Around the mountains, Detroit to Myrtle Beach

I just did Saginaw to Raleigh, NC and took the shorter route through the mountains and it really tested my rig. 45mph in the truck lane.
I think your smoothest route would be Cleveland to Pittsburgh to I95, but the traffic on I95 can get nasty.

Is 75 to hilly in the Knoxville area?

The Appalachians run from Maine to northern Georgia. That's the bad news. The good news is that they aren't a solid wall of mountains. There are many gaps. And the folks that designed the expressways routed them thru the gaps rather than over the tops.
I've made multiple trips from Cincinnati to MB in a 'C', pulling a toad.
I75S to Knoxville,TN.
I40E to Ashville, NC
I26E to Columbia, SC
I20E to Florence, SC
US 301 and US 501 to Myrtle Beach.
About 900 miles from Detroit.

pchartrand wrote:
Is 75 to hilly in the Knoxville area?

Downhill into Knoxville but thru a gap. Not bad.

Laradoman wrote:
....would like to avoid any of the mountain reigns and or steep grade..... Tow vehicle is a Hemi powered Durango so no real worries about the package........

You will go at least 100 miles out of the way and still be on some pretty good grades. I go most direct and right at 800 miles from Jackson to North Myrtle Beach. Just came back to the frozen north after 2 week Christmas vacation at MB on Tuesday. No real trick to mountains on the major interstates other than staying off the brakes to they don't heat up. Don't ride or drag, just start down hill just below the speed or your comfort limit and hit the brakes briefly as needed to keep speed in check. Also down shift so engine will help hold you back. The route I like best is:
75 to Findlay, OH,
23 to Columbus
Take 270 around Columbus to reconnect with 23 south of Columbus.
At Chillicothe take 35 across into West Virginia and get on 64.
Connect with I-77 at Charleston and go south into North Carolina.
From Charleston to the North Carolina line you will be in the beautiful mountains but its only a total of 170 miles.
From NC line take new highway I-74(also known as 52) in to Winston Salam where you go east on 40 for a few miles and then connect with brand ne interstate that didn't show on my GPS known as 311 to connect with 220 just north of Asheboro.
220 south to Rockingham than 74 east to 410 Chadborn. Short run of 2 lane road to 710 Tabor City and then connect to SC-9. From there your right into North Myrtle Beach if your staying at Myrtle Beach Travel Park.
If your staying south like at Ocean Lakes, take 31 (no stop and go's compared to 17) 20 miles to the south side of MB and you will be with in a few miles of Ocean Lakes gate at the end of 544.

Randu

pchartrand wrote:
Is 75 to hilly in the Knoxville area?

Jellico Mountain is the only grade of any length, both up and down. But I-75 around Knoxville isn’t flat.

Did the MB to Detroit trips for a couple years, before much of the Interstate system was completed. Unless you go south of Atlanta, you must cross the Appalachian Range somewhere, and even Atlanta is up on the plateau. Best approach is to find the easiest way across.

For me (40 HP subcompact car) that was PA turnpike to Breezewood, then south through Maryland, Virginia, Carolinas on the highways that followed the coastal plain near the Fall Line. Interstate equivalents today are I-80 from N Ohio to I-70 junction, I-70 across the mountains to I-270, then I-270 south to I-95. You can get off I-95 in NC and go south, or take it all the way to Florence in SC, and go east. That's the least amount of driving in the mountains on a relatively short crossing through gaps. One day out of Detroit to get past the mountains and into Maryland. Rest of the trip is on the Atlantic Coastal Plain, problem is Interstates going to all the congested southeastern metro areas.

Shortest route (I've done it in the interstate era) is through southern Ohio, crossing the mountains in West Virginia and western Virginia, coming down onto the coastal plain at Richmond. But. you wiil spend a lot more time in the Appalachians, going south along the ridges, hopping over a ridge at each gap, then running the valley to the next. Last major ridge is crossed through a tunnel.

The short end run around the southern tip of the range is I-75 to Atlanta, I-20 into S Carolina. But this is not flat, between Knoxville and Atlanta you hop over at least one of the western ridges, getting up on top approaching Chattanooga. Also, places in Kentucky, Tennessee have grades as steep as any in the mountains, from crossing deeply carved river valleys. the steep sections are just shorter.

There is an almost flat route, using the glacial lake plains just south of Michigan, Mississippi River valley, and Gulf and Atlantic coastal plains. From Toledo, I-80 west to I-55, I-55 to I-10 at New Orleans, I-10 east to US-17 near Jacksonville, US-17 to Myrtle Beach. It is a long way around, but as flat as you will find, going far enough west to dodge the hills of southern Ohio and southern Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee, then far enough south to miss the hills of Northern Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia, and western SC.