traveling_aggie87

My husband and I are wanting to take about 10 days to travel from Maine to Texas, stopping to see and do some of the "must do" sites along the way. We are active people who are looking to mix up the trip with a combination museums and hands-on activities. We will be flying into Maine and renting a car during the last couple weeks of July. Suggestions wanted for the "must do" sites along our path that will take us from Maine to Boston, than NYC to Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas, and finally back to Texas.

tomfuller

Flying to Maine from Texas to rent a car and pay a big drop off fee makes no sense. Fly to Boston, rent a car to see Maine and several other NE states. Return car to Boston and take the train into NYC. Take train from NYC to either Philadelphia or Baltimore and rent another car to see things in those areas.
Take the train into Washington DC. When done in DC fly home to Texas from Reagan National which you can get to on the Metro.
Covering everything from Maine to Washington DC will take up your 10 days without driving through Arkansas and Tennessee

nytraveler

Agree that to cover all that territory in just 10 days won't let you see much - mostly driving. (MY parents did some long road trips when they retired and to get from NYC to Yosemite or GRand Canyon and back took 6 to 7 weeks - since they stopped a day here and there to see things - instead of being on the road every day.

Also - cars are worse than useless in Boston, NYC and DC - you are paying to rent the car and then paying $40 a ay to garage it and then paying for public transit on top. Cars work to see countryside - but not eastern cities.

boom_boom

For Boston, NYV and DC, find a public transit parking lot on the edge of the city and use train/subway etc. All three are very walkable if you have the time and energy.

After DC I'd drive to Williamsburg. VA for a day, then turn west to Charlottesville. Maybe drive a short strech of the Blue Ridge Parkway, before connecting to I-81 toward Knoxville. From there, if time allows, check out Ashville, NC and/or Smokey Mt. Nat. Park. You've got historic homes and sites, battlefields galore on the route.

Then I-40 through Nashville, Memphis and Little Rock before taking I-30 into Texas.

If you like to drive, go for it!

nytraveler

Subway stations don;t have parking lots. Most local train station lots are 1) limited to town residents with stickers, 2) full by 8 am and 3) not a good place to leave a car overnight.

If you insist on having a car in these areas you will need to find large stations with safe garages and then allow time and money to get into the city and back - as well as the cost of the parking.

traveling_aggie87

Thanks for all your helpful replies. We have decided to break the trip up into two: a northern and southern tour and will be doing the southern portion by car. We will definitely be headed to the northeast soon.