Driving From New Orleans to Philadelphia

[Holly Moore]

I'm going to be at a convention in New Orleans in a couple of weeks. It ends Tuesday. No reason to be home in Philadelphia until Sunday, maybe Monday or Tuesday.

So many routes and just one car.

My goal for the trip home is to hit as many HollyEats kind of places I can. I'd also like to avoid interstates as much as possible. It would be neat to get on some old US highway and follow it - such as taking the Lincoln Highway across country.

One thought is to approximate the route of Amtrak's Crescent (dates back to 1891) which runs from NYC through Philadelphia and onto New Orleans.

Any other ideas? Stops along the way? Side trips? Things to do other than eat, drive, eat some more?

Thanks

Edited to ad quote from Wikipedia article on the Crescent:

In 1978 it had a full-service dining car with linen tablecloths, a real kitchen and excellent fried chicken. When the Crescent was converted to Amtrak, the chef of the dining car observed that they would have to "learn how to talk like a Yankee and run a microwave oven.

Edited July 28, 2008 by Holly Moore (log)

[Holly Moore]

Another option - US Route 11

Edited July 28, 2008 by Holly Moore (log)

[Meanderer]

Rte 11 is certainly scenic--at least the Va. to Pa. portion with which I am familiar. Unfortunately, I-81 and U.S. 11 closely parallel each other throughout that stretch and the chain restaurants at the interstate exits appear to have sapped much of the life out of the old Mom and Pops along the old route.