Trip Planning (Chicago to Charlotte)

[1629dill]

I am getting ready to pull my trailer (9500lb boat) down to Charlotte South Carolina in a few weeks and need to work on planning my route. I have never driven down there from Chicago so I am trying to find the best to get Charlotte with my 99 Suburban with a 6.5 TD. Are there any websites that can help with best routes for trips with trailer? Or if any one has a suggestion on a way to go or places to avoid I would love the help.

[DickWells]

Having towed through Chicago, with a 33ft tag-along, I must say, if you can get through that city, you can go anywhere. Seemed to me, that, like Boston, Chicago has been torn up, road-wise, every time I've ever been there!

I can't seem to find Charlotte, SC, in my atlas? Charlotte, NC is right on the border, though. Regardless, if I was in a hurry, I'd take the Interstate all the way, into that area. Looks like you could get yourself onto I65, south of Chicago and take it all the way to I64, near Frankfort, KY, then I64 to I75, near Lexington, then I81/40 to I40 South, into NC. IIRC, that little stretch of I40 takes you over a mountain pass, with a long downhill run, going south, so good brakes are handy, there, for something like a 7-10 mile stretch. Just put that L80E into 3rd, or, even 2nd, and take it easy for a while. Now, you're in the area where I'm getting confused, because I don't know where to head to.

Do you have a gps? Handiest dang thing I ever got hooked up with, and I ain't no guy who likes gadgets.

Good luck, and let us know specifically where you're headed, in SC.

[Robyn]

The GPS units are pretty cool.

The one I had for a while had the nastiest Wench voice dictating turns.

OMG that thing was anoying, but it does make things easier if your not familiar with the area.

Have fun

Missy

[1629dill]

I am getting ready to pull my trailer (9500lb boat) down to Charleston South Carolina in a few weeks and need to work on planning my route. I have never driven down there from Chicago so I am trying to find the best to get Charlotte with my 99 Suburban with a 6.5 TD. Are there any websites that can help with best routes for trips with trailer? Or if any one has a suggestion on a way to go or places to avoid I would love the help.

Sorry I was google maps to come up with the trip and was using that city as a waypoint. I am going to Charleston SC. Here is a link to what I am thinking of doing. I hope this will cut down on the number of climbs I have to do.


http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=202555395068087118288.00049e9a932edc26bce88&ll=37.492294,-83.781738&spn=11.637527,24.543457&z=6

[rustyk]

I take most of the southern part of your route a couple of times a year. Charleston, WV south on the WV Turnpike (Toll should be about $9 - my coach is $5 with 2 axles) is hilly, but no really long and/or steep grades.

The only long (~6 miles), fairly steep (7%) grade is in VA from Fancy Gap (MM #7) to about MM #1 - but the view is spectacular because the road is on the side of the mountain. The worst traffic tends to be at Charlotte, NC. Charleston, WV slows, but keeps moving. South of Statesville, NC, traffic thins considerably.

One of the better prices on diesel is at the Hess at Exit 82 I-95, 4 miles S of the I-26/I-95 junction. BTW, there are few diesel stations from Columbia to I-95; actually, there's not much of anything on that stretch...