Driving rt. 40 through Smokies.
We are heading home via I-40 through the Smokies. Barring any sudden snow storms, what is it like? We are equipped to handle the drive, just wondering what to expect?
Thanks!
Thanks!
Forum Discussion
ken56 wrote:
If you have never seen the Biltmore estate in Asheville plan to take an extra day or two and go enjoy a nice tour of the house and grounds. There are a few nice campgrounds in the area.
We had hoped do do just that, but life is interfering. The one day we have here on the mountain side at Campfire Lodgings RV park in Asheville has turned to a very rainy one, and I am recovering from a broken ankle and could not walk around the estate. Plus we need to get home for a number of reasons.
I also would like to comment that the last park we stayed in in Nashville, Grand Ole RV resort, had the friendliest and most helpful staff we have encountered all across the country. The Tom Sawyer MS River park in West Memphis, Arkansas is not to be missed either, right on the river.tatest wrote:
My experience of I-40 Knoxville to Ashville is that truck traffic is quite heavy and tends to be slow but feels fast because of the curves. The biggest problem in a truck or RV is watching out for faster running cars making lane changes, chopping in and out of the slower traffic. The biggest problem crossing in a car is getting around the slow trucks.
My preferred place for crossing the Appalachians this far south is Cumberland Gap, junction to Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia state lines. The gap is US-25E as a N-S route, US-58 as an E-W route, so it doesn't work if you prefer to stay on Interstate highways, but it is a real pretty drive, especially going west/north.
An even easier route across is I-64 from Beckley WV into Virginia, where you can go up I-81 to get further north, or use the Blue Ridge Parkway, or go on across I-64 to I-95 (which is sort of backtracking because it connects at Richmond, and if I don't have to I don't want to go through DC). I-64 tunnels through the worst parts of the mountains. This still gets you across the mountains south of Delaware.
Thanks for the helpful info. We will head east to 95 and up to Roanoke Rapids and onto the Norfolk area to take the CBBT. We are quite familiar with that route.
