Road Trip September - PHX-KY-CHI-BOS-CT-NC-BACK

Where do yout interests lie?

It might help to know how much time you have as well.

I'm planning a similar trip except I'll be heading SW then NE through parts of your planned itinerary. My farthest point is San Antonio with the trip there going through Atlanta and down to I-10/12 through Baton Rouge and Houston. Going back north we'll go to Natchez, MS and take the Natchez Trace up to Nashville. Bowling Green KY is a possibility - it's the only production facility for the Corvette. We'll head east along the Cumberland and Hal Rogers Pkwy. Our trip will be late Oct/early Nov. I'm planning on 3 weeks.

golfnm8 - I shot 5 over par today. Best I've done in years. Was 107 degrees F though. Whew.

OK ... interests. Yes. Just about anything except botanical gardens and cheap touristy traps.

I went from submarines to commercial aviation to advertising to high tech. Photo darkrooms to portrait and landscape painting. Dart tournaments to theater. I really am interested in most things.

Box Car -

Like you I'm going to take about 3 weeks. I'm flexible (retired) so it could vary. I take care of my Dad who is 93 and would have to lay off that responsibility on my brother and sister-in-law so that may be a variable.

on your way from Chicago to Boston and if you like the "road less traveled" then you might want to take Route 6 past Wellsboro, PA, and stop for a look at the Grand Canyon of PA. A lot of nice cool forest to drive through on that road. Have fun where ever you travel!

We like the "Shunpiker's Guide" for interesting side trips.

http://www.visitpa.com/trip-ideas/shunpikers-guides/index.as...

By the way, how did you do on the second hole?

Quite a trip you have planned. I’d suggest the Combined Rest Area and Braum’s Ice Cream as companion POI files. Once in NM a Green Chili Cheeseburger from Badlands Burgers, 1204 W Santa Fe in Grants should be a treat—it won the 2009 Governor’s Green Chili Cheeseburger State Fair Challenge beating out the nationally acclaimed cheeseburger from Buckhorn’s Tavern. In Albuquerque I’d suggest a stop in Old Town. The San Felipe de Neri church was completed in 1793 and has adobe walls five feet thick. I’d also suggest a stop at Sandia Resort and Casino—for some great golf.

Moving East use your Braum’s POI as you travel across TX, OK, and AR. Once at your Between the Lakes destination, drop down into TN for some golf at Paris Landing State Park just across the state line. A must-do in Chicago is viewing the city from the 103d floor platforms OUTSIDE the Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower.) In Middlefield, CT golf at Lyman Orchards followed by pick-your-own apples, peaches, and pears is the way to go. And there is always ‘candy for the eyes’ visiting Mystic, CT.

For your return, Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia; Washington, D.C.; Annapolis, MD; and Williamsburg, VA all come to mind as do the Outer Banks, Kitty Hawk, and furniture shopping in High Point, NC. Enjoy your trip!

If you have any interest at all in the Civil War you might want to try to do some of the battlefields. Obviously, Gettysburg, PA might come to mind (they are fighting over the building of a Casino up there right now, not sure the status), but there's Antietam in MD, and many throughout VA, as you might imagine, some of which you'll go right by or will be near if you travel down I-95 to NC. Manassas, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Richmond (the capital of the CSA), and Petersburg, to name just a few.

You may be early (as I'm writing this can't remember if you say when in September), but if you'll be in New England it is possible you'll catch some of the fall colors.

You could check out http://byways.org/explore/, which could give you some ideas to start with.

I don't know how much time you want to take going from Chicago to Connecticut, but we just got back from the Amish area in eastern Ohio. An entire county is filled with little towns and small farms that are the home of the biggest Amish settlement in the US. It was really interesting.

The area is in Holmes County which is south of Cleveland, Wooster - between I-71 and I-77 just south of US 30 (which is the Lincoln highway that you could take out of Chicago if you wanted to stay off the interstates).

If you do go, I would suggested visiting Lehman's Hardware in Kidron, Oh, (-81.74515 40.741293), Warther Carvings in Dover, Oh (-81.487122 40.525486), and the town of Berlin (pronounced BURRRR Lin).

We don't talk of hole 2.

Thanks for the tips. I used to live in CT so I'm aware of the Mystic, Middlefield, etc. I've been up to the 103 viewing platform with my daughter in Chicago .... scared the hell out of me. Your NM suggestions sound really good. I've got tons of cousins in Albuquerque (see I can spell it) and may lean on one or two of them to go to Old Town with again. The Green Chili Cheeseburger sounds like a must.

Many thanks for the tips.

Many thanks for the link. Looks good. I'll have to spend some time with it.

Don't know how much time to allot to the segment between Chicago and Boston. But the Amish segment sounds good. Many thanks.

The friend I'm staying with in Kentucky (former room mate at prep school) is a civil war buff. I'll bring this up with him and may get him to come with me for some of it.

Thanks.

Box Car many thanks for the Shunpiker's Guide link. That describes me and I'll include it in my planning.

ZenHiker ... I may depending on the timeframe. Many thanks. Driving through cool forest sounds great when it's 113 here right now.

Got it on my screen now. Thanks! Breakfast in Payson at the Knotty Pines then lunch at Badlands in Grants.

I've previously recommended Sadie's of NM (4th St) based upon local's recommendations--last night I finally tried their food. Their meat adovada was totally outstanding! My surprise was a 30 minute wait to be seated on a Tuesday night.

Alas Badlands is no more. Was shut down when we got there in early September.