Road Trip Memphis to Boston -- 1 month -- need some advice
 

Hi All,

I’m recently unemployed and will have to go back to work when I return (boo) – in the meantime, I’m planning on a sort of once-in-a-lifetime solo road trip from Memphis to Boston June 2-July7 (woohoo!). I’m a single female in my mid-forties and enjoy music, history, literature, nature – and eating. I’ve never been to any of the places on my itin before and could really use some advice about how reasonable it looks.

And I’m not too sure about where to stop between Gettysburg and Burlington. I’m also not too set on any of the stops – just places I’ve always wanted to go. So all suggestions are more than welcome. The only thing I really have to do is be in Plains on June 12th, and in Boston on the 3rd to meet my son.

June 2-3 CA to Memphis, TN
June 4-5 Clarksdale, MS
June 6 Natchez, MS
June 7-8 Lafayette, LA
June 9-10 New Orleans, LA
June 11 Montgomery, AL
June 12 Plains, GA
June 13-14 Savannah, GA
June 15-16 Charleston, SC
June 17-18 Asheville, NC
June 19-20 Charlottesville, VA
June 21-24 DC
June 25 Gettysburg, PA
June 26 Somewhere between Gettysburg and Burlington
June 27-28 Burlington, VT
June 29-30 Bar Harbor, ME
July 1-2 Camden, ME
July 3-7 Boston, MA

Wow. That sounds like FUN.But it's also a lot of driving. Just FYI, Cracker Barrel rents books on tape so you might want to catch up on bestsellers while driving.

I'm in Charleston. Since you've never been, I recommend you stay in the Historic District. You will be tempted to stay elsewhere-it's cheaper- but I think you'll want to spend your time seeing the city, not driving and parking. Tons of great food. Have fun.

Good for you! Having been through a lay-off (in my fifties) I can attest to the value of taking lemons and making lemonade. In other words, enjoy the trip! However, you're cutting it close, leaving June 2! Otherwise, I'd have suggested contacting the states on line for their info "packages"! One thing you can do, though, is stop at the Welcome Centers of various states as you get there and get their maps and other info. Most are very friendly and helpful.

Have you chosen a route yet -- by that I mean, which highways you plan to use?

We drove from Vermont to Atlanta, GA and back in a week a year ago, and enjoyed Rte 81 through western Virginia, until we veered over to Asheville and then to Spartanburg, SC, before heading west to Atlanta on the interstates. We spent a day in Asheville, too. (We had planned to take some secondary roads through Tennessee, directly down toward Atlanta, but the Tennessee Welcome Center folks suggested that we detour to the interstates instead, because of the switchbacks and maybe scary roads through the Smokey Mountains!)

I can tell you some lovely B&B's we found on our route, if you are interested, but maybe you prefer motels.

Otherwise, I can't offer a lot for all your stops, but here are a few ideas:

Asheville, NC -- Check out The Biltmore Estate. You can read about it on line. A spectacular place, but it deserves the better part of a day to tour.

DC -- Ye gods. There is so much to see and do here! The various Smithsonian buildings are amazing, and you CAN drive around DC, especially on weekends. (Week days, maybe not so nice.)

Hershey, PA has some interesting sights. Again, I can suggest a nice B&B nearby there, too, if you like.

I don't know why you'd want Burlington, VT, particularly, en route to Bar Harbor, Maine. Sort of out of the way for Maine, unless you have a special interest up this way! However, Vermont offers such things as the Vermont Teddy Bear factory (tours), Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream (tours), Shelburne Museum, and other places -- depending on your interests!

Camden and Bar Harbor, Maine are wonderful, again depending on your interests.

If you like, share more info and maybe some of us here can offer more information.

Great trip!

It's a lot of driving but not an impossible amount. I have always wanted to take a trip where I drove about 300 miles a day and did some sightseeing with the remainder of the time.

I have in fact driven almost all of this trip in bits and pieces, and my only advice would be to promise yourself an hour or so per day on one of the older highways that parallel the interstates (though you are going some places where the interstate doesn't go, and congratulations for doing it!)

The single toughest day is likely to be from Burlington to Bar Harbor. Very little of the trip is interstate and plenty of it is 2 lane highway. But it is gorgeous, and if you could take a 30 minute detour from US 2 toward Pinkham Notch, you will see the White Mountains in all their beauty.

Google routes you north from Gettysburg to Burlington via Binghampton, Albany, and the Adirondacks. It is a good route with lots of nice mountain and agricultural scenery, but you are right that there is no really great place to spend the night.

I have stayed in Oneonta in a middling B&B but I am pretty sure there are a few chain motels there. No great food there, but I am betting that the focus of this trip is not gourmet meals.

The other choice is to push on to Saratoga Springs -- charming, historic, interesting but a longish haul from Gettysburg if you want to do any sightseeing when you arrive. And it makes for a nice scenic drive to Burlington next day.