The LONG Haul Questions

[mariettadisney71]

To All campers who have done the long haul to get to WDW. I am considering doing the long haul from Connecticut down to FW. I am looking for ideas on places to stay and on what other campers have done. Have any of you stayed at Walmart's or rest area's overnight? Any good spots to stay?

Most likley I will be traveling solo and will meet up with the family after I get there and set up.

I will be traveling with a 30' TT w/slide outs and a small dog. I have never stayed at FW and was wondering what would be a good location (loop)? It looks like I'll have to have a preffered site because of the dog.

Any and all thoughts and comments are welcome. I am in planning mode and I am just doing a sanity check because the longest I've traveled with the camper is about 5 hours. I am guessing it will be about 24 hrs of traveling to get to WDW.

Thanks in advance for all you comments.

 

[Old Snipe]

VA: Flying J Rt. 95 Exit 104
NC: Flying J Rt. 95 Exit 106
SC: Flying J Rt. 95 Exit 181A
GA: Flying J Rt. 95 Exit 29
FL: Flying J Rt. 95 Exit 305 to Hwy 206

I've stayed in all of these during my many trips to FW. You'll be welcome and you can resupply (gas and meals).

Many Walmarts along the way, often stay at the Walterboro, SC one.

Some rest areas you can stay, others do not allow overnight stays, look for the signs to see which one allows it.

Also, campgrounds galore. Recommend the CG at South of the Border, cheap, clean easy access. Behind the Fireworks store.

Best Regards!

 

[gillenkl]

Coming from Delaware we stay at these 2 campgrounds:

Rocky Mount KOA
Savannah South KOA

 

[Live4FW]

VA: Flying J Rt. 95 Exit 104
NC: Flying J Rt. 95 Exit 106
SC: Flying J Rt. 95 Exit 181A
GA: Flying J Rt. 95 Exit 29
FL: Flying J Rt. 95 Exit 305 to Hwy 206

I've stayed in all of these during my many trips to FW. You'll be welcome and you can resupply (gas and meals).

Snipe, Quick question. I pulled up the website for Flying J at Georgia exit 2 I-75 and it said they have RV electrical hookups????

Have you found this at any of the Flying J's you've been too?

 

[KPSmithSr]

I have seen the "RV electrical" at that Flying J on the website too. I have not seen it noted at any other FJ. We have stopped at that FJ a number of times but never really looked for the hookup. We will be stopping there at the end of the month and may take the time to find it. That would be a nice thing for overnight (if you could secure the wire).

 

[Goofyseven]

We are about 1,200 miles from the Fort. We leave at 2:00am on a Thursday and drive thru to about 5:00 pm on Friday. We make it to Valdosta Ga and overnite. The next day its about a 4 hr drive to the Fort.

Loops are a preference and each has its own characteristics, but consider the 300 loop. We stay either at the 200 or 300 and the 300 is a pet loop

 

[Old Snipe]

Snipe, Quick question. I pulled up the website for Flying J at Georgia exit 2 I-75 and it said they have RV electrical hookups????

Have you found this at any of the Flying J's you've been too?

Sorry, but I have not stayed at that FJ (yet). I have traveled around the US and have stayed at many FJs and don't recall ever seeing electrical hookups. I have a generator on my MH and run that as needed.

I'm sure someone who has additional information will let us both know.

Best Regards!

 

[LarryJ]

To All campers who have done the long haul to get to WDW. I am considering doing the long haul from Connecticut down to FW. I am looking for ideas on places to stay and on what other campers have done. Have any of you stayed at Walmart's or rest area's overnight? Any good spots to stay?

Most likley I will be traveling solo and will meet up with the family after I get there and set up.

I will be traveling with a 30' TT w/slide outs and a small dog. I have never stayed at FW and was wondering what would be a good location (loop)? It looks like I'll have to have a preffered site because of the dog.

Any and all thoughts and comments are welcome. I am in planning mode and I am just doing a sanity check because the longest I've traveled with the camper is about 5 hours. I am guessing it will be about 24 hrs of traveling to get to WDW.

Thanks in advance for all you comments.

Nothing against you but we are now on a 40 day trip starting in Northern Va. and as I type this are sitting in Bar Harbor Maine and still need to loop around thru NH and Vt on our way home. Personally I would never plan a stop at a WM and stick mainly to KOA CGs because they are for the most part a known and you can plan your trip around them.

On our way down to WDW we have stayed at the Smithfield, Enfield, Florance, Point South (our least favorite), Jax, and Rocky Mount KOAs and all have been fine.

I like to stop for the night, plug in and relax and not be on a budget at some WM w/o all the conveniences I spent money on to have in this trailer by boondocking it so to speak.

Larry

 

[BradyBz12]

We travel down from Southern NH - about 1300+ miles. DH and I plus 2 border collies, pulling a 21' hybrid.

We generally leave around 5pm, drive through to the Richmond VA area and pull over in a WM for about a 5 hour nap.

Next day we try to get to Jacksonville FL by 8-9pm. We've stayed at the same WM the last couple of years and like being able to get up early in the a.m., do all our grocery shopping and head out for the last 3 hours to FW.

We've stayed in numerous WMs between VA and FL, and all, well lit, well patrolled, and we've never had any trouble with our quick boondocking stops.

Forgot to add....
There is actually only one Preferred pet loop (300) but there are several Premium pet loops. So when making a reservation, you can ask for either site category based on what you need/want - size of site, cost etc.. - and don't worry about the "pet" part.

Actually, it seems these days Disney is putting pet people in just about ANY loop - but you'll still want to make sure your dog is noted on your ressie.

 

[mdoc]

We drive down from northern Illinois twice a year; it's about a 21 hour trip. We usually do 15 hours the first day and the remainder the second day on the way down, which gets us to the Fort at about check-in time. On the way home we split it differently depending on what time we leave Disney. DH does all the driving. We generally overnight at a campground that's right off the highway and has easy-in/easy-out pull through sites. We've thought about staying at Walmart, but always end up going to a campground and plugging in. When our kids were younger, DH didn't want to make that long drive with them, and he had me fly down with them while he pulled the trailer. On those trips, he stayed at truck stops and rest areas (and made good use of earplugs).

I'm not sure anymore which loops are pet loops and which ones aren't. I like the 1400 and 600 loops for their proximity to the pool, campfire and Meadows Trading Post. I like the loops closer to the settlement (100, 200, 300, 400, 700) for their proximity to Pioneer Hall, the marina, etc. If you like quiet and seclusion, the 1900 loop is great. It depends what you're looking for. I've never stayed in a loop at FW that I didn't like.

 

[mrsscooter]

We also make the trek from Connecticut (southeast, actually) to florida once a year. We mainly take the car, but now we have the trailer so we took that last year and will be going to the fort for the first time this october. We have a 26' travel trailer and pull it with a F250. We usually leave at 3:00am and drive until about 5pm. That puts us just over the border in South Carolina, at the Florence KOA. That way we get in at a decent time, some light still out and we can cook and let the kids run around and stretch. We just do a pull through, and we dont disconnect from the hitch. We just lower the jacks to limit the bounce and hook up to water and or sewer. In the morning, we are usually up and on the road again by 8am. We are usually in Ocala, Fl. by about 5 or 6 pm. We went down one time in June and left around 12noon and made it to D.C. (traffic was horrible) and stayed at the Washington/D.C. Capitol KOA which is just outside Annapolis. We ended up getting a flat at THAT KOA, due to a piece of pipe sticking out of the ground. We were able to pull in and stay, but the next morning we got up, put on the spare, and sought out a tire place that carried our tires. So, we would have left the next morning early, but didnt get on the road until around 11am. So, after that, it put us at the S.C. Florence KOA. We stayed there for the night, got out by 8am the next morning and made it to Ocala around 4pm. I hope this helps. My husband has driven down there and back many many times, between being stationed in Orlando, and then in Virginia and Connecticut and upstate New York, he has all the routes figured out. PM me if you want his favorite/fastest route........Good luck and safe travel to you.

 

[mariettadisney71]

Hey everybody,
Thanks for the great ideas and suggestions. I have a lot of planning to do. I'll be checking out all of those KOAs and Flying J's sites and plan a route based on mileage I can get out of my truck.

 

[graciejane]

It's about 1200 miles from my driveway to FW. THe first night on the road we usually stay at a rest area. We always leave after work on Friday and go till the drivers get tired then we stop at a rest area or this last time we stopped at Wally world and it actually worked out pretty good for us. I know that not everyone is a fan of parking lot stops for the night but it worked and the bathrooms were clean...of course it was 12:30 am. Then we drive to Valdosta GA and stop there for the night and that makes an easy drive (4 hours or so) to WDW.

 

[Shan-man]

I have overnighted in lots of Walmarts and Rest Areas, but I would have to say, rarely does it make for a good night's sleep for us. Traffic coming and going, semi's idling, generators running, vagrant's knocking looking for handouts, street sweepers cleaning the parking lot at 2am... I'm not a big fan. I'll still do it, especially in cooler weather, but if it's warm enough that I might like to run the air then I'm looking for a cheap RV park.

Just my 2¢

 

[bigdisneydaddy]

Lately the Flying J is mostly full at night, there is a huge shortage of places for truck parking and even with the down economy they fill up fast, I would not plan a trip using the J without a backup plan.
As for the J on 75 at mm2, we stopped going to that one, last I was there was over a yr ago and they did not have any RV spots that I saw, it must be a new addition. They almost always have a very long line at the RV pumps and the wait is much longer than I will tolerate, I used the big truck diesel pumps (which I often do at Pilot and Hess) and they got snotty about me using them (there were at least 4 empty while I was in there) my rig is over 55ft long total so its not like I am in a minivan pulling a popup, plus the panhandlers were aggresive the last time also, I go North a few miles and hit the Hess on the East side.

 

[BradyBz12]

Gotta say we've never had a problem with panhandlers or anyone bothering us at the WMs we've stayed at. Don't know if it makes a difference, but the ones we stop at are usually in big, fairly new, shopping complexes - typically off the main road a bit.

When we've pulled in at 2am to one near Richmond VA, there are usually very few other campers, and the parking lot is SO huge that any cars there doing late night shopping are pretty far away. Also (maybe because it's new) the delivery trucks aren't usually close by either - although we have experienced that at other WMs. It's incredibly well lit, and I gotta say pretty quiet for a WM!

A year ago we pulled into a Jacksonville WM Thanksgiving night. We weren't thinking "black Friday" until we were woken up by an insane amount of car traffic at 5am, and opened the camper to find that our "out of the way" parking spot in the furthest corner of the lot, was surrounded by cars!

Overall it generally works for us for a quick stop/nap, but maybe we've just been lucky so far.

 

[bigdisneydaddy]

I have never had a problem with panhandlers other than the Flying j at mm2 on I75.
We have never used a Walmart for parking, typically we stop at rest areas or Flying J and sleep for 6 hrs or so.

 

[bigdisneydaddy]

I have overnighted in lots of Walmarts and Rest Areas, but I would have to say, rarely does it make for a good night's sleep for us. Traffic coming and going, semi's idling, generators running, vagrant's knocking looking for handouts, street sweepers cleaning the parking lot at 2am... I'm not a big fan. I'll still do it, especially in cooler weather, but if it's warm enough that I might like to run the air then I'm looking for a cheap RV park.

Just my 2¢

I hear you on that ones Shan, a good nights sleep for less than $30 can make a quick stop at a campground well worth the money.