Trip of New Phases, Friends & 40! Updated 8/31 - As If Goodbye Wasn't Enough! The End

[TyRy]

Of course, I was counting on needing gas or something to switch, but we just kept going as there was ZERO traffic. Before I knew it I was driving us through downtown Atlanta.

I think due to the flooding and with so many schools and businesses closed, there was no one on the road. We were almost through the entire downtown when it happened. I just could not believe it – this could not be happening to us!

I was in the HOV lane and saw a person on the shoulder walking up ahead. I was very careful to not get near him, but the timing was just so that when I swerved to avoid him, I hit something in the road. Whatever it was we saw it go flying and then INSTANTLY the car tilted to once side. Thank goodness we were in the left lane and I could pull over right away. DH captured what time it happened.

And this is what we found when we hopped out.

YEP - that is TWO flat tires. Unreal, I have a bunch of friends that make this drive constantly and never have any problems and we have two flat tire. After trying not to lose it, I called AAA. With everything going on in the area, they could not get anyone out for a few hours. Not good as the cars were whizzing by and we were afraid of our car getting hit. So we sat on the median.

Finally a Georgia State trooper pulled up and blocked the lane to make it a little less dangerous. He also filled out a report for us, in case we needed it for the rental company. After waiting an hour for a tow, a flatbed tow truck just happened to drive by and rescued us. We still weren’t sure what to do and then it hit us. The airport wasn’t far from where we were…no not fly home – although I thought about it LOL – but they probably had an Alamo on site. We could trade the car or get the flats fixed.

Continued in next post....

 

[TyRy]

So off we went to Alamo.

They had zero cars in our upgraded luxury status, but did have a minivan on the aisle. After asking if we could grab that, we repacked and were on our way.

We had wasted about two hours and knew we would not get that far that night. DH was now driving as I was still shaken up and refused to drive. I told him I was not driving anymore that trip! We finally got back on the road.

After leaving the airport, there was a bit of a traffic jam, and we realized we had gotten caught in our own gaper’s delay that had not yet dissipated. It was kind of ironic. We did go back the same way as DH wanted to see if he could find what I ran over. We think we did see it on the opposite shoulder, but didn’t get a great look at it, or photo. I just didn’t want us to hit it again.

Since there was no way we were making it to Southern Illinois now, we stopped just after the Tennesse border to grab a hotel listing. Called a few places just outside of Nashville (yes, I was determined we would make it that far!) and they were booked. Finally found a Best Western south of Nashville. Before checking in through, I noticed we had again made really good time, so that meant we could stop at Mrs. Winners Chicken in Brentwood. I LOVED this place when we had eaten there last time, so I was making lemonade out of lemons, and declared I wanted to eat there. DH was accommodating as I was still a bit freaked out.

It did not disappoint. Mark’s plate –

My plate…I must have had fries or something off to the side.

After eating we headed to the Best Western…wasn’t bad, wasn’t terrific.

We tried to get up early, but were both exhausted from what had happened, and we ended up getting up just in time to hit Nashville rush hour.

Continued in next post....

 

[TyRy]

The first part wasn’t bad, and it was pretty.

Then we hit downtown where it did jam up…nothing like Chicago, but still something we didn’t want to be in.

Soon enough it opened up and we were on our way again.

Whooo hooo – we’ve made it home…ok, six hours from home, but at least we are on very familiar ground (right by where we went to college and the drive home from SIU.)

Of course, this meant after a few more scenery changes –

It turns into flatland for the majority of the drive.

We did have one distraction…ooo lookie – smoke.

Wasn’t anything big – probably just a farmer burning something. Then we were back to this.

I did eventually drive the minivan as DH said it drove like a dream and I really should. So I gave in, and drove for about an hour…of course that hour was all construction!

We finally hit this – the exit ramp for home.

Next thing we were on the main street headed towards our house and then finally cutting through the neighborhood.

We made it. We had survived the 40th birthday trip I had wanted. Do I wish a few more of my nearest and dearst made it…of course. But I will always be grateful to Evil Twin and Redella for joining me on the trip.

I was trying to think of the highlights and there were a bunch of them, but probably the most magical was that first night, sitting in the CR quiet pool by ourselves, looking up and seeing Wishes go off . The lowlight I think we can all guess – who gets TWO flat tires????!!! I was also happy DH made it through the trip without too much sadness of missing DMIL. This was even after we ended up in the same exact room we had with her the year before. It’s still going to be hard going back without her, but I think time will actually help ease it a bit.

I also want to thank everyone who posted at any point to this very dragged out trip report. I love sharing our adventures and hope you enjoyed them. I always think I’ll finish faster, and have really tried to promise myself I will next time. And with that – I’d like to introduce you to my new Pre-Trip A Giraffe meets the Beach“. This won’t have time to be drawn out, as we leave in about SIX weeks.

 

[irish dancer]

Thanks for the report, I liked reading along with all of your antics. Sounds like you had a pretty good birthday trip.

We will be driving to WDW from the western burbs of Chicago for the first time Thanksgiving week. If you have any tips/pointers or good stopping off points for both lodging and food I'd greatly appreciate it!!

 

[brookelizabeth]

Wonderful report - as always! I'm about to get caught up on the PTR and will be looking forward to the TR!

You blacked out the max speed. How fast was it?!?!?!

SERIOUSLY?!?!? Two!?! Ugh!!!! What a pain!! So sorry you had to deal with that. Yuck. But at least you did get some good food because of it.

Are you driving or flying in 6 weeks? I suppose you'll cover that on the PTR...which I'm going to NOW!

 

[TyRy]

Thanks for the report, I liked reading along with all of your antics. Sounds like you had a pretty good birthday trip.

We will be driving to WDW from the western burbs of Chicago for the first time Thanksgiving week. If you have any tips/pointers or good stopping off points for both lodging and food I'd greatly appreciate it!!

Any idea what time you'll be leaving and about how far you want to get? We leave at goofy times, but I'm happy to help if I can.

Wonderful report - as always! I'm about to get caught up on the PTR and will be looking forward to the TR!

Thanks Brook.

You blacked out the max speed. How fast was it?!?!?!

Let's just say it was OVER the limit...but I do know it was only for a second. The worse part is when I reset it to begin the trip is was even HIGHER I still don't believe that one.

SERIOUSLY?!?!? Two!?! Ugh!!!! What a pain!! So sorry you had to deal with that. Yuck. But at least you did get some good food because of it.

It's the best chicken!!!!

Are you driving or flying in 6 weeks? I suppose you'll cover that on the PTR...which I'm going to NOW!

You've asked and it's been answered over there.

 

[irish dancer]

Any idea what time you'll be leaving and about how far you want to get? We leave at goofy times, but I'm happy to help if I can.

Well, it is a surprise trip for the kids and my plan is to be waiting outside school on that Friday with the car packed and ready to go so we'd be getting on the road no later than 3p (they get out at 2:40p). We're in Elmhurst.

We've talked about stopping the first night near Nashville and then the remainder on Saturday but I want to be in WDW as early as possible. DH is thinking of trying to push to Chattanooga but I think that will be too far the first day with how late we're leaving.

I think I remember from your report that you do the I-57 route, have you ever done I-65? I want the absolute fastest route.

 

[brookelizabeth]

Let's just say it was OVER the limit...but I do know it was only for a second. The worse part is when I reset it to begin the trip is was even HIGHER I still don't believe that one.

 

[TyRy]

Well, it is a surprise trip for the kids and my plan is to be waiting outside school on that Friday with the car packed and ready to go so we'd be getting on the road no later than 3p (they get out at 2:40p). We're in Elmhurst.

We've talked about stopping the first night near Nashville and then the remainder on Saturday but I want to be in WDW as early as possible. DH is thinking of trying to push to Chattanooga but I think that will be too far the first day with how late we're leaving.

I think I remember from your report that you do the I-57 route, have you ever done I-65? I want the absolute fastest route.

How cool that it's a surprise...if only DH would think of that one day!

That's about right when we left last time and I think we got just south of Nashville around midnight. We would have been there much sooner, but DH really really wanted to go to Sonic in Marion, IL and we ended up wasting about an hour plus there. I'll talk to him tonight as his memory is better, but I think that was as far as we could get without falling over.

I'll look to see which town we stopped in...I know it was south of Nashville, just not as far as Chattanooga.

We always take 57 since we both attended SIU and know that road well. We've never tried 65. I know we hop on 294 to 57? I'll find out for sure.

I should have also written that the speed blacked out was by DH...the "alleged" higher one was from me.

 

[DisneyJo]

OMG 2 flat tyres, how awful but glad it got sorted pretty quick and sorry another OMG how many miles/hours did you drive? Honestly you Americans really do amaze me how far you'll drive, I think I say every TR but for us 4 hours is a lot

 

[TyRy]

OMG 2 flat tyres, how awful but glad it got sorted pretty quick and sorry another OMG how many miles/hours did you drive? Honestly you Americans really do amaze me how far you'll drive, I think I say every TR but for us 4 hours is a lot

I think total drive time was / should be between 16-17 hours each way. And the absolute worst part is the first five or six through Illinois. It's so boring and looooong. We have made that trip a hundred times as we attended college in Southern Illinois and it never gets any less BORING!

 

[TyRy]

Well, it is a surprise trip for the kids and my plan is to be waiting outside school on that Friday with the car packed and ready to go so we'd be getting on the road no later than 3p (they get out at 2:40p). We're in Elmhurst.

We've talked about stopping the first night near Nashville and then the remainder on Saturday but I want to be in WDW as early as possible. DH is thinking of trying to push to Chattanooga but I think that will be too far the first day with how late we're leaving.

I think I remember from your report that you do the I-57 route, have you ever done I-65? I want the absolute fastest route.

Quoting this again just to make sure I do not leave out any details.

We took 294 S (hopped on 55 to get there.) to I-80 West to Iowa. I-80 to I-57 Memphis. You have to hop onto 80 since 294 actually goes over 57 and there is no where to exit. Then 57 to 24 to 75 to I think the Florida Turnpike.

We've never done the 65 route, and leaving at that time of day I'd be worried about the Dan Ryan and the highways through Indiana. No big cities going through Illinois.

I want to say we left about 3:30pm last year...since I wanted to leave at 2pm , but we couldn't pack the car until DH got home that afternoon.

We wasted an easy hour in the Marion area at the slowest Sonic on the planet, and finally were in our hotel room about 11:30pm. The hotel was just south of Nashville so we would not have to deal with any traffic in the morning.

We stayed:
Super 8 LaVergne Smyrna Area
110 Enterprise Blvd
I-24 at Exit # 64
Lavergne, TN 37086 US
Phone: 615-793-9999

It was $65 and was decent. Also had a free breakfast (with make your own waffles.)

We left at 6:30am the next morning and with just a few stops, we pulled into the CR just under twelve hours later.

On the way home we winged it, and left WDW about 10am and we stopped in the same basic area. We arrived at our hotel around midnight. We actually could have made it to the tip of Southern IL if we hadn't had the car problems.

We slept in (we were both exhausted after the tire thing) and didn't leave the hotel until 10:30ish. We arrived home about seven. We hit a bunch of roadwork and then rush hour in Illinois that we did not have on the way home.

Hope this helps...let me know if you need any further details.

 

[irish dancer]

Thanks for the info! I think we're going to take the 57 route and see how it goes. We've driven 65 a lot (not to FL though) and we just don't want to deal with the trucks and traffic. We're familiar with the 294-80-57 route as we had friends that lived in Park Forest and that is how we'd get to their house.

I've booked a Country Inn & Suites in Murfreesboro, TN which is just about 20mi further than Lavergne for $85 but it is a suite that will sleep all 5 of us with breakfast too so I thought it was a good deal. If that works out we may just stay there on the way home too. It's going to be an interesting journey.

 

[TyRy]

Thanks for the info! I think we're going to take the 57 route and see how it goes. We've driven 65 a lot (not to FL though) and we just don't want to deal with the trucks and traffic. We're familiar with the 294-80-57 route as we had friends that lived in Park Forest and that is how we'd get to their house.

I've booked a Country Inn & Suites in Murfreesboro, TN which is just about 20mi further than Lavergne for $85 but it is a suite that will sleep all 5 of us with breakfast too so I thought it was a good deal. If that works out we may just stay there on the way home too. It's going to be an interesting journey.

That sounds like a good plan - I would have liked to made it a bit farther but something told me we end up wasting time around SIU that first night - and we did. The drive the next day did not seem bad at all. You guys are going to have a great trip and drive!

 

[nebo]

Boy, the double flat tires bit was crazy, just another reason why we hate having to drive through Atlanta. You mentioned that the first night at CR was the highlight, sitting there, watching Wishes. That first day there or maybe the first morning after arriving is always the best feeling on a Disney trip, must be because you know you have the whole trip still in front of you, that's a feeling that can't be beat.

And Tracy, we really now actually enjoy going through Nashville, doesn't matter if you're taking 24 or 65, there's a ltttle known bypass called the Briley Parkway that not only saves a few miles, but it's like nobody knows it's there and eliminates all the watching to see where you have to be, left or right and totally avoids the downtown area. We've taken it now both going down and coming back up on the last 3 trips so now it's just Atlanta we dread driving through. And you are right, there is no more boring drive in the world than the one down 57 to 24. Especially when you have to do it twice like we just had to.

 

[TyRy]

Boy, the double flat tires bit was crazy, just another reason why we hate having to drive through Atlanta. You mentioned that the first night at CR was the highlight, sitting there, watching Wishes. That first day there or maybe the first morning after arriving is always the best feeling on a Disney trip, must be because you know you have the whole trip still in front of you, that's a feeling that can't be beat.

I never really thought about that, but it is so very true!

And Tracy, we really now actually enjoy going through Nashville, doesn't matter if you're taking 24 or 65, there's a ltttle known bypass called the Briley Parkway that not only saves a few miles, but it's like nobody knows it's there and eliminates all the watching to see where you have to be, left or right and totally avoids the downtown area. We've taken it now both going down and coming back up on the last 3 trips so now it's just Atlanta we dread driving through. And you are right, there is no more boring drive in the world than the one down 57 to 24. Especially when you have to do it twice like we just had to.

Thanks for the tip about the bypass. I MUST remember that for the next driving trip. Anything to avoid confusion and save a few minutes.