Quote:
Originally Posted by engineman
I suspect I-40 is flatter.
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Until you get to Nashville, TN. At that point you start rising to the Cumberland Plateau. Then the mountains of eastern TN and western NC. There's an approximate 20 mile stretch approaching the NC border where lane restrictions exist for trucks.
They have to stay in the right lane,
you pass at your own risk. It's fairly level but
verrry twisty.
After Asheville, I think somewhere past MM66? you start dropping. It's a 6% switchback drive for about 6 miles. Amazingly, once you hit the bottom, it's totally flat.
Also, I-40 is said to be a crap road across Arkansas, plus work is being done on the bridge at Memphis which may mean a detour (check for updates). And I definitely would never do I-40 around Nashville. I-40 between Nashville and Knoxville is Car Crash City. I live along that corridor now and listen to the radio for the daily pileups that create miles long backlogs.
Someone mentioned taking I-80 as far east as possible, then drop down? That's my recommendation as well.
I've done the roads myself; some of them many times; as a former NC person who has family in the Midwest and also made a RV drive to the Badlands a couple years ago.
This is going to sound circuitous, but is based on my travel pattern of staying away from as many big cities as possible with their snarl of interchanges and possible road construction. Hopefully you aren't looking at a dinky phone screen:
I-80 to I-39
At Bloomington, grab the I-74/I-55 merge then split off and head SE on I-74 to Champaign
Grab I-57 and head to the I-64 connector at Mt Vernon, IL. Yes it does do a bit of a western bend to I-64
I-64 east, driving a mind-numbing and boring length to Louisville, KY. Pay attention to your gas gauge. Stations tend to be a bit farther apart.
You do have the option of staying on I-64, swinging down to Lexington and hitting I-75.
Personally, I take I-65 south and get off on the Cumberland Parkway, exit 43 (I think). Take the Cumberland Parkway east; an extremely relaxing and pretty drive to Somerset, KY. There you follow the signs to KY 80 (will probably also say
TO I-75.) That will take you to I-75 and south to Knoxville to I-40. Once on I-40, it's a straight shot to Winston-Salem.
Be prepared for tourist and RV traffic on I-75 heading to Knoxville, then I-40 to the Smokies. This time of the year, it absolutely, totally sucks, especially on Friday and Sunday.
Watch Asheville with the I-26 and I-240 interchanges. Those are a couple of weird spots where lanes shoot off in illogical directions and traffic pours onto I-40 in large volumes. And after Asheville, like I said, watch the descent. It jumps out at the unprepared who usually have an
"ohhh, s*!" reaction. Once you've done that, it's easy peasy to Winston-Salem.
As a former W-S area person; one who lived there for 29 years; welcome to the area. We only moved to Tennessee to do like other retirees: survive in a lower cost of living area. I'd move back to W-S in a flash if the money was available. I thought TN would be like NC, but it's not. I hope you make a good life there.
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