To get from South Carolina to Missouri without going a long way around, you have to cross the Appalachians, most likely on I-40 from Asheville to Knoxville. That's Interstate maximum grades and 45-55 mph curves, would be mountain driving coming from a Florida-only experience. It is no big deal, big commercial trucks negotiate the passes at close to the speed limits. But that is also my problem with the route: heavy, high speed traffic.
What to see? Tourist version of Appalachian culture in western North Carolina. Biltmore Estate in Asheville. Nashville, with Opryland mall and theater, kind on a country music theme park, and then there is the real thing over in the city. St Louis, the Arch and the park. A Six Flags between St Louis and Waynesille, with assorted other attractions along I-44 (just pick them out from the plentiful billboards).
Short route back to Florida would take you back the way you came, to Nashville, then to Chattanooga to pick up I-75 through Atlanta to Florida. That's back into the edge of the mountains, at Chattanooga.
But the nice part of a diagonal trip like that, almost an infinite number of ways to go with small differences in mileage. Many routes, each with its own attractions, a two-three day drive can turn into a two-three week (or month?) road trip.
From south of St Louis you could go down I-55 (it is flat) to Memphis, see Graceland. From there it is either back to Nashville, or follow the Mississippi river trail, or I-55 (either goes to New Orleans). Or go through northeastern Mississippi into Alabama and Georgia, picking up I-75 at Atlanta. Or through Montgomery to take US-231 to the Florida Panhandle.
From Memphis, or other points along the river in Mississippi, I like to follow the Mississippi Blues Heritage Trail (mostly US-49) to Jackson and Hattiesburg, then down to the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Casinos in Mississippi, USS Alabama at Mobile, Naval Aviation Museum at Pensacola. You could easily take a couple of days, or more, trying to find and visit all the sites on the Blues Heritage Trail, following the music from its roots down to its fusion with Jazz in New Orleans.
Other interests? There are plantation trails in the Delta country, Mississippi and Louisiana particularly. Swamp culture and nature sites in southern Louisiana and southwestern Mississippi. The whole South is filled with battlefield memorials.
Another route could take you through the eastern Ozarks down to the Delta country in Arkansas. While not really mountains, the deeply carved Ozark Plateau in NW Arkansas makes for a lot of mountain type driving, hills and tight curves, often busy with local traffic. Slow travel, interesting little towns, boring big towns (once a city reaches a certain size, seems like the local businesses get replaced by the same franchises you see everywhere else).
Mapquest, or any other mapping program, will try to find you the shortest or fastest way, keeping you on "preferred" roads (the Interstate system). What there is to see and do along the way is hardly ever on the Interstate system, all that interesting stuff gets bypassed for time-efficient travel.
Tom Test
Itasca Spirit 29B
