Driving from Wisconsin

[stacy2197]

My Husband, two kids (6 & 4), and I will be driving From Wisconsin in just a couple of weeks. My Husband got an extra day off so I'm replanning. We will leave at midnight and arive in St. Louis at aproximatly 8 am. My husband works nights so he will drive the first 4 hours and then I'll drive the rest. Hopfully the kids will be sleeping. We will than tour the gateway arch. Hopefully we will be on our way by noon. We will then drive to somewhere around Atlanta, Georgia and spend the night. It should be about 8pm when we get to Atlanta. Then the next morning we will finish our drive, another 9 hours to cocoa beach. We will spend 1 night there then off to cbr for 7 nights. Here are my questions? Do I need to make reservations for my night in georgia. It will be a thursday night so I don't think the hotels should be to crowded. There is a holiday in in Calhoun, Georgia. Has anyone ever stayed there? Is it a safe area? Any other suggestions on where to stay. I would like to stay a little north of Atlanta so were not driving through the city when were tired. Does anyone know of road construction that would realy slow us down. Sorry this post is so long but I've never gone so far with the kids. We would of flown but my six year old is terrified of planes. He imitates BA from the A-team. I pitty the fool who puts me on a plane. Thanks for any help. Stacy

 

[Jon99]

I might suggest driving south of Atlanta on Thursday night and avoiding the Friday morning traffic, perhaps in Mcdonough????

 

[stacy2197]

Yes your right. I forgot about rush hour traffic. Do you know of any hotels just south of atlanta. Thanks, Stacy

 

[Jon99]

It seems like we stayed at a Best Western in Mcdonough one year....

 

[siouxi31]

For your tour of the gateway arch in St.Louis, I would like to suggest that you get tickets on-line. When I went there with my kids the tickets to ride in the arch were sold out.

 

[stacy2197]

Do you think I would have to buy tickets on line if I was there right at 8am? We definatly want to go up to the top. I'll have to look them up online. Thanks we would have been disapointed if we missed out. Stacy

 

[solotraveler]

HI Stacy-

If you can make it, I highly recommend the area around exit 159 off I-75, if you are taking that particular route. It's about an extra 60-90 minutes south of Atlanta, just north of Macon. Safe, well-lit, lots of chain hotels and restaurants, even a Kinko's to check e-mail if you needed to. We stopped here on our way down from Michigan.

A warning about driving- be VERY careful about speeding through the southern states (esp. GA, TN and AL). Lots of reports (including my own) about police targeting out-of-state drivers with speeding tickets- so be very mindful of the speed limits.

Looks like managable chunks of driving otherwise. Have a Great Trip!

Kevin

 

[WiscMomof2]

I hope all goes well on your trip Stacy! I don't have an answer for you, I just wanted to say hello and send some pixie dust to a fellow Wisconsinite. Hope your family has a great time!

 

[disneymom3]

Hi Stacy,
We got back about two weeks ago from a driving trip with a three, six and one and a half year old in the car. We decided we wished we lived in Wisconsin cause our drive is about 4 hours too long! Madison would be great! So your drive should be just about perfect, unless you are way north. Then you're in our same boat. This is the second time we have done this and we drive through the night too. Sometimes the kids have slept, sometimes they haven't!

There are tons of hotels right off of I-75 south of Atlanta. I would aim for getting south of Atlanta at night rather than try to get past the city in the morning. Rates are pretty reasonable and you don't need reservations. WE just play it by ear and stop when we feel we need to. Plenty of nice looking, clean, safe areas to choose from. There is a nice Ramada Limited in Locust Grove--turn left when you get off the freeway and it's on the right side. We payed about $60 there as an example. That was the Sat of Thanksgiving weekend.

When we were through two weeks ago there was a lot of road construction basically from Kentucky to FL. Didn't seem to affect traffic too much though. Mainly shuttling lanes back and forth. We never got pulled over, but man do they drive fast in GA! We were routinely the slowest car on the road--going 75!--and we did see a LOT of troopers, so I would agree to watch your speed.

Happy to answer any more questions you may have!

 

[stacy2197]

Thanks for all the great tips. I was wondering about how much speeding we could do. My husband thinks just cause someone in front of him is going 80 he can too. I'll have to try to convince him otherwise. It's great to here from other notherners. We live about 45 minutes from Eau Claire if you know were that is. I'm glad we shouldn't have to make reservations. I realy didn't want to worry about finding somewere specific in a differnt place. Thanks