I got two words for ya:
Cruise Control!
If you’ve got that on your Civic, you’ll be fine. If not, you might want to consider borrowing or renting a car that does. Your trip will be much less painful; take it from someone who runs from NC to OH and back every year or so.
The stretch of 40 between Knoxville and Greensboro, specifically the bit near the state line, through the mountains. As I said in my first post, that’s a perfectly keee-rappy drive.
The only Carter’s I can find at the moment married into the family just this generation, though there are some on my Mom’s side that go back a little further but I don’t have that info at hand.
I’ll give you a few of the names marrying into the Bodenhamer branch: Swaim, Teague, Reed (in various spellings), Lanius, Miller, Odell, Crouch, Hedgecock, Linville, Spach/Spaugh, Tesh, James, and Rominger.
Anything look familiar? 
Ah, I see now. You didn’t mention the hairpin turns and the dropoffs before. I’ll avoid it at all costs. Thanks for clarifying for me even though I should have figured it out.
cnoe, unfortunately none of those names show up in my database. You’d think with all those names our people would have crossed paths somewhere.
I talked to my boss today and gave her a choice between the first two weeks in June or the first two in September and she picked June. So I’ve got serious planning to do now.
Here’s what I’ve got so far.
Wisconsin to Danville/Perryville/Harrodsburg on day 1 with day 2 spent at the battlefield and the Shaker place.
Next day: Danville to Lexington to Greensboro.
4-5 days rest, relaxation and research in Greensboro.
Then I need to get from Greensboro to Nashville. Lucky for me, my gg-grandfather was also at Rome, Georgia (captured by Nathan Bedford Forrest there) and Decatur, Alabama in the war so I have an excuse to avoid that nasty stretch of 40 between Knoxville & Greensboro.
That’ll take me from Greensboro to Rome (between Atlanta & Chattanooga) to Decatur (north central Alabama) to Nashville/Murfreesboro. Is there anything along that way I should see/avoid? Or I could skip Decatur and go straight to Murfreesboro from Rome. What’s the terrain like in this part of Georgia/Alabama?
Thanks again for all the great tips. I’m really getting psyched for this. I suppose this will be the wrong time of year to bring back some Georgia pecans.
Time for the Danville (semi)native who lives in Lexington to wade back in…
There’s a Best Western between Harrodsburg and Danville which would be pretty centrally located for your wanderings down there. I have no idea if it’s any good, but it looks OK from the outside.
You could do Shakertown on the way to Lexington via US68. However, you end up on the wrong side of Lexington from the interstate, and US 68 is VERY narrow and curvy. (It’s also beautiful - it goes right through the Kentucky River Palisades .) If you don’t like curvy roads and you’re just trying to get back to I-64 you’d be better off going back to Harrodsburg and going north on 127. You could go all the way to I-64 (4-lane all the way), or you could exit on the Bluegrass Parkway and at least drive past
Keeneland and Calumet Farm . This latter route is shorter on paper, but will have MUCH more traffic and requires a lot of jumping around to get back to I-64.
Eh, the traffic on Versailles Road isn’t bad, really, and all you’ve got to do is take New Circle all the way around to Winchester Road, with the route marked very clearly all the way. It’s nowhere near as bad as coming through Chicago or Indianapolis, as we’re talking about a much smaller city. Driving past the castle and Keeneland and Calumet is well worth it, IMO. Of course, seeing the castle always makes me feel like I’m practically home, so I might be a little biased.
Agreed… but the OP has expressed some reservations regarding driving challenges, so I was shooting for the lower stress recommendation.
If you decide to spend any time in the Indianapolis area, let me know (email would be better because I may forget about this thread)! We’re mostly done with our nasty construction projects (and haven’t started a new one on the west side) in your path.
First off, new here, long time lurker, I’m using the freebie 30-day membership to reply to this thread.
As a WV resident that travels to Dayton OH about once a year, here are some tips and advice.
I’ll second trying to go see the USAF Museum, it’s definitely worth the trip, but plan on spending several hours there.
Starting in Dayton, Route 35 does have some stoplights near the city, but once you hit the Xenia area, the road becomes more like an interstate, and the speed limit goes up as well.
Ohio is trying to get all of Route 35 up to this standard, there are 2 sections left to do between Dayton OH and the WV state line.
The area near West Lancaster OH, where I-71 comes down from Columbus was almost finished last summer, so it may be open now, there are quite a few fast food places and gas stations there, plus an outlet mall.
The other section left to do is near Chillicothe OH, this part is several years from completion, but the construction should not affect the traffic flow too much, the new road is being built away from the existing road. This part of the drive will be on a 2-lane road with a decent amout of truck and regular traffic, but its’ only about 20+/- miles, just be alert and keep your eyes on the road.
Once you cross into WV on Route 35, 35 turns into a 2-line road until you hit the intersection with Route 34. This is about 40 miles, and there is a lot of traffic on this road, especially truck traffic. Once again, stay alert, keep your eyes on the road, and just be careful, this is the part of the drive I like the least, it’s somewhat of a relief to get into OH.
Route 34 runs a few miles through the mountains, it’s another 2-lane road with a lot of truck traffic, be careful. Once you pop out of the mountains, you’ll be at the intersection of I-64, there are quite a few eateries and hotels and whatnot in this area, with a ton of stoplights as well.
I-64 can have a lot of traffic, but the worst of the traffic is between Cross Lanes and the split in town, at that point you’ll be on I-77/64 going towards Beckley WV. There will still be a fair amount of traffic until you get to the South Charleston exit, it will thin out after that.
There are 3 tollbooths on the WV Turnpike, each charging $1.25 for cars.
Between the first and second tollbooths, the speed limit is reduced due to the curves in the road.
As Vunderbob mentioned, there is the big tourist thing in Beckley, a place called Tamarack.
http://www.tamarackwv.com/
I’ve been there a few times, they sell a lot of various crafts and whatnot made by WV artists, plus they have the usual t-shirts and postacards and coal sculptures, prices are high, but it’s neat to walk around and look at everything if you need to take a break from driving. Food is excellent BTW.
From Beckley to Princeton on I-77 is ok, standard interstate driving, although be carefull near the Camp Creek exit, there is a very steep and long grade before the exit, you’ll see the warning signs, you should not have any problems in a car, but keep a lookout for trucks that may be having problems.
I-77 from Princeton to Wytheville VA is a nice drive, great scenery.
Traffic in Wytheville can be a problem sometimes, the traffic from I-81 and I-77 merges together at the north side of town, and runs together four about 5-10 miles.
Once you’re back on I-77 south the drive is normal, but be careful just south of Hillsville VA, you’ll go down a mountain by the name of Fancy Gap, I would try to avoid going down this mountain first thing in the morning, there can be some serious fog on this mountain, and the grade is very long and steep, and there have been some serious wrecks here in the past, be careful.
Once you go through Mounty Airy NC, the drive to Winston-Salem is uneventfull.
Hope this helps, and if you have any more questions about the drive through WV or what to see, feel free to ask me.
