What route from Michigan to Florida??

[kimba18]

Looking for advice on a route from Michigan to Disney. Those of you who have taken 75 all the way how many mountains do you encounter? How big and steep are they? We are towing a 26ft TT with a Ford Expedition. How many lanes go through Atlanta? Do you have to do alot of lane changing in Atlanta? All the map routing services give you a different way to go. Have thought about 65 also? Any experiences out there? Rand McNally and Yahoo both take us over to the east coast picking up 40 in Tenesse and taking it over to 95? Thanks for your opinions.

 

[daughtersrus]

We're not from the Michigan (we're in the Chicago suburbs) but we towed our trailer to FW this past summer. We went through IN but picked up 75 and went through Atlanta. The traffic was heavy but managable. We have a 30 ft travel trailer and towed it with our full-size Ford conversion van. We didn't have any trouble but the gas mileage is horrible. We got somewhere around 8 miles/gallon but that's also with the air conditioner on in the van. The "hilliest" part was in Chattanooga.

IMO, you shouldn't have any problems towing. Your truck is bigger than ours and we did fine. We tried to plan our trip as to not hit the big cities (Indi, Atlanta...) around rush hour times. We're used to traffic but it's different when you have a trailer behind you.

Have a great trip!

 

[Rhonda]

When you go through Atlanta, you have 2 options - to go around the city, or straight through the city. Going around is longer, but during rush hour times, it's faster. We usually hit Atlanta in the middle of the day, so we go straight through and have no problems!

There aren't many mountains. Just a short stretch of them south of Nashville (near Chatanooga). A couple of steep inclines, but nothing too bad. It's very pretty!

 

[bigdisneydaddy]

Having driven this at least once a year for the last 10 years I can say that I-75 is definetly the way to go. You shouldnt have trouble with that size trailer considering your tow vehicle size. The Mountains are primarily in Tenn from Jellico to Knoxville and then around Chatanooga.
The area where I-75 and I-40 run together through Knoxville gets very congested.
My advice on Atlanta is to go straight through and stay to the middle. Time of day has never been a factor for me. Watch the signs and you will be okay.
Take the Macon bypass ( I think it is I-475) It is shorter and the road is new.
Gas is always cheaper when you get to Georgia ! ( my 99 suburban had a 44 gal tank, we used to be able to get to Dalton GA on one tank with a few gallons to spare)

send me a note if you have any other questions.

 

[kimba18]

Thanks for all of your input. I-75 it is. Sounds like that is the way to go. It does make you wonder though why no map routing service gives you directions for this way. Hmmm!

 

[pmountain]

Hi Kimba18:
We just got back from our trip to FW. And of course the FIRST thing I do is check out the FW board... I've got to get a life!
Anyway.. we drove from Ontario through Detroit and took I-75 all the way there and back. Definitely the way to go. I think the mountains on I-95 are higher. We took our I-75 bible with us "Travelling I-75" , don't leave home without it.
http://www.i75online.com/
It shows every inch of the way. Tells you the gas, lodging and food at every exit and tells you what side of the highway they are on, if there is a play area etc.etc. Also shows the elevation along every inch of the road. There are step by step directions for going through all the cities. It tells you what lane to be in, when you should move to left lane or right or what ever.
Check out the web site. You won't be disappointed with this book. I promise!!
Pete.

 

[kimba18]

I wonder if you can find that book in the local book store. We leave in a week. Pete how long did it take you guys to get there. Did you pull a camper? What did you pull and with what? We are thinking of stopping at ( I think it is) Sweetwater, Tenn at the KOA for our first stop which is 10 hour driving time away from where we are starting at in Michigan. Our kids will be sleeping for alot of that drive time since we are not leaving until 3:00 in the afternoon.

 

[daughtersrus]

Be sure to watch your speed through Atlanta. On our way home, we saw AT LEAST 10 squad cars looking for speeders.

We stayed at a KOA in Manchest TN on our way down. It's right off the highway. The kids loved swimming.

If you're not leaving until 3:00pm that means you'll be checking in at 1:00am. We've never checked in that late. Will someone be there to register you? Just wondering how that works.

Have a great trip!

 

[daughtersrus]

Be sure to watch your speed through Atlanta. On our way home, we saw AT LEAST 10 squad cars looking for speeders.

We stayed at a KOA in Manchester TN on our way down. It's right off the highway. The kids loved swimming.

If you're not leaving until 3:00pm that means you'll be checking in at 1:00am. We've never checked in that late. Will someone be there to register you? Just wondering how that works.

Have a great trip!

 

[kimba18]

Thanks for the tip on Atlanta. I figure with the stops we will be making it will probably be 2:00 a.m. when we check in. I figure I will call the campground ahead of time and see how it works when you pull in that late. I know my dad has pulled in that late and he always just pays them in the morning.

 

[pmountain]

Kimba18
We drove from London Ontario towing a 1300 lb pop-up behind a Dodge Caravan V6 3.0L with two adults and two kids (6&4). The Caravan towed the trailer pretty good, but not full speed up hill. We did a total distance from London to FW of 1317 miles in 25 hours. I drove between 65 and 75 mph (not up hill though) most of the time. But our average speed (including rest stops etc.) is usually between 52 and 55 mph. We left London at 4 am and stoped at Cartersville KOA (just north of Atlanta) at 7:10 pm (800 miles). The office closed at 7:00 so we just picked a site, filled out the form, put the money and form in the slot and went to bed. We were gone at 7am, so we never saw anyone. We stopped at Sweetwater KOA on the way back. Very nice people and the office is open until atleast 8pm. The pool is closed, but they have tv lounge, game room, laundry etc. There are relatively level, paved, pull-through sites across from the playground. It cost us $23. It would be pretty close to 12 hours to FW from there.
I got my I-75 book from my local CAA office (Canadian branch of AAA). I have seen it in book stores too.
Any more questions just let me know.
Pete

 

[MontanaCowgirl]

Every time we drive to FL we go a different route since we are sight-seeing. On our next trip we will be traveling in November 2003 (hope we don't run into any snow or ice) & attempting to travel the quickest route. Thanks for the tip on the I-75 book. Sounds like Sweetwater would make for a great last stop before the mouse! We drive a dually Dodge pickup with an 11 1/2 foot pickup camper on it. I drove through Atlanta just after rushhour last time. We were going into the city just at 5pm & we decided to just pull into the rest area to wait out the rushhour traffic & have dinner in the camper & relax. What a "right decision" that was. Turned out many of the truckers did the same thing & they knew when it was time to head out again. We just followed them & whizzed right on through Atlanta! Anyone else from Montana, Idaho, the Dakotas or Wyoming heading that way at that time? Would love to hear from you & maybe even have a traveling buddy system to fall back on! On my last trip the only bad part was when we went through KY & I'm sorry I don't remember the interstate number. I will have to go check in my log book. It wasn't really bad but it was the most mountainous part. But what breathtaking scenery!!!!! I would deffinately take that route again in the Summer months! Or I bet Fall is beautiful there through the mountains!

 

[cindywwilliams]

We drove 75 from Atlanta to Disney last Dec. 26. It appeared that half of N America was heading south! Took 12 hrs (from B'ham AL) and usually only takes a little over 9. We were stop and go for hours. It is a great road but I would avoid the day after Christmas!