Road trip planning NJ-South Bend IN
 

In June I’m planning to drive the Hornet to the AMO show in South Bend. I’m in Central NJ. Planning on a 3-4 day drive to get there. Leaving Monday morning and getting there Thursday late morning.

My initial idea was to try and take as many scenic routes as possible. I bought a brand new road atlas to plan the drive out which has scenic routes listed. But following northern scenic routes in PA ends up landing me in northern Ohio and I have to drive through a couple of cities.

So now I’m looking at following the Lincoln Highway by Getting out of NJ and picking it up on the western side of Philly. The Lincoln highway goes through southern Pa and Ohio before turning north and going right through South Bend.
But I’m not married to taking this route.

Does anyone have any suggestions for stops or routes I can take? I’d like to try and camp most evenings in state or national parks. It would be cool to find a few lakes and rivers to swim in for pit stops. I’d also like to stop at any cool abandoned buildings to check out and take photos.

Feel free to also call me stupid for planning to drive a dual carb, tunnel rammed, 4 speed, 3.54 geared 55 year old car with glasspacks for 700ish miles.

Divert up to the D here, I’ll meet you at Duggans on Woodward and buy you a beer.

Sounds like a great trip to me. I took a similar trip with my best friend from high school in 2024 to go look at my old 71 Trans Am after it was restored and two of my favorite stops were the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum in Auburn, IN and the Simeone Automotive Museum in Philadelphia, PA. Best of luck in your travels.

Sounds like a cool trip! Make sure your tires are under 5 years old, blow outs will put a crimp in your trip! Any use Gas Buddy https://www.gasbuddy.com/ for the lowest gas on your trip cause you will be stopping often :)

Sounds great.

Bring an extra belt, I'd bring a spare alternator and water pump too.

I’ll try to respond to guys individually:
Burd- thank you very much for the invite. Depending on my final route plan I’ll send a pm and let you know if I can swing that far north and meet you for a beer. I always wanted to check out Woodward in general. Being that it’s so famous in our world.

Carnut- the auburn museum is actually in the plans for the AMO show itself so I should be able to check it out. How did your old Trans Am come out?

KevinW- luckily the tires are fresh from last year. Before I leave this year the cars going to get an alignment and a solid checking over. And I’ll look into gasbuddy because I’ll need all the help I can get. It seems like the Hornet averages about 9mpg.

ProStockJohn- I’m going to have a bunch of spare parts and pieces. And in the spring I’m changing the car from a distributor to a magneto so I don’t need to worry about a charging system in a worst-case scenario.

Thanks everyone so far for the tips and ideas. Keep them coming.

are you going to the Studebaker Museum here in South Bend?
and you have to go and walk around the campus of Notre Dame

Donnie- yes I’m planning to go to both. I won’t be around on Sunday but I’d like to attend a mass at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart one afternoon when I’m in South Bend.

Looks like an awesome route.

So cool! Good luck on your trip. I admire your agenda!

You may want to check out Shrine of the little flower on Woodward.

Carry a canister of gas with 2.5 minimum, 5 better, but takes more space and a larger fire hazard if rear ended.
Plan your camping sites well ahead and make reservations. Most camp grounds fill up quickly with little to no room for transient stopovers... been there, but we have a small trailer, so make due with other places to park.

Burd- Thanks, I’ll look that up.

Too Many Projects- I was planning to either bring a 5 gallon VP jug, or buy a smaller 3 gallon jug which should fit better in the car. I’m probably also going to buy a small aluminum harbor freight jack and try to fit all of the spare parts, fuel, and tools in the trunk. That way in the car I can keep my clothes, tent, and sleeping bag.
I’m not really sure what to do about campgrounds. I was planning to just do like a lot a bikers and set up the tent wherever I can on the side of the road that evening.

A tent on the side of the road sounds dangerous. Better to sleep in the back seat at a truck stop or shopping mall lot. I slept in the back seat of my Highlander one night on the way down here to Naples a week ago at a truck stop. Handy for morning restroom, coffee and food too...:wink:

I should specify, I’m basically planning to use national and state parks to primitive camp. Looking up the PA and Ohio state parks they list campsites that can be used for this type of camping.

In PA the Buchanan State Forest has the Lincoln Highway cutting right through the middle of it. And is around 275 miles away. I think it’s a good goal for the first night. But there’s another state park closer if I don’t make it that far.

I’m just starting to look at state forests in Ohio to figure out if any are near the Lincoln Highway.

It’s like you are doing your own Two Lane Blacktop!

I also do my cars and coffee in June. A nice AMX comes, yours would fit rite in

After more research and talking to some guys, I think I’m going to scrap the Lincoln Highway idea. I’d like to do the whole thing one day, but for this trip I really want to focus on scenery and try to avoid major cities.

To do that I think I’m going to follow Rt6, or the Grand Army of the Republic Highway as it’s named, across PA, Ohio, and into Indiana where I can hook up with the Lincoln and take it north to South Bend.

Route 6 through PA seems to go through a lot more state/national parks where I can camp. And doesn’t go through any of the major cities like the Lincoln Highway was originally built to do.

I’ve been working on my list of spares and stuff to bring even though it’s months away and the car is still laid up waiting for a couple grand in new parts. But there’s a chance I may start pulling the car apart in the next week or 2.