Around the mountains, Detroit to Myrtle Beach
Hello everyone. New here and happy to be here. Planning a trip for April towing my 24ft down to Myrtle Beach out of Detroit. I would like to avoid any of the mountain reigns and or steep grade routs. ...
Forum Discussion
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.
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.
