For those who drive a motor home down

[Brumeiser]

from either Michigan or Ohio please look over my schedule for this fall am I within reason or no? We are leaving northwest Ohio on Tuesday before Thanksgiving at 3:30pm. My goal the first night is to drive through to at least Northern Kentucky for the night. That way Cincinnati is over with. Wednesday my goal is to get through Atlanta and then stop somewhere in Georgia. And then from there we are driving down to Sarasota on Thanksgiving for a few days rest and then on to Disney on Sunday. Do I need to tweak this or does this look good? This summer coming back from Wisconsin I drove around 400 miles one day and managed which also included driving through Chicago.

 

[beagles7278]

I dont' see a problem with it but Wednesday is going to be a bit of a hike. With that said though, that is what works for us, everyone is different and can tolerate different amounts of driving. Some people think we are crazy for driving more than 200 miles in a day.

I would say have a back up plan ready with stops along the way just in case. We were planning on something similar when we headed down in March, unfortunately economic conditions are going to force us to cancel our trip.

Are you planning campgrounds for your stops or boondocking? We usually plan on stopping at Walmarts because we drive a little late and don't want to pull into a campground late at night and disturb others. But like I said, that is what works for us. Let me know and I can give you some of our stops along the way that we have used in the past if you are interested.

 

[Brumeiser]

I think Tuesday night we may be boondocking the way it looks, I think it will be too late to get into a campground, this will be new for us but I think that is the best way plus that way I can drive till 11pm or so. I heard Flying J or Walmart is a good spot for boondocking. Wednesday night we hope to find a campground in Georgia and we are set for our campground in Sarasota for our arrival on Thursday.

 

[DaveInTN]

I don't think your distances look overly aggressive. You just might need flexibility in case of some early season winter weather. On our last trip in December, we made the entire 700 mile trip home in one day in our MH. I prefer to limit my days to 400 miles or so, but everything was going well so we just did it.

BTW - if all goes well we will be there the same time as you. We plan on arriving the Sat after Thanksgiving and will stay for 8 nights. Maybe we'll see you there!

 

[Shan-man]

Just a word of caution, once you get south of Warner Robins, GA there is almost nothing until you get to Valdosta... it's a long dark lotta nothing too. You might want to find a stop between Forsyth and Warner Robins. Traffic can be pretty bad between Forsyth and Atlanta, unless they have improved the roads in the last several years: Forsyth has always acted as a bottleneck. I'm sorry I don't have any personal recommendations for CGs in this area, but this CG in Perry is cheap and has good reviews.

 

[We4mickey]

We don't drive a motorhome, but pull our camper from Wisconsin. We usually drive to around Atlanta the first day and then to the fort on the next. There are some times that you feel like you could just keep driving. If that's the case we go until we don't want to drive anymore.

 

[disneydawgs]

Its 475 miles from my house in Atlanta to the fort. I would stay on the North side of Atlanta, get up around 5 a.m. and be at the fort between 11:30 to 1:00. By getting up early you skip traffic, also I can make the drive in six and a half hours in my truck, but that is really pushing it.

 

[gmflanigan]

We drive a MH from central Illinois--right outside Springfield. We leave @ 6 am on Friday after Thanksgiving. We always make sure we stop south of Atlanta somewhere. We stop at a Walmart for the night and get to FW Saturday am.

 

[SewBzzzy]

We drive from Oxford, Michigan (about an hour north of Detroit) and have done all different driving scenerios.

1) We've driven "straight through" in cars, truck and pop-ups - about 24 hours, including rest stops and eating
2) We've driven down spending two nights on the road (2-1/2 days) with pop-ups and our motorhome.
3) And we've driven down in 1-1/2 days with our motorhome.

We tend to take our time and stop every few hours, but this is usually how we do it: 5-6 hours to Cincinnatti, 4-5 hours through Kentucky, 2-3 hours through Tennessee, 6-7 hours through Georgia, and about 3-4 hours to the Fort.

Obviously, time depends on traffic and weather conditions, as us northerners know that those ice and snow storms slow us down a bit. This year we plan on leaving Friday at noon and making it to Corbin, KY or just south of Knoxville - depending on weather and stamina. We've pulled into campgrounds after hours - but have called ahead. They usually leave the paperwork for you on their "board" or door. The second day we plan on making it to northern Florida - stopping early and resting - then continuing on to Disney Sunday morning. We've gotten TONS of great advice on this forum!!! Very knowledgeable and helpful people! Maybe we'll run into some of them on vacation!

 

[wrongagain]

I have driven the bus from mass to the fort straight thru and its not as much of a joy as you may think.
Any more than about 8 hours driving and I start to get a little snippy, at least thats what she tells me
And I must admit she is right.
But trying to get there on a schedule and being the only driver, sometimes you've got to do, what you've got to do.

 

[DisneyDadinOhio]

As long as you miss Cincy during rush hour (about 5:00-6:30pm), you should be fine. You just might hit the engineering disaster that is I75 through Dayton though..!

 

[SewBzzzy]

Funny you should mention the Cincy traffic! I've thought of that, too! I know we usually try to avoid rush hour, but with leaving home at 1:00 p.m., I estimate us hitting Cincy around 6:00 or 7:00. Is there any way to avoid it? A route other than I-75 straight through? What should we do to avoid problems in Dayton? We'll both be driving 35 foot MH's, towing. Thanks!

 

[Tigger1966]

Have they ever finished the road construction between Atlanta and Valdosta? Or should I say will they ever finish?

 

[LuckyinGa]

Have they ever finished the road construction between Atlanta and Valdosta? Or should I say will they ever finish?

We moved from Florida to Georgia in August of 1999 and the road construction was going on. As of last November, it was still going on!!

That's called job security.

 

[Tigger2ntinkerbell]

Hello Neighbor we live in Holly,Mi.
We also drive straight thought, but this year will be the first time we are taking the Travel trailer. We will more than likely stop in Valdosta,Ga for the night and then hit the road early and pull into FW in the Am.

Have a safe trip.
Tigger2ntinkerbell

 

[DisneyDadinOhio]

Funny you should mention the Cincy traffic! I've thought of that, too! I know we usually try to avoid rush hour, but with leaving home at 1:00 p.m., I estimate us hitting Cincy around 6:00 or 7:00. Is there any way to avoid it? A route other than I-75 straight through? What should we do to avoid problems in Dayton? We'll both be driving 35 foot MH's, towing. Thanks!

Not much you can do about coming down 75, but you should be okay coming through Dayton at that time. There is major construction at the 70/75 interchange (and on through the Dayton area), but you shouldnt have any problems when you come through. Cincy could be a different story - I would tune to 700 AM (or CB) to listen for any traffic issues, and if there are some take I-275 EAST around Cincy. It's about 17 miles further going around, but it beats wasting an hour sitting in traffic.

 

[beagles7278]

Hello Neighbor we live in Holly,Mi.
We also drive straight thought, but this year will be the first time we are taking the Travel trailer. We will more than likely stop in Valdosta,Ga for the night and then hit the road early and pull into FW in the Am.

Have a safe trip.
Tigger2ntinkerbell

Saying hello from Goodrich. Where do you guys plan on stopping in Valdosta?

As for Cincy traffic, I have heard the horror stories but have never had any problems, and we went through at rush hour the last 2 times on our way back. Now Atlanta during rush hour on the other hand is another story. I think you could walk through Atlanta faster than you can drive during rush hour.

 

[Tigger1966]

If you are stoping near Valdosta then you have to stay at the Eagles Roost off exit 5 in Lake Park.

 

[SewBzzzy]

"Hey!" to all the Michigan and Ohio northerners! Aren't we lucky that soon we'll be on our way down south, where it's warm? We're getting ANOTHER 2 or 3 inches of snow tonight, as we speak. We have such HUGE piles of snow now that there's no where to put any more! Our family is counting down the days.

Yes, we've stayed at the Eagles Roost, too. After leaving Michigan at 1:30 a.m. on Saturday last year, we arrived at the Eagles Roost around 8:30 or 9:00 p.m. Saturday night and immediately CRASHED! We were TIRED after spending 19-1/2 hours or so on the road. We slept well and drove the last few hours to FW the next morning. We arrived after closing, so they had posted our site number and information on their "board". We were lucky to get the last pull through they had left. The sites are small and close together - but for an overnight stop, it was perfect. It had rained and there was quite a bit of debris and sand on the ground that we had to be careful not to track into the MH. The KOA across the road looked nice, too! Anyone stopped there? Any good Passport campground to recommend in Lake City, FLA or so? I think that's as far as we'll make it the 2nd night this year. Thanks! Wish we could find a good passport campground on the KY/TN border!

 

[beagles7278]

"Hey!" to all the Michigan and Ohio northerners! Aren't we lucky that soon we'll be on our way down south, where it's warm?

Unfortunately it looks like our luck has run out and we will have to cancel our trip. We were suppose to be there March 6th-16th but this great economy has claimed another victim(my job). The life of an engineer in the auto industry.

In Valdosta there is a Walmart at exit 16 that is a good place to overnight if you need it. There will be several RV's there, that is where we usually park when we drive late.