Quote:
Originally Posted by nicole919191
What would be the must sees or what is the best route?? I will be leaving end of June and there is no time constraints.
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If the goal is to just see the land, and there really are no time constraints, or issues with miles and money, there are a few options:
I would look at driving down to Front Royal, VA. Drive Skyline Dr. through Shenandoah National Park. At the southern tip, the road turns into the Blue Ridge Parkway. I would drive that all the way, to Cherokee, NC. I would then drive Newfound Gap Rd. (US 441) through the Great Smoky Mtn. National Park.
From this location, one would have a few options depending on what they wanted to do.
The northern route would have a person hitting I-75 and heading north, then cut through Indiana for a drive through Chicago and eventually hit I-90. I-90 would provide a trip through/near the Badlands, the Black Hills, and along the Big Horn Mountains. Continuing on I-90 would take one across the northern Rocky Mountains and through the Cascade Range. One could then hit I-5 and drive the entire west coast, or possibly even US 101, which really runs the coastline. (This route takes you to the area of Mt. Rushmore, Devil's Tower, Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks, and then everything there is to see in the Cascades and everything south of there).
The mid-route would be heading north from Knoxville or Nashville and connecting with I-70, driving across the mid-west, through Denver, then through S. Utah, and then taking I-15 through Vegas to LA, then south. (This route puts you near the National Parks of S. Utah).
The south route would be staying on I-40 from Knoxville, then taking that all the way to LA, then heading south. (This route puts you close to Grand Canyon S. Rim, and not really all that far from the four corners area).
I personally like wooded mountain areas, so the norther route would be my preference. If you decided to skip heading south to the S. Appalachians, then this would be your direct route as well. As others have stated, consider not using the interstate the whole time. Outside of the constant turning mountain roads, even federal and state highways in MT/SD/WY have fairly high speed limits, so using some of the back roads won't add all that much time to your trip. Look up roads on the America's Byways website. Tons of scenic drives such as UT-12, The Beartooth Highway, and the Peter Norbeck Byway
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