is that school terms begin in late August in the South and at Labor Day just about everywhere else, so you will not be competing with American families at every site.

You are not going to eat Cajun food in Clarksdale, MS, but you can get excellent soul food. Eat Cajun food when you get back to NO. You might want to drive from Clarksdale to Memphis on Highway 61. Slower than the interstate highway but it is the great blues route.

I would not worry about prebooking hotels in Memphis or Charlotte unless you discover that some sort of conference is going on. There are dozens of chain motels at all price levels, and you can choose once you have a chance to suss out the neighborhood. Both cities have some risky areas, and it is difficult to tell from abroad where they are. You will want to eat barbecue in both places. In Memphis it will be ribs or pork with a sweetish sauce. In Charlotte, you should only accept NC-style pulled pork with a vinegar based sauce. Both are delicious, just very different. If you stop for lunch in Nashville, you will have to get off the interstate to find anything other than a burger. The local specialty (though you can eat it all over the South) is called "meat and three", a serving of meat and three side dishes such as greens, beans, or macaroni and cheese. Sometimes these are best at a cafeteria, sometimes in a small restaurant. Inquire at a gas station or ask a cop.

You have a choice in Gatlinburg of visiting the National Park to drive the back roads, see some bears, and do some hiking. Inquire locally. Or you can spend your time in one of the tackiest tourist centers (think a kind of Blackpool with country music) in the US. Both are interesting but they are very different.

If you are interested in the civil rights movement, then you should go to Atlanta or Selma or Montgomery.

It is hard to have a bad time in NO if you like to eat and drink. It is an interesting place because it is the northernmost outpost of Caribbean culture, which is devoted more to pleasure than efficiency. You can get a drink at 6AM on Sunday, and you can walk around the French Quarter all day carrying drinks openly, something that is pretty well universally illegal in the US. You can also burn out quickly if you don't pace yourself, you can get in a fistfight without hardly trying, and you may find that the police are singularly less likely to put up with nonsense than most of the police you may run into in the US. You might break up the partying with a trip to Cajun country in southwest Louisiana, where you can get all the Cajun food you ever wanted for not a lot of money.

Have fun, and maybe you will get a lot of better advice than this, but I have lived in Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee and have traveled to all the places you are going.

I would not stay in a Days Inn near Graceland. Graceland is in an unattractive neighborhood and most of the hotels are not very nice. Germantown is the better suburban hotel area, or stay downtown near Sun Studios and Beal Street.

I agree with Ackislander. Go to Atlanta, home of Martin Luther King for civil rights history. Much shorter drive and a fine destination. Consider visiting the aquarium while there as well.

Have a good time, very ambitious and lots of windshield time.

Charlotte to Birmingham is a very doable trip--have personally done it. I would however suggest Montgomery and with your interest in civil rights see the most moving and best designed memorial I have ever experienced. It is at the Southern Poverty Law Center, designed by Maya Lin. It is NOT to BE MISSED. Atlanta is a huge sprawling city--you might beable to see part of it on the way to Montgomery, but the latter is a true old South capital--with this outstanding memorial. Look it up online. It truly feels like a holy place.
I think your trip from Memphis the Smokies is VERY long. It is about 5 hours (at least between Knoxville and Nashville), and another 1.5 to Gatlinburg from Knox. And the traffic through Knoxville is prodigious. Still, anything is possible.
BBQ sauce in Charlotte will be a vinegary TOMATO sauce,not the eastern vinegar/pepper sauce--western NC BBQ. Near the theater--let's see. I'll have to see what I can recommend later. There are plenty of hotels out that way. You might want to bid on Priceline for a "University area" hotel. I don't know how big a draw that concert is.

I don't have a lot of time so I'll only answer one of your questions ...

"Sept 12 2010
Leave Montgomery or Birmingham and drive to Orange Beach for 2 days, get a little bit of sunshine on the beach!! chill out. Will it be hot and sunny at this time of year?"

Yes, it will still be hot and sunny on the AL Gulf Coast in early to mid September (temps in mid 80's F are likely). Water will still be warm as water tends to keep the heat in from the Summer longer in the fall (and warms up slower in the Spring/early Summer).

You have picked a very nice beach, very low key compared to Florida beaches, sugar white sand and crystal clear water. Good choice!

You don't spend anytime in Cajun Country, and I think that visiting New Orleans without visiting that area is like visiting Southern France without visiting Provence.

I'll respond a little later with further comments...

They could do the Cajun country on the way to Mississippi? At least a stop for a REAL Cajun meal.

By all means, go to the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis. It's very well regarded.

I would not advise you to stay at the Days Inn by Graceland, as it's near Graceland but NOTHING else. If you stay downtown, you'll be within walking distance of lots of restaurants, Beale Street, and other tourist activities. We've stayed in many of the downtown hotels, but our current favorite is the Marriott Residence Inn. They have fully-equipped kitchens in each room, and a great free breakfast.

Quite a lot of driving. Driving from New Orleans to Memphis to Charlotte is not like driving from Liverpool to Barnsley to York. If you need to see Graceland, go ahead and drive New Orleans to Memphis and back. But Memphis is not much of a town in itself. Sort of like going to Glasgow, Sheffield or Sunderland. Skip Charlotte or Birmingham, which is a city in much worse shape than your own Birmingham. If I were you, I'd spend most of your time in Lousiana and maybe visit Natchez, Mississippi on the Big River.

I'm somewhat in agreement with GeorgeW about Memphis/Charlotte. I personally wasn't too impressed with Graceland, I found it tacky and overcrowded. They need to bull doze the visitor's center and redesign it as it clearly cannot accomodate all the people. Also, they need to freshen up Graceland itself - it was in bad need of a paint job when I went there. I would personally say skip Memphis, unless they are Elvis fanatics, and even then they may be disappointed.

They want to see a concert in Charlotte however, so they have an incentive. I also believe the Great Smoky Mountains are worth seeing, so overall I like their itinerary, although I find it a bit aggressive. I would probably cut a day from the Great Smoky Mountains and add that to the New Orleans area, maybe a day for Cajun Country.

I believe Montgomery has more Civil Rights stuff than Birmingham. I agree that Birmingham in the UK is probably about the same as here, both very un-interesting. If you want Civil Rights history you'd be better off going to Atlanta and seeing the Martin Luther King memorial/museum/etc... but that will not fit in your itinerary.

When in Clarksdale, plan a short visit to the Delta Blues Museum.

Your trip is ambitious but doable. It's the equivalent (well, not exactly mileage- wise, but you get the idea) of flying into London, and then flying to Paris, and driving to Brussels, Amsterdam, Berlin, Vienna, and back to London in 2 weeks.

It is a beautiful part of the US. I recommend staying off the Interstates and driving the local roads instead. If you stay on the Interstates, it is like going to England and only driving M5, M6, etc.

Reco most strongly that you do NOT Take the train from NO to NYC. Amtrak is noting like trains in Europe- except for the NE corridor (DC to Boston) the trains are usually late - often very late - they have food you don;t want, toilets can be disasters and they will cost more than flying.

Plus what you will see on the way is mostly the back end of a lot of towns no one ever heard of (often derelict buildings). I would save time and money by flying and spend the day doing something you really want.

From New Orleans, Cajun country and Mississippi are in opposite directions.

And the crescent train will suck, period. Amtrak is a complete nightmare with bad service, old cars, high prices, constant delays, slow trains, and few amenities. And why, some romantic riding the rails notion? That's just daft.

Seriously, what are you thinking? No traveler has real use for Amtrak. Its utility is only for commuters in the DC-Boston corridor. You're willingly subjecting yourself to 31 hours of terrible service on a slow train that will likely arrive late at its destination. That's NUTS. In Japan, you could go the same distance by train (Tokyo-Fukuoka and back) in 8.5 hours.

It's less than 3 hours from MSY to LGA/EWR/JFK.

Fly to NYC.

Do you have Leons tickets? Are they playing anywhere else in the area? If so, you're better off taking a long drive to Charleston or Savannah for some scenic old South than hanging out in Charlotte. Charlotte is a typical young Southern city -- spread out, commercial and like Jacksonville, it's pretty charmless.

I'd skip Montgomery.

I'd also take the interstates -- I don't understand what padams is talking about. Given the amount you are going to drive, you'll need to go on the interstates to get anywhere.

I absolutely agree that Charleston and Savannah would be much better choices than any of the cities/towns on your itinerary except New Orleans.

Both are true representatives of the "old South."

If you're going to do this much driving, hire the best quality car you can afford. You will be in it many, many hours.

If you are really interested in the Civil Rights Movement, Montgomery is an excellent choice - much better than Charleston or Savannah. If you are interested in the "romantic[ised] Old South" then the latter are better choices.

The South is a large and varied region, and there is as much diversity between Mississippi and South Carolina, for example, as there is similarity. It would take weeks to do justice to all of the history and cultures (and cuisines) of the American South. You just have to pick what interests you most and go with that.

Here's the mileage (using Google) - 1,828 miles = 1 day 8 hours (not so bad in 2 weeks)

New Orleans to Clarksdale - 337 miles 6 hours 2 min
Clarksdale to Memphis - 76 miles - 1 hours 33 min
Memphis to Gatlinburg - 425 miles - 7 hours 3 min
Gatlinburg to Charlotte - 201 miles - 3 hours 53 min
Charlotte to Montgomery - 403 miles - 6 hours 41 min
Birmingham to Orange Beach - 195 miles - 3 hours 23 min
Orange Beach to New Orleans - 3 hours 23 min

I agree with some earlier posters about the Graceland hotel.
I agree with previous posters about the Southern Crescent.

If you want to cut down on some driving, consider not returning to New Orleans, taking time to enjoy Charleston/Savannah, visit the beach in SC, GA or eastern FL and then fly back out from Atlanta. You could visit the MKL site in Atlanta. You could even pick up the Southern Crescent in Atlanta if your heart is set on it. I agree that train travel in the US is NOT the same as Europe.

The National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis is excellent, as are the Rosa Parks Library and Museum and Dexter Avenue-King Memorial Baptist Church in Montgomery and the Martin Luther King, Jr. complex in Atlanta. I'd highly recommend them all to anyone for whom civil rights based sightseeing is a must.

Savannah also has a couple such sights worth a visit if you're in that city, the Ralph Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum and the First African Baptist Church. Not as extensive or prestigious as the others mentioned above perhaps, but good nonetheless.

Will echo those who say to avoid staying near Graceland -- the area's not good and there isn't much worthwhile there for a tourist except this attraction. Unless you're a die-hard Elvis fan and will gain serious satisfaction from staying nearby (and some folks do), I'd get a hotel downtown near the Beale Street strip.

Myself, I enjoyed Graceland and think it's well worth a visit, though I've seen varying reactions to the place in this forum.

And yes, Memphis is a barbecue mecca -- my favorites there (and I tried several such spots in a recent visit there) were Neely's (the one on Jefferson) and BBQ Shop (on Madison). And yes, if you like fried chicken, don't miss Gus's.

Re: the Smokies - if you want to bike, you could ride around the Cades Cove loop road. It's a popular bike trip and you can rent bikes there. Dollywood is fun if you're prepared for kitsch. It's really not a bad amusement park, but... it is an amusement park.

Your Memphis-Gatlinburg drive is a long day. The Memphis-Nashville section isn't awfully long (~3 hours) but it is boring. It gets better past Nashville. Do try to avoid Knoxville (or any of these cities, really) at rush hour (4-6 pm or so).

DO NOT TAKE THE TRAIN. Not only is it awful but you will see the same scenery you just came from.

Regarding Memphis, stay downtown. I would suggest the Madison. Memphis is a great city to visit, but can get a little dingy. Try heading to midtown for dining. Try the Cooper-Young district. Graceland is really in the dumps. If you are going to party in NO then you have to see Beale St.

Instead of going to Orange Beach I would suggest the panhandle of Florida. In between Destin and Panama City is South Walton County. It is on of the most unique coastlines is the world with its dunes and coastal lakes. It also has very cool arcitecture and little planned villages. There are few restaurants really worth it as well. It would make your leg to NO a little longer but worth it.

Promise that you wont stay in Gatlinburg. Try Townsend or in Maryville. I would suggest renting a cabin in Townsend or stay at Butterfly Gap Retreat in Maryville. You will have the same access to the park without all the people.

Traveling by car in America always pretty fast i dont know what 70mph is in kph but it is fast. Just buy a cheap GPS it will make your life easier.

It will be very Hot and Humid everywhere during your trip it will really be bad from NO on north to Memphis. It usually is a little less hot in the Knoxville Gatlinburg area, but can be miserable. Memphis is really bad.

You referred to Morgan Freeman's blues club in Clarksdale. I don't know if you are interested but Morgan Freeman is partners in a new Ground Zero Blues Club, in Memphis. It's near Beale Street, on Lt George W. Lee Avenue.

Well Hello to all my new Fodor friends and i am loving this trail of messages, its so much fun to read everyones comments and i am learning so so much from you all. Thankyou for taking the time to reply and educate us, its really sweet.

These are the things we have learnt and changed... so far, then ill show you our new itinerary!!!

1. Were not going to see The Kings of Leon now, luckily we hadnt already bought the tickets. Its too far.

2. We will definately spend a night in the cajun country on our way up to Clarksdale, for our culinary cajun experience!! The question is WHERE? Baton Rouge or Lafayette? Thanks to everyone who mentioned it, my mouth is watering :O)

3. We will definately avoid staying in Graceland and get a place to stay downtown Beale Street, but were still going to go see Graceland, as although not massive Elvis fans i think it would be rude not to! ha We will check out your recommendation SusanCS.

4. We cant wait to check out the delta blues museum in Clarksdale, thankyou laurieb_nyny.

5. We will definately take your advice and stay away from the train, its crazy, i thought it would be a cool way to travel back to NYC. The trains sound different to Europe. We will fly back, thanks. Gives us extra time anyway :O)

6. Jent 103 that sounds great, we like the idea of cades cove loop, it will be fun to cycle and work off all that cajun and soul food! ha

7. Thanks for the driving times/distances starrs.

8. We have decided to visit Montgomery, thanks Gretchen, we wont miss that memorial, amongst a few other things.

9. Ackislander, thanks for your long message, we will definately take route 61, sounds great, real bit of history there.

Anyone i have missed out, thankyou, lets keep this message trail going i love it!

Our new itinerary is...

Sept 4
Leave New Orleans and drive to either Baton Rouge or Lafayette for fabulous cajun food, stay the night.

Sept 5
Leave the cajun country and drive up the Mississippi River via route 61 to Clarksdale. Visit the delta blues museum and ground zero club for blues and soul food. Stay the night.

Sept 6
Leave Clarksdale and drive to Memphis for 2 days. Stay downtown nr Beale Street Strip. Visit Sun S
studios and Civil Rights Museum, plus eat all the lovely food in Memphis including Gus's Chicken and BBQ. Day 2 Graceland :O)

Sept 8
Leave Memphis EARLY and do the long journey to The Great Smokies (stopping for brunch in Nashville) we are planning on staying 3 nights in Gatlinburg. Hire a chalet. Cycle The Cades Cove Loop, a day out in Dollywood!

Sept 11
Leave The Great Smokies and travel to Montgomery. See the memorial and all the civil rights history. Stay the night.

Sept 12
Leave Montgomery and travel to Orange Beach on the Gulf Coast for 2 days of sunshine on the beach :O)

Sept 14
After a full day on the beach head back to New Orleans for 3 nights of partying.

Sept 17
Fly to NYC for 3 days and nights of shopping/bagels/sightseeing.

Sept 20
Fly back to London.

George: Back off Glasgow. I've never been to Memphis, but I would go back to Glasgow as a destination in itself in a heart beat!

Much better!

I do second the advice to get off the interstates, even briefly, when there is a parallel route and you have a bit of time. The analogy to "seeing Britain from the Motorway" is apt. It is indeed a different world off the interstates, and you can almost always pop into a small town for a "characteristic" lunch in a local cafe rather than eating fast food at the interchange.

Since you really don't need to prebook a lot of rooms at this time of year, allow yourself to stay longer in Lafayette or Clarksdale or wherever suits your fancy rather than thinking "gotta go, gotta go".

If you want a fellow Englishman's views of America, go on You Tube and listen to Jeff Beck's song "Psycho Daisies."

Here is a recommendation, as well as some things to keep in mind.

The Recommendation:

Baton Rouge is on the way to Clarksdale, but it is not really Cajun Country. Lafayette is in Cajun Country, but it is not on the way to Clarksdale. Also, driving US 61 will take at least 6 hours from Baton Rouge and 7 hours from Lafayette, not including stops.

Plus. given your interest in the Civil Rights Era, I would advise you to try to see at least one pre-Civil War plantation house on your way to Clarksdale. It will be quite a study in contrasts! There are several plantations between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, and Natchez, Mississippi (on US 61) also has a large number of mansions in town. Natchez is around 3 hours from the airport in New Orleans.

One way to do this would be to plan to spend the night in Natchez, and then decide which house(s) you want to see (there or along the way). This site lists houses in Natchez: http://www.natchezpilgrimage.com/dailytour.htm (note that the grounds and slave cabin exhibits at Melrose are free). Here is the tourism website: http://www.natchezms.com/

There are many plantations along Louisiana State Highway 1. St. Francisville, Louisiana, north of Baton Rouge on US 61, is another possibility. This site is a place to start for both of them: http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/louisiana/riverroad.htm and more info on St. Francisville is available here: http://stfrancisville.us/ or http://www.stfrancisville.net/town_new/index.html (go to the Tourism tab).

Then I would add a night in Lafayette at the end of your trip to see Cajun Country, before you finish in New Orleans.


Some things to keep in mind:

US 61 might be called "The Great River Road", but for the vast majority of its route it is miles from the Mississippi River (and even when it is close the river is probably hidden behind a levee).

The Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale is closed on Sundays, so you will not be able to visit it on September 5 (perhaps another reason to visit one or more plantation houses instead). You might be able to visit it on Monday. Remember that September 6 is Labor Day in the US - so banks and government offices (and most non-service businesses) will be closed. Most attractions should be open (but check to be sure), and stores and restaurants definitely will be.

Memphis and Gatlinburg are in different time zones (so you will lose an hour when driving between them). Nashville is in the same time zone as Memphis, if you had planned to stop there to see anything.

You will gain the hour back traveling from Gatlinburg to Montgomery. BUT--You should plan on the drive taking at least 7 hours (that is including a brief stop), so unless you get a very early start you will not have time to see much in Montgomery.

As September 11 is Saturday, many things in Montgomery will close early (and not open again until Monday, so you won't be able to visit them on SEptember 12). The Dexter Avenue Baptist Church will be open for touring only until 2:00 PM. The Rosa Parks Museum will close at 3:00 PM. The Alabama State Capitol will be open only for guided tours, which must be pre-arranged, and the last one is at 3:00 PM (during the week it is open for self-guided tours as well). The First White House of the Confederacy (which would be an interesting contrast to the Civil Rights memorials) is closed on Saturdays.

Lafayette is in Cajun Country, Baton Rouge is not.

Let me say that you don't want to stay in Baton Rouge. Although the Capitol complex is quite nice, and the LSU campus is great, but there's not much of an antebellum feel to Baton Rouge, and frankly they are not in Cajun Country.

If you really want to experience Cajun Country, then Lafayette would be ideal, but that is not really on your route. So, what I'd suggest is maybe to stay at Nottoway Plantation or some other plantation along River Road with guest houses. There are also some Cajun cafes along River Road that will give you a feel for Cajun fare. However, they will not compare to what is found in Acadiana. But seeing the plantations is something that everyone should experience.

If you are intent on experiencing Cajun Country, you may want to cut a day from somewhere else (maybe NYC or Gatlinburg) and plan to stay in St. Martinville, Breaux Bridge, or somewhere authentically Cajun. Then you could eat at Cafe Des Amis where the food is delicious.

If you want to wander a bit out of New Orleans, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND a drive to Avery Island. The tour of the Tabasco "factory" won't take long, but the trip to Avery Island takes you to a world away. It's one of my favorite travel memories. Eat and wander your way back to NOLA -

http://www.tabasco.com/tabasco_histo...sland.cfm#targ

Something else to keep in mind:

Knoxville, through which you will travel to and from Gatlinburg, is home to the University of Tennessee. UT has a huge and usually successful football (American football, not soccer) program. Their stadium seats over 100,000 people.

You need to know this because your route runs right past the campus and there is a BIG football game there on September 11. Right now it is scheduled for 1:00 PM, but the time could change (earlier or later) if the game is chosen for televising nationally or regionally (and I am guessing there is a strong chance it will be).

So you need to be prepared for there to be some traffic in that area, unless you leave well before the game starts. People begin arriving for the game hours in advance.

Cranachin makes a good point, but since your current plan for Sept. 11 is to leave the Smokies and head toward Montgomery, I think you'll be all right *as long as* you plan a route that takes you to I-75 south of Knoxville. For example, go through Maryville and get on the interstate at Sweetwater. Any game day traffic you run into should be going the opposite direction as long as you leave at a decent time - the game won't start any earlier than noon. (On the other hand, if you want a taste of a truly Southern cultural experience, change your plans and head to Knoxville for game day. You can even try to scalp tickets if you want.)

Now, what you might have to watch out for is Alabama game day traffic. They're playing Penn State that day in Tuscaloosa, so you may run into traffic on I-59 depending on the timing of the game and your trip. Just as a heads up. I know the traffic patterns of UT fans better than I do the Crimson Tide.

Seeing has how you are going by Knoxville on a gameday. You should consider going. I would go to football matches in England. If you really want to experience a little piece of the south. Go. Tickets wont be that expensive be cause Tennessee isnt that good this year. There is plenty to see and trouble to be made.

Sounds like a cool trip! I can't help with any details but I would appreciate a trip report as I'm hoping to get to TN and New Orleans one day. :)

No one has mentioned this yet but it's something you need to be aware of. You are coming to the South in prime hurricane season. You should make sure you listen to local weather forecasts when you are even remotely close to the coastline.

As far as biking in Cade's Cove, it's a great thing to do. They close the road to cars on Wednesday and Sunday mornings (til 10) a week for bikers, although I think you can bike there anytime. It can be a bit strenuous if you're not terribly fit (like us; it wore us out, although we enjoyed it). http://www.cadescove.net/bicycling_cades_cove.html

You can also do horseback rides there.

I agree with those who said to avoid Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg, and stay in Townsend or somewhere similar.

I think yor second itinerary is much more do-able.

I heartily recommend both Graceland and Gus' Chicken while you are in Memphis. Staying near Beale is a good bet. You will be within walking distance to lots of restaurants, bars, etc. The Civil Rights Museum - while I recommend this attraction, go early in the day. It can become very crowded and, because the exhibits are text-heavy, it can be difficult to get through the attraction when there are lots of visitors present.

In the Mississippi Delta - You will enjoy the landscape here. It's almost surreal. If you have time, you can stop and take a class at Viking Cooking School in Greenwood on your way up. (Greenwood is about an hour from Clarksdale.)

Have FUN!!