Roadtrip Suggestions

[ChoralScholar]

We're heading out this weekend from Little Rock to go to Williamsburg, VA for vacation.  Are there any roady things between here and there I should try to see?  I plan to go 40-81-64, but may possibly detour at Nashville and go through Bowling Green/Lexington, just to shake it up a bit. 

Do any of you have suggestions?

[iBallasticwolf2]

We're heading out this weekend from Little Rock to go to Williamsburg, VA for vacation.  Are there any roady things between here and there I should try to see?  I plan to go 40-81-64, but may possibly detour at Nashville and go through Bowling Green/Lexington, just to shake it up a bit. 

Do any of you have suggestions?

If at West Memphis you take I-55 to I-240 then to SR-385 you can see the I-269 construction. I believe parts of I-65 you'll be travelling on are being widened from 4 to 6 lanes. In Lexington there is some improvement construction on US 60 between the Bluegrass parkway and SR-4. If you go through Bowling Green and Lexington you should also take I-77 to I-81 back to I-61 so you can see the I-77 tunnel. Other than that I can't think of anything in paticular you should see.

[froggie]

If you're going to detour up to Bowling Green, see if you can "swing back" through Cumberland Gap.  Roadgeeky stuff there includes the tunnel on US 25E and the former alignment across the Gap, much of which is hikeable.  If you have a couple hours to spare, you can hike up to the "Tri-State Point" which sits just above the Gap...the point where KY/TN/VA come together.  US 25E is a direct 4-lane route to get back to I-81, but IMO US 58 or ALT US 58 are far more scenic.

Another alternative is to take US 58 across southern Virginia....you can see status on widening US 58 east of Abingdon and west of Meadows of Dan, plus it's all 4-laned east of Stuart and much of that is posted 60 MPH.  If you were to do this, east of Damascus you can stay on 58, though it's very twisty and curvy (but pretty scenic and goes by Grayson Highlands State Park with views of Mount Rogers, the highest point in Virginia), or you can take SR 603 east from Konnarock and pick up VA 16 at Troutdale down to US 58, which would be the faster route to go.  There may still be cutout shields at the US 58/SR 603 intersection.

[Rothman]

All I know is that US 58 east of I-81 to Galax took a lot longer than it seemed it would take by just looking at a map.

[Mapmikey]

All I know is that US 58 east of I-81 to Galax took a lot longer than it seemed it would take by just looking at a map.

US 58 between Damascus and Volney is quite twisty.  Another alternative to what Froggie mentioned is to cut south from I-81 on VA 16 which is a much better road and does have some scenery - just not as good as US 58 in the Grayson Highlands area.

Mike