The best stops along I-65 from Chicago to Birmingham

For some interesting shopping, visit Exit 76 Antique Mall. Here you’ll find over 600 booths covering a whopping 72,000 sq. ft. with everything from antique furniture to automobilia. You can't take a road trip without picking up a few souvenirs, right?

Or across the road there's an outlet mall! It's not the most offbeat attraction on I-65, but deals are deals, man. The Edinburg Premium Outlets are exactly what you’d expect at a nice outlet mall.

If you visit one thing in Columbus, make it Zaharakos. For 115 years this ice cream parlor has been a destination for both locals and ice cream-lovers abroad. With a beautiful 50 ft. mahogany bar, stained glass, and antiques from the turn of the century, the vibe of the interior is nostalgic perfection.

From here you can plan how you want to tackle the city's many architectural and artistic sites while you enjoy one of the antique music machines providing classic background noise.

If you’re an architecture buff, your next stop is the Miller House and Garden Tour. If you love Modernist architecture with open, flowing layouts, flat roofs and lots of stone and glass, you’ll think you’ve died and gone to heaven in the Miller House. Now owned and lovingly cared for by the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the museum elaborates on the house and grounds. Tours of the property are $25 and last about an hour and a half. If you’re stopping by the Miller House, you should also cruise by the 6 other National Historic Landmarks in town.

While in Columbus, IN you’ve probably worked up quite a thirst so why not try one of the area’s 4 breweries? For instance, a great place to wet your whistle is at 450 North Brewing Co.

Exit 50B takes you to singer John Mellencamp’s hometown of Seymour. The prolific musician's boyhood hometown has an art center thanks to John. When his childhood buddy’s house was put up for sale, Mellencamp bought it, used the pre-Civil War building during the filming of “Falling from Grace,” and then turned it into the Southern Indiana Center for the Arts. The place has become Mecca for “Mellenheads,” according to the SICA, and it is pretty much the only place you’ll find rare art created by John Mellencamp himself (and THE only place you can buy John Mellencamp prints).

If you’re one of those “Mellenheads,” stop by the Jackson County Visitor Center as soon as you hit town for a special CD and map for touring his old stomping grounds.

Once you get back on I-65, it won't be long before you hit another must-see stop. You can hop off at Exit 29 and hunt for ghosts at Scott County Heritage Center and Museum! Once the county’s “Poor Farm,” today this old brick home serves as Scott County’s quaint museum, but apparently the place has some leftover guests from the Poor Farm that make the nighttime a little less quaint. If you’re passing through on a Friday or Saturday night you can learn all about the ghosts like flannel-wearing Bubba or the cat-loving Mary and her accompanying smell of sewer gas. A ghost tour is just $10. A small price to pay to potentially have the bejeezus scared out of you.

As you near the state border between Indiana and Tennessee, you'll find another attraction. At Exit 16, you can oogle some vintage cars at Gateway Classic Cars. Gateway Classic Cars has locations across the US, each offering visitors the chance to see beautiful collector cars from the comfort of an indoor space. Their “Louisville” location is actually right off the highway in Memphis, IN and consistently boasts at least 70 cars on the showroom floor. While their bread and butter is the buying and selling of classics, they understand sometimes people just want to gawk at the beauties. For this very reason, a couple bucks will get you in the door to wander their ever-changing collection of cars for sale. (Maybe a good start to your road trip is just buying that vintage convertible you always wanted…)

I-65 then takes you into Louisville, Kentucky, a town well worth stopping off to explore for a day or two. Check out the Louisville Slugger Museum, the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience, the Frazier International History Museum, or one of the other cool attractions in town, and grab a bite to eat at Against the Grain or Jack Fry's.

If you're going to be sampling some of the town's signature drink, bourbon, at Proof on Main, Sidebar or Garage Bar, then you'll want to book a night at one of the hotels in Louisville. The 21c Louisville and the Brown Hotel provide vastly different, but equally memorable experiences.

Mint Julep Tours offers a great Bourbon Trail tour that leaves from Louisville, if you want to really go all out. Then it's back on I-65 to continue further south!

While still in the Louisville area, take a quick detour over to the edge of the city to one of the most awesome and terrifying places in America: the Waverly Hills Sanatorium. Once a massive sanatorium, treating over 400 patients, today it is one of the most famous ghost-hunting destinations in the world. They offer private and public paranormal tours, so if you feel like getting the bejeezus scared out of you, plan to make a stop here on your trip to or from Louisville. According to Waverly Hills, “there is Paranormal Activity happening here on a regular basis. Even though you many not always easily see it, hear it, feel it, or smell it... when you do, you know it.” Schedule your paranormal tour and see if you have an “experience”.

Once outside of Louisville and back on I-65, you’ll cruise for about a half hour until you hop off the highway for your next stop, the Jim Beam Distillery. Over the past few years, Kentucky Bourbon has exploded in popularity, and trips like the Bourbon Trail have become popular vacations. If you’re cruising up/down I-65, however, you probably don’t have time to take a bourbon tour through Kentucky... unless you took a day while in Louisville for a bourbon trail tour. You do have time to make a quick stop at America’s most recognized bourbon brand: Jim Beam. Here you can learn all about the process of making a darn good bourbon.

After a sip or two at Jim Beam’s Stillhouse, you’re back on the highway for just 10 minutes or so until your next stop in Elizabethtown, KY. If you’re an old car lover, you’ll enjoy a quick stop at Swope's Cars of Yesteryear Museum. The museum, owned and operated by the Swope Family of Dealerships, is completely free and features cars from the early 1900s to the 1960s.

Break for lunch at the Whistle Stop (Exit 86 if you skip the car museum). No trip through Kentucky would be complete with a good ol’ country-style meal, and The Whistle Stop can give you exactly that. With popular comfort food items like fried green tomatoes, fried chicken, meatloaf, and roast beef almost all made from scratch, a lunch or dinner here will surely leave you full and happy. Save room for their desserts, though... Southern Living has raved about them on multiple occasions.

After lunch, you’re off the the Mammoth Cave National Park area. Even if you’re just passing through, there’s plenty to do around the park!

At Exit 58 you'll come to Kentucky Down Under. Things you don’t expect to see in the middle of Kentucky: kangaroos, lorikeets, and tortoises. Well, at Kentucky Down Under you’ll see all three and more. Kentucky Down Under is also a great, quick way to get your Mammoth Cave fix without having to go far off I-65. Their Mammoth Onyx Cave is open year-round and is easily accessible.

Or, a few miles down I-65 at Exit 53, you can hit up Dinosaur World. If your kid (or you) is always digging holes in the yard or watching Jurassic Park on repeat, they'll love Dinosaur World in Cave City.

The longest system of caves in the entire world is in Kentucky: Mammoth Cave National Park. Stop off for one of the guided tours of the cave (check online for times and types of tours), hit up the visitor center to learn more about this incredible natural wonder, or hike around above ground. Either way, cross it off your bucket list!

Next stop off I-65: Exit 28, where you'll find the National Corvette Museum. The infamous sinkhole has been filled in, but you can still see some of the poor Corvettes fished out from its depths. In addition to the sinkhole sideshow, the National Corvette Museum itself is a wonderful place for anyone with an interest in cars. If you have time, you can also tour the GM Corvette Assembly Plant across the street for a mere $7.

Once you get to Exit 97, congratulations! You've made it to Tennessee! Visit the Hendersonville Memory Gardens and Funeral Home to pay your respects to the Man in Black. Near the middle of the cemetery you’ll find the final resting places for Johnny Cash and June Carter. They’re not the only big country starts here, though. Several members of the Carter family, including Mother Maybelle, are laid to rest here along with Johnny Cash’s long time guitarist, Luther Perkins. It'll have you in the mood to put on some Johnny Cash as you continue your cruise down I-65.