This is my journey.....show me the sights!

[Butterbunkins]

DH and I are driving to Disney and we always want to see something new when we go. This is our drive:

Leave Chicago 'burbs around 8:00pm and drive to Shawnee National Forest in Southern IL. We'll arrive early in the morning (1 -2am) at our favorite campground. We're going to set up our tent, take a nap and then have breakfast at our favorite restaurant for breakfast down there. Then it's back to the campground to relax for the rest of the day. We don't really need any advice here as we know the area quite well and don't plan on doing much for this part of the trip.

The next morning we'll wake up early, pack up and plan to be on the road by 8:00am. We'll drive on I-24 to Nashville and switch to I-40 and take that to Greenback TN. We'll spend the rest of the day and that night with family.

The next day is our long day. We will not be getting back on the interstate right away. We'll be going through the Smokeys and through the towns of Franklin NC and Athens GA and we will eventually pick up with I-75 in Macon GA. We are doing this partly to avoid Atlanta traffic which we always have bad luck with and also just to take the scenic roads through the mountains. We will drive the rest of the way to WDW this day.

We love to see new things so I'm hoping to get some insider tips from people who have found great stops or people who live in these areas. The entire drive from Nashville to Macon will be brand new to us. Since the last day will be our long day, we needs stops that don't require a great amount of time to be able to still stop and enjoy.

Thanks for any advice!

 

[LadyBeBop]

Sounds fun. And ambitious. A few things that stand out.

1) Do you have experience in pitching a tent in the middle of the night? We have trouble pitching tents when the sun is overhead.

2) And is it going to be warm enough to camp in Southern Illinois in the middle of November? Fort Wilderness; yes I can understand. But Illinois?

3) That last day looks to be a killer. It takes us about 10-12 hours to drive from Orlando to my in-laws house near Knoxville. And that's all interstate driving. You'll be on non-interstate roads for a couple of hundred miles.

Now, for my someplace you've never been before suggestion. (Forgive me if you've been theree).

The Loveless Cafe. It's just west of Nashville, at the beginning of the Natchez Trace. Great southern, homestyle cooking. That's where the stars go when they visit Nashville. However, the prices are reasonable. Get there early, because there is usually a 60-90 minute wait for a table.

 

[Butterbunkins]

Sounds fun. And ambitious. A few things that stand out.

1) Do you have experience in pitching a tent in the middle of the night? We have trouble pitching tents when the sun is overhead.

2) And is it going to be warm enough to camp in Southern Illinois in the middle of November? Fort Wilderness; yes I can understand. But Illinois?

3) That last day looks to be a killer. It takes us about 10-12 hours to drive from Orlando to my in-laws house near Knoxville. And that's all interstate driving. You'll be on non-interstate roads for a couple of hundred miles.

Now, for my someplace you've never been before suggestion. (Forgive me if you've been theree).

The Loveless Cafe. It's just west of Nashville, at the beginning of the Natchez Trace. Great southern, homestyle cooking. That's where the stars go when they visit Nashville. However, the prices are reasonable. Get there early, because there is usually a 60-90 minute wait for a table.

You know I don't even think about these things anymore because we do them so often.

1. We actually have a lot of experience putting up the tent in the dark. We have probably put it up in the dark more often than during the day. We have it down to a science. We'll be getting to the campground at the same time we usually get there.

2. We also have winter camped a few times and we know just what to do to keep ourselves warm. Though that was mostly in northern IL. Southern IL has a much different climate and is usually quite mild during this time of the year. One Christmas camping trip we left home with 13 degrees out and by the time we got to Shawnee it was in the 60s. Two days later it was 80. They do get icestorms in the winter and we will adjust our plans if that happens, but they rarely have bad weather in Nov. Most of their winter comes in Jan. and Feb.

3. We'll be fine with the drive. We often take road trips where we are in the car that long. We actually like being in the car so we know what we're getting ourselves into. The only thing we'll never do again is drive straight through from Chicago to Orlando. We've done it and it was fine, but we're just getting too old for that and now we make the driving part of our vacation with stops.

We have never been to The Loveless Cafe, though I think I have heard of it. I looked up their website and it looks like a great place to stop. Since it's a little out of the way I'm thinking it might be a great place to try on our trip home. We'll being staying the night in Chattanooga and taking I-24 all the way till it meets up with I-57 in IL. This might be a perfect little detour for the ride home. Thanks for the suggestion!