Maine in July and ending in Florida in December... Suggestions?

G'day,

I am working on a route that starts in Maine and ends in florida.  We love national parks and museums.  Any suggestions??

The Great Smokey Mountains will be a must visit and we want to go to Washington and see the Smithsonian Museum.

We will probably head as far west as Michigan, Indiana and maybe Mississippi.  Is it wise to go over or around the Appalachian Mountains if towing a 5th Wheel?

Thanks Guys,

Talk soon

Before you leave Maine, if you like the best seafood in America, the Lobster festival is August 1-5 in Rockport Maine. Michigan is beautiful,especially the Upper Penisula. How you will manage how far south you go and still spend time in the Smokeys will take some planning but can be done as long as your travel schedule is open.  Topsail State Park in Santa Rosa Beach Fl is a great place in October  Enjoy America.

    There is little by way of hill climbs in the east that should bother you.  You may have to use a few alternate routes, but the major elevations in North America are all out west.
    Starting in Manie in July makes sence, as you will have nice warm days, with cooler evenings, particularly along the coast.  Places like Acadia National Park are unique with a desert along the coast.  We enjoy the White Mountains (also a National Park) along north western Maine and eastern New Hampshire.  If you like camping near the beach, Salisbury State Park in Mass, is ok.
    The problem is deciding if you want to spend most of you time along the coast in places like Old Orchard ME, Newport RI, Virginia Beach VA, Myrtle Beach SC, etc.  Or head inland to see cities, or civil war sites, and the like.  There is so much diversity it is very difficult to recommend without knowing your real preferences.  BTW, the Smithsonian is really several museums, I think there are more than a dozen, and most are amazing, but camping in Washington can be challenging, and should be booked ahead of arrival, as you may find with many cities here.

Ed

Crossing the Appalachians should be no problem on the major highways (Interstates), but be cautious about getting off onto local highways, which are often steep and twisty. I90 out of New England region and across NY is nearly flat and I80 thru Pennsylvania is no problem either.  If further south, e.g. I64 or I40 it is steeper, but still nothing to be concerned about.

It's hard to imagine a route that will cover all the states you mentioned in 4 months. You are going to do a lot of zig-zagging to  visit the major Atlantic coast areas, e.g. Washington DC, and also Michigan & Indiana. Sort of like going from Sydney to Melbourne via Perth! Not quite that bad, but you get the idea. And you want to be well south by early November. RV parks in the northern US often close sometime in October or maybe Nov 1.

Plan at least a week of visits to see the Smithsonian - it is several huge museums. You will have to camp many miles away and commute into the city.

If airplanes are of interest, the National Museum of the USAF in Dayton, OH, is a must see. An incredible display of military aircraft of all generations that takes 2 days to even scratch the surface.  The Mighty 8th Air Force Museum in Savannah, GA, is also excellent for WW II air force buffs. Has a lot of the human interest side as well as airplane memorabilia.

There are some really memorable underground caverns in the Virginia mountains along the Blue Ridge Parkway - Luray Caverns is our favorite.

While the elevations in the Eastern Mountains may be lower; there are plenty of steep grades, roads with narrow shoulders, and  switchbacks/tight turns. Get a copy of the Mountain Directory East http://mountaindirectory.com/. Note that one of the examples given on the right side of the webpage is an 8-9% grade in VA/WV. A thousand foot change in elevation is a thousand feet whether you start at zero or 6,000. The grades in the East do in my experience tend to be shorter and because the elevation is lower, non-turbo engines do not suffer the power loss experienced at high elevations.  A lot of the roads in the East were laidout before all the modern standards. State and County roads in particular can prove interesting for very large RVs.

Thanks for the advice everyone.  Please forgive my lack of knowledge for your country. 

I can see that we would need to choose to stick to the coast or head much further inland, but probably not both so much.  Oh the choices.  We do love the museums a few historical sights, but have to keep it a bit upbeat with our 5 year old.

Thank you for the suggestions.  It has given much information to consider as a starter. 

Kylie

Part of the Smithsonian Museum is the very fine National Air and Space Museum near Dulles Airport.  They've just added the Space Shuttle and it's really neat to stand next to it and realize it's circled the earth numerous times and is now in a museum to admire.  They have everything from the Wright Brothers early airplane to the Concorde with everything in between.  Maybe not so great for a five-year old but Mom and Dad will love it!

ArdraF