NCM/caverns roads?
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 383
Likes: 19
From: Tellico Plains TN
NCM/caverns roads?
Greetings,
My wife and I are heading back up to the museum for the tours I deferred when I picked my car up in Nov, and while we're there, we plan to hit the Mammoth Caves and maybe the underground river tours.
This is an odd question, but how are the roads and parking areas at the cavern sites? East TN has taught me that you can't assume any road is decent just because it's on a map. I've been forced to cross single lane wooden bridges that I thought I'd get stuck on, and more gravel than any Corvette should see. I have no reason to believe KY is any better :-)
The debate is whether I drive the car, or we take my wife's Honda CRV. At this point I'm leaning toward the CRV, since it's just a long boring interstate drive for the most part. I DO tend to over-analyze things though, so still thinking about it.
Cheers,
Rusty
My wife and I are heading back up to the museum for the tours I deferred when I picked my car up in Nov, and while we're there, we plan to hit the Mammoth Caves and maybe the underground river tours.
This is an odd question, but how are the roads and parking areas at the cavern sites? East TN has taught me that you can't assume any road is decent just because it's on a map. I've been forced to cross single lane wooden bridges that I thought I'd get stuck on, and more gravel than any Corvette should see. I have no reason to believe KY is any better :-)
The debate is whether I drive the car, or we take my wife's Honda CRV. At this point I'm leaning toward the CRV, since it's just a long boring interstate drive for the most part. I DO tend to over-analyze things though, so still thinking about it.
Cheers,
Rusty
Safety Car
Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 3,960
Likes: 1,106
I found the roads around Mammoth to be fine. One of the neater drives I took was several years ago when my daughter and I spent a couple of nights at Mammoth Cave on the way to a week of hiking out of Townsend TN. We took a route that put us on US-127 and were planning to drive through to Townsend with minimal stops but then found Pall Mall TN which was the home of Sgt. York. We spent a couple of hours touring this beautiful little town and got a good reminder of why I should spend less time on interstate highways where you miss these little jewels.
If you have areas of concern about roads use google earth/satellite to take an overview and then go to street view to see specific detailed views. I used this to check a few areas when planning a route back to IL from the NCM with our new Z06.
And I would happily put up with a few bad roads to live in beautiful Eastern TN. It has been my favorite part of the country since family vacations camping in the Great Smokies when I was a kid in the mid 1960s.
If you have areas of concern about roads use google earth/satellite to take an overview and then go to street view to see specific detailed views. I used this to check a few areas when planning a route back to IL from the NCM with our new Z06.
And I would happily put up with a few bad roads to live in beautiful Eastern TN. It has been my favorite part of the country since family vacations camping in the Great Smokies when I was a kid in the mid 1960s.
Team Owner
Joined: Sep 1999
Posts: 41,732
Likes: 1,718
From: Springfield MO
Drive the Vette. The roads around Mammoth cave are paved and in good shape.
Have lunch at the Whistle Stop in Glendale and then drive over to tour Makers Mark distillery in Loretta, KY. Skip Jim Beam as it's not a real tour.
Beautiful countryside to drive the Vette around in.
Have lunch at the Whistle Stop in Glendale and then drive over to tour Makers Mark distillery in Loretta, KY. Skip Jim Beam as it's not a real tour.
Beautiful countryside to drive the Vette around in.
Last edited by JoesC5; Apr 22, 2017 at 10:28 PM.
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 383
Likes: 19
From: Tellico Plains TN
Thanks for the confirmation on the roads. I grew up in FL, and there was a constant public service announcement about diving into uknown water- "Feet first first time". I've changed that to "Truck first first time" for the roads around here. It's really easy to end up on a paved road that is 1.1 car widths wide, and if you meet someone going the other way, one of you better have 4WD :-)
I'm lucky to live 15 min from the end of the Cherohala Skyway, which is one of the greatest roads on the planet. There are so many fun roads around here that my tires aren't going to last very long :-)
The decision will probably come down to whether my wife wants to go in the car. Her old creaky knees make it hard to get in and out, and in fact she's never even sat in the 2017. She rode in the 2014 a few times though. Car's get newer, but we get older
Cheers,
Rusty
I'm lucky to live 15 min from the end of the Cherohala Skyway, which is one of the greatest roads on the planet. There are so many fun roads around here that my tires aren't going to last very long :-)
The decision will probably come down to whether my wife wants to go in the car. Her old creaky knees make it hard to get in and out, and in fact she's never even sat in the 2017. She rode in the 2014 a few times though. Car's get newer, but we get older
Cheers,
Rusty
Team Owner
Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 26,224
Likes: 4,345
From: Chirper Island
I don't know why people are so afraid of sub- standard road surfaces.
Yes the tires will pick up a bunch of crap and sling it up if you go fast, but if you find yourself on one of these roads that lead to an amazing destination, just slow down, crawl 6 or 7 mph. and look around you, pull over as soon as you can to let the guy behind you go by.
I would hate to take the sedan and drive it for 99% of the trip and forgo the great Corvette experience, because I was afraid of the 1% gravel road.
BTW, I took my Stingray on a few gravel roads the very day I bought her (scandalous, I know). With the top down. Sure, she got dusty, but it I don't regret it, and I took it slow, and still after all these miles, she still looks amazing. It's rare that a month goes by w/o a few trips down a gravel or dirt road.
Yes the tires will pick up a bunch of crap and sling it up if you go fast, but if you find yourself on one of these roads that lead to an amazing destination, just slow down, crawl 6 or 7 mph. and look around you, pull over as soon as you can to let the guy behind you go by.
I would hate to take the sedan and drive it for 99% of the trip and forgo the great Corvette experience, because I was afraid of the 1% gravel road.
BTW, I took my Stingray on a few gravel roads the very day I bought her (scandalous, I know). With the top down. Sure, she got dusty, but it I don't regret it, and I took it slow, and still after all these miles, she still looks amazing. It's rare that a month goes by w/o a few trips down a gravel or dirt road.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 6,800
Likes: 2,653
From: Down south in Dixie
Enjoy, and congratulations.
