2024 travel map

Back in January I published a map of our planned travels for 2024. We’ve mostly stuck to that plan, though have changed a few stops. Here’s an updated map of our motorhome travel route this year; click or tap for a higher-resolution image:

I thought it’d be fun to share a Google Maps edition too; an interactive map with markers for our stops. Click or tap this link to view the map.

Without the above image to guide you, the east coast part of the Google map would look like a random distribution of markers!

Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park

We visited the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park in Kentucky, a small park with the country’s first monument to Lincoln, enclosing the Symbolic Cabin, a reconstruction of the tiny cabin where Lincoln was born. The memorial was built between 1909 and 1911.

Entrance sign

56 steps up to the memorial, one for each year of Lincoln’s life:

Memorial

Info

The symbolic cabin inside the memorial:

The symbolic cabin inside the memorial

Peeking inside:

Peeking inside

Model of the cabin:

Model of the cabin

Info outside:

Info

Boardwalk to the visitor center:

Boardwalk to visitor center

Visitor center:

Visitor center

Parents and kids:

Parents and kids

Visitor center

Passport stamp:

Passport stamp

Gift shop:

Gift shop

Family Bible:

Family Bible

More exhibits:

Exhibits

Table made by Lincoln’s father:

Table made by Lincoln's father

Boundary oak tree:

Boundary oak tree

Exhibits

Model of the memorial:

Model of the memorial

Mammoth Cave National Park

We visited Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky. It is notable as the longest cave system in the world, with over 400 miles of passages.

Entrance sign

Visitor center:

Visitor center

Mammoth cave has several guided tours available. We did the “Domes and Dripstones” tour, which required taking buses to a cave entrance:

Buses to a cave entrance

Down into a sinkhole:

Down into a sinkhole

Cave entrance:

Cave entrance

Looking down:

Looking down

Underground ranger talk:

Ranger talk

Not too bad a picture of me:

David

Lots of steps:

Lots of steps

Historic graffiti:

Historic graffiti

Very flat cave ceiling:

Very flat cave ceiling

Ranger talk area:

Ranger talk area

Cave

Ranger talk

More steps:

More steps

The “Frozen Niagara” formation:

Frozen Niagara formation

Formations

Selfie

Formations

Steps

Formations

Vertical panorama of a dome:

Panorama

Formations

An interesting cave, but we’ve seen nicer-looking ones. Just shows that size isn’t everything.

Thousand Trails Diamond Caverns RV & Golf Resort

We stayed at Thousand Trails Diamond Caverns RV & Golf Resort in Park City, Kentucky. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Convenient to Mammoth Cave National Park, and free with our membership, but rather unlevel.

Dates:

Check in: 2024-07-07
Check out: 2024-07-12
5 nights

Weather:

Partly cloudy, some rain
High temps 82-90°F, lows 66-71°F
Little wind, gusts to 19 MPH

Noise:

No road noise
Occasional distant train horn noise
Minimal neighbor noise

Site:

#503, back-in, gravel
Needed to disconnect toad, parked in front of coach
Rather unlevel site; high in front and passenger side; back wheels would be off the ground, so used air leveling
Gravel driveway about 65 feet long by 22 feet wide
Immediate neighbor on passenger side; 50 feet to neighbor on driver side
Picnic table
No trees
Unclean site; cigarette butts, bottle caps, etc.

Utilities:

50 amp power, conveniently located
60 PSI water, conveniently located
Good sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 15 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 35 ms ping
Verizon: 10 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 45 ms ping
AT&T: 2 Mbps down, 0.01 Mbps up, 200 ms ping; unreliable
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: paid, not used

Amenities:

Garbage dumpsters
Pool

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Close to Mammoth Cave NP

This is an older Thousand Trails campground, and like most of the older ones, it needs some serious TLC. Most sites are seasonal/annual so there were only a handful of sites available when we arrived, with most of them being either too short or on a really egregious slope (or both). We found the one site that would fit us (503) but it was so unlevel we couldn’t use our hydraulic levelers and had to use the air leveling, which is less preferred. They obviously had some serious rain recently because there were a couple of sites showing extreme erosion and I worried about the stability of the terrace they were on. But for a short stay to visit Mammoth Cave, it was serviceable. We camped at Thousand Trails Diamond Caverns RV & Golf Resort in a Motorhome.

Tip for Other Campers: There’s a new Buc-ee’s not far away and Bowling Green has pretty much everything you could want….

Campground map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

Utilities:

Utilities

Air leveling, with the rear wheels raised as high as they can go (and jacks up):

Air leveling

Other sites:

Other sites

Swimming pool:

Swimming pool

Playground:

Playground

Mini golf:

Mini golf

Clubhouse and quiet room:

Clubhouse and quiet room

We probably won’t stay here again, though it’s hard to argue with free.

Travel from Pigeon Forge, Tennessee to Park City, Kentucky

We drove our coach 227 miles, about four hours of driving, from Pigeon Forge, Tennessee to Park City, Kentucky.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading northwest:

Route map

An interactive map:

Dollywood:

Dollywood

Gocart track:

Gocart track

MagiQuest:

MagiQuest

Leaning building:

Leaning building

Crossover intersection:

Crossover intersection

I-40 West:

I-40 West

Knoxville:

Knoxville

Fun with zoom:

I-40 West

Fuel stop:

Fuel stop

A tank or something on a truck:

Tank

Our coach:

Our coach

We went to the Iron Skillet restaurant at the truck stop for lunch:

Iron Skillet restaurant

Breakfast for lunch

Truckers chapel:

Truckers chapel

“Enter Central Time”:

Enter Central Time

Fun with zoom:

Fun with zoom

Rest area:

Rest area

Monterey:

Monterey

Livingston Highway:

Livingston Highway

Paladin asleep:

Paladin asleep

Fun with zoom:

Fun with zoom

Celina Highway:

Celina Highway

Celina:

Celina

Horses sign:

Horses

Bathroom stop at a gas station:

Bathroom stop at gas station

“Welcome to Kentucky”:

Welcome to Kentucky

A pond:

Pond

A horse and buggy sign:

Horse and buggy

Fun with zoom:

Fun with zoom

Paladin asleep:

Paladin asleep

Entering Mammoth Cave National Park:

Entering Mammoth Cave National Park

The RV park’s office is across the road from the campground, at the Diamond Caverns attraction:

Diamond Caverns

RV office

Our coach

Paladin sat on the dash for the drive from the office to the campground:

Paladin on dash

Welcome:

Welcome

We untoaded here:

We untoaded here

Following the coach:

Following coach

Our site:

Our site

Blue Ridge Parkway south end

South of Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the southern end of the Blue Ridge Parkway.

This park, barely wider than the highway, is 469 miles long, between Shenandoah National Park in Virginia at the north end and Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina at the south end. We visited the northern end a few weeks ago.

Entering the southern end of the parkway:

Entrance sign

There were several tunnels:

Tunnel

Parkway

Tunnel

Views:

View

Fire lookout:

Fire lookout

View

Visitor center:

Visitor center

Elevation 5,820 feet:

Elevation 5,820

View

Camp Margaritaville RV Resort and Lodge

We stayed at Camp Margaritaville RV Resort and Lodge in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. (Campground Reviews listing.)

One day we’ll learn that staying at resorts is a waste of money for us, but it was not this day.

Dates:

Check in: 2024-06-30
Check out: 2024-07-07
7 nights

Weather:

Partly cloudy, some rain
High temps 83-91°F, lows 64-73°F
Negligible wind, gusts to 12 MPH

Noise:

No road noise
No train horn noise
Some neighbor noise (mostly kids)
Nightly fireworks at nearby Dollywood

Site:

#84, back-in, concrete
Needed to disconnect toad, parked behind coach
Somewhat unlevel site (surprisingly for concrete; high on front and passenger side; used hydraulic leveling
Concrete driveway about 50 feet long by 18 feet wide
25 feet to neighbors on both sides
Picnic table
Fire pit
A couple young trees
Clean site

Utilities:

50 amp power, conveniently located
50 PSI water, conveniently located
Good sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 25-55 Mbps down, 4 Mbps up, 65 ms ping
AT&T: 90 Mbps down, 9 Mbps up, 90 ms ping
Verizon: 15-24 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 90 ms ping
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

Garbage pickup from site
Pools
Restaurant (in theory with to-site delivery, but that didn’t work when we tried it)

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Nice resort near Great Smoky Mountain NP

We’re not “resort” people, but this one was nice. It was the nicest-looking resort close to the entrance to Great Smoky Mountain National Park and far enough off the main road, so it was reasonably quiet. The sites are all concrete pads, so you’d expect them to be level, which ours was not. Weird, but not a problem. We were down in “the valley,” which is the farthest you can get to the resort amenities, but that probably contributed to it being quieter. Our site was spotless, and all the utilities worked well. I loved being able to go up to the restaurant for coconut shrimp and a margarita (super spendy, but a bonus nonetheless). We camped at Camp Margaritaville RV Resort and Lodge in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

Griddle:

Griddle

Utilities:

Utilities

Our site and others:

Our site and others

Other sites

Bathhouse:

Bathhouse

Lodge:

Lodge

Restaurant dinner menu:

Restaurant menu

Fancy fried green tomatoes:

Fancy fried green tomatoes

Burger and coconut shrimp, plus margaritas:

Burger etc

Lodge:

Lodge

Foyer:

Foyer

Breakfast buffet:

Breakfast buffet

Pool area:

Pool area

A nice resort, and we do appreciate an on-site restaurant, but we’re not really into other resort facilities. We probably won’t stay here again.

Travel from Beaver, West Virginia to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee

We drove our coach 246 miles, about four hours of driving, from Beaver, West Virginia to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading west:

Route map

An interactive map, showing potential stops:

We had no sewer hookup at our campsite; when we were ready to leave our gray and black tanks were both at 83%:

83% gray and black tanks

So we stopped by the dump station on the way out:

Dumping waste tanks

A very narrow road out of the park:

Narrow road

Of course, as we head out of West Virginia, we had to play John Denver’s Take Me Home, Country Roads:

John Denver's Take Me Home, Country Roads

Country roads:

Country roads

Fun with zoom:

Fun with zoom

South on I-77:

South on I-77

5% downgrade; nice to have actual hills for a change:

5% downgrade

East River Mountain tunnel:

East River Mountain tunnel

“Welcome to Virginia”:

Welcome to Virginia

Rest stop:

Rest stop

Big Walker Mountain tunnel:

Big Walker Mountain Tunnel

Fun with zoom

A colorful water tower, painted to look like a hot air balloon:

Colorful water tower

Fuel stop:

Fuel stop

Sbarro for lunch:

Sbarro for lunch

Back to our coach:

Back to our coach

An accident ahead:

Accident ahead

Accident

“Tennessee Welcomes You”:

Tennessee Welcomes You

Rest area:

Rest area

Heading in to Pigeon Forge:

Fun with zoom

Titanic:

Titanic

Hollywood Wax Museum:

Hollywood Wax Museum

MagiQuest:

MagiQuest

Swimwear and alligators:

Swimwear etc

Camp Margaritaville:

Camp Margaritaville

Check in:

Check in

Arriving at our site:

Our site

New River Gorge National Park: Thurmond and waterfalls

We visited the Thurmond area of New River Gorge National Park, plus a scenic drive to a couple more waterfalls.

The NPS map of the whole park; click or tap to interact on their site:

An interactive map of our route for visiting Thurmond and the waterfalls:

Waterfall on the way to Thurmond:

Waterfall

One-way car and rail bridge to Thurmond:

One-way road and rail bridge to Thurmond

Bridge

Thurmond:

Thurmond

Train engine:

Train engine

Passport stamps:

Passport stamps

Visitor center:

Visitor center

Train engine:

Train engine

Train

Historic Thurmond:

Thurmond

Back over the one-way bridge:

Back over the one-way bridge

Glen Ferris falls:

Glen Ferris falls

New River Gorge National Park: Canyon Rim and Bridge

We visited the Canyon Rim area of New River Gorge National Park, the newest full National Park in the US. The Canyon Rim section has a visitor center that overlooks the iconic New River Gorge bridge, plus has a winding scenic drive down into the canyon, that passes under the bridge three times.

The NPS map of the whole park; click or tap to interact on their site:

An interactive map of our route for visiting Canyon Rim etc:

Going over the New River Gorge Bridge:

New River Gorge Bridge