Driving from Michigan

[jrrspartan]

Hi! I'm new to the board. I have gotten a ton of great information from you all. I'm talking my family to DW for the first time (I've never been either ) in a couple of weeks. We will be leaving early Saturday morning (Oct. 30), and I plan to drive all day and stop somewhere in Georgia? I have the "Along I-75" book (it's great).

I was wondering if anyone has driven 75 recently? Any construction or areas I need to be concerned about? I'm leaving early Saturday morning so I assume I won't have to worry about rush hour traffic anywhere. Any recommendations on where to spend the night in Georgia?

Any thoughts or experiences would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[solotraveler]

Hi there!

We did the drive from Michigan in December 2002. A couple of tips:

1. You really shouldn't have to worry about rush-hour traffic, that's true. The only significant slow-downs we experienced occurred in Tennessee where I-75 switches back southwest after Knoxville- you go a good bit of distance driving directly into the setting sun. Once the sun went down, no problems.

2. We stopped in Georgia north of Macon at Exit 169, I believe. There are several chain hotels, several restaurants and a gas station there. It worked out to be about 14 hours from our starting point in GR. We loved this location-- it gets you past Atlanta (traffic you do NOT want to experience) and you're only about 5.5-6 hours from WDW. We stayed in the Hampton Inn there.

Hope this helps!
Solotraveler

 

[jrrspartan]

Thanks for the info Solo! I was thinking the Macon area might be a good spot, and I've experienced the Atlanta traffic nightmares. Hopefully it won't be so bad on a Saturday.

Anyone else have any more recent experiences?

 

[sorcerormickey]

We just did the 'big drive' 6 weeks ago for our move down here.

Didn't really have a problem with constuction back-ups at all - we were very surprised. The AAA TripTik indicated a few construction problem areas, but we didn't run into any back-ups.

Also, we stopped in Atlanta overnight (Marriott Marquis), probably about 12 hours after we left the Dearborn area. Then it was only about 5 hours til we got here. If you are going to hit the Atlanta area during rush hour, use the altrnate route around the city. If not, then head straight thru Atlanta - it will save you time.

Good luck!

 

[chesirekate]

Hi, we drove to WDW from Michigan about three weeks ago. Since we had a 2 year-old with us, we took our time as much as possible and stopped twice. We left on a Sunday morning and took 23 south to 75 south. We stopped for late afternoon lunch just south of Cincy and stopped for the night just outside Lexington KY. The speed limit is 65 through Ohio and Ky, which was pretty annoying

The next day we went into Lexington for a bit to go to a record store my dh wanted to hit, then hopped back on 75 and made it through Tenn (some construction here but nothing that delayed us) and into Ga. We hit Atlanta about 6 or 6:30 pm and the traffic looked awful heading north. We hit just a bit of traffic on the southside of the city that held us up maybe 10 minutes or so. Not bad for a major city on a weekday. We took 475 around Macon (shorter than taking 75 through Macon), and stayed somewhere south of the city, can't recall the name of the town.

The next day we hopped back on 75 and made it into Florida. We took the turnpike to 27 south to 192 and into WDW.

It was an exceptionally easy drive, with moderate traffic and plenty of decent places to stay along the way, as well as lots of chain restaurants to take in meals. Though I *never* want to see another Cracker Barrel We've done that drive straight through before, in about 22 hours, but this was a much more leisurely trip, which was nice.

Now, coming back was pretty easy too, but Sunday early evening traffic through Cincy was *awful*! Fine going south but really backed up going north and we didn't see any reason for it (no accident or special event that we could figure out). Just an FYI to be prepared for a bit of a wait there on the way home.

Have a great trip!

 

[jrrspartan]

Thanks so much everyone! Anyone stay anywhere around Cordele GA on the way down?

 

[chesirekate]

I think we stayed at a Comfort Inn in Byron, GA on the way down. Clean, with an enclosed outdoor pool that was really nice at night. Horrible staff at the counter though! We were about the only people there and had the pool to ourselves. On the way back up we stayed in Dalton GA at the Comfort Inn. Not a great place but had an indoor pool. We had a discount code for Choice hotels so stayed in those every night. The best one was a Sleep Inn suite we had north of Cincy. Very nice. Appeared brand new.

Ps, are you in the East Lansing area? We're outside of Lansing but used to live in E.L. and my husband still works there. I prefer it in the summer when there are about 30k less students, but still end up there at least once a week for dinner or shopping.

 

[GaTech]

Originally posted by jrrspartan
I was wondering if anyone has driven 75 recently? Any construction or areas I need to be concerned about?

Here is a link to see the planned construction in Georgia...NaviGAtor

 

[Scutapipig]

Hi! Michigan here....

A drive to Cordale from GR. MI via I-75 will take you approximately 16 hours, with another 5.5 hours the following day.

If my memory is correct, the exit there is nice, with a Cracker Barrel.

 

[jrrspartan]

Thanks everyone! I've noticed a big descrepancy in driving times from Michigan that people quote in various places on this board. I've seen drive times vary from 16 hours to 22. I wonder if that is due to the times that people drive or the speed they travel. Knowing my lead foot I will be towards the shorter times

Cheshire - I went to State, now living in Troy. Still make it to EL a couple times a year. Go have a Corona and a Topopo salad at El AzTeco for me!

 

[disneydiz]

Jrrspartan -

I think it depends where you live in Michigan. Some of these people were in Dearborn, others in mid-state, etc. If you are in Troy, then it will take approximately 21 hours. We are about a half hour from you and it always takes us about 20 hours. It takes about 12 hours to hit the northern tip of Atlanta, and depending on traffic in Atlanta, about 8-hours more. Most drive times depend on traffic in Atlanta.

 

[jrrspartan]

Only 6 days till we roll!!! Any new updates from anyone - any big construction issues? I'm a little concerned about the Atlanta traffic, but will it be bad on a Saturday afternoon?

 

[Scutapipig]

The link to Navigator that GaTech provided earlier in the post looks like its a great site for reference. I would start there, or possibly call your local AAA office to see if they might be able to provide additional information. (Although you may have to be a AAA member to obtain construction information.)