And especially in this part of the country, the small towns that you will drive through are historic and charming and the people are so friendly and yeah little mom and pop shops and diners and I mean it really is the slice of Americana that I think gosh I'm getting goosebumps.

Are you going to start crying because you haven't cried yet in this episode.

You might just put it in right here.

It is an absolutely beautiful part of the country.

And yeah, with this loop,

you'll be driving more than 1500 miles

through the heart of it.

This is the Dear Bob and Sioux Podcast stories from our journey to all the U.S.

National Parks and other public lands. I'm Karen Smith.

And I'm Matt Smith. We're the authors of the Dear Bob and Sue series of books. On today's

episode we're taking you on an epic road trip loop through the heart of

Appalachia to Four National Parks and a National Park Service scenic byway.

We'll be traveling to National Parks in five states, Mammoth Cave in Kentucky,

New River Gorge in West Virginia, Shenandoah in Virginia, and Great Smoky Mountains in North Carolina and Tennessee.

From the world's longest cave to one of the oldest rivers on earth to the most visited U.S. National Park.

This 1500-mile road trip has it all.

Thanks for joining us as we set off on an Appalachian National Parks Road Trip Loop.

You know, Karen, somebody commented recently in an Instagram post they wondered why we don't spend more time in the public lands on the eastern side of the country

Yeah their point was that there are a lot of really amazing public lands on the eastern side.

And you know, why don't we go there and hike and camp and spend time and seek those public lands out.

Yeah, we certainly would like to, but one thing is we live in the West and there are so many places to visit here. And we don't have an unlimited travel budget so it's you know

longer to get over to the eastern side of the country a little bit more

...