Best route from Tucson, AZ to Raleigh, NC to avoid hills. (Charlotte: 2014, chapel)

[Tucsonnative4]

My girlfriend and I are considering moving to NC after grad school in 2014. We wanted to do a great road trip this summer to check out Raleigh/Durham, Chapel Hill, Charlotte, etc. Mainly we are interested in the Piedmont region, but we need to get there from Tucson, AZ.

Unfortunately, we know nothing of the terrain, as we've spent our traveling days west of the Mississippi.

We are trying to decide what kind of motorhome to get to take us there, but have run into a bit of a conundrum. We would like to get a fuel efficient Toyota class C, but the 4 (and even 6) cylinder models are not very good at hills. We have more time than money (grad students), so taking a little extra time to get there isn't a problem, but I am concerned about inconveniencing other motorists, and our safety when getting passed in mountain passes by angry folks stuck behind our underpowered house-on-a-Toyota-chassis.

Our other option is to double our fuel expense and get a more powerful, older V8 class C, but even those can be like driving a giant brick through the mountains.

We would love to go with a fuel efficient and powerful class B van, like a Roadtrek, but those are a little out of our price range.

I thought that maybe hugging the coast on I-10 to Jacksonville might be a good plan, but I don't really know and haven't been able to find out much online about the topography. Then, there's the journey north after that...

Long set up for this question, but is there a route from Tucson to Raleigh that would minimize hills and allow us to go with an underpowered Toyota?

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[Native_Son]

We traveled from Albuquerque to Raleigh on I-40... I don't remember any significant mountains until the smokies. If you have more time than money, just schedule your trip so you're making the trek up the mountain on a Sunday morning! Problem solved. I can't speak about the trip from Tucson to NM though...

I can tell you from experience that Albuquerque to Raleigh is about 24 hours of driving.

[MrRational]

Originally Posted by Tucsonnative4

Long set up for this question, but is there a route from Tucson to Raleigh
that would minimize hills and allow us to go with an underpowered Toyota?

Even if you went by way of Estes Prk in CO... you should be OK.
The only issue is speed/pace (you might have to go a wee bit slower).

OTOH... if you don't already own that underpowered Toyota... don't buy it now.
Make the trip in a passenger car instead and then you might actually enjoy the experience.
(especially if you go the longer way -north first then east and then south to NC)

[macjr82]

Easy, Take I-20 across the southern US until you hit Atlanta, Then take I-85 through Charlotte to Greensboro, ake I-40 from Greensboro to Raleigh. There are no maor hills on this route. If you take I-40 you'll hit mountains around the Tennessee/NC border.

I took the I-40 route on my way to San Diego and the I-20 route leaving San Diego. This was driving a four cylinder Dodge Neon. Honestly the appalachians weren't so bad as far as horse powere but roads were narroa and curvy. Crossing the m
mountains in Cali before you hit San Diego she struggled, though.

No issues coming back on the I-20 route at all. Matter of fact, that is the default route shown for Tucson to Raleigh by Google maps. 14 miles shorter than the I-40 route, but takes the same amount of time.

https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=T...mra=ls&t=m&z=7

[Tucsonnative4]

Thanks to all!