IL to GA in February--route and campsites

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

jemz

Well-known member
Joined
May 27, 2012
Posts
154
We'll be taking our 29 foot MH to Atlanta and then Orlando in early February.  Hopefully the weather in IL (near Chicago) will cooperate to let us leave! 
A friend recently mentioned to avoid mountainous states along the way...like KY.  I guess his concern is inclement weather/ slick winding roads. Is this a real concern?  I haven't mapped our route, or driven this direction more than once in my life so I'm not sure yet that this is a real concern.  Any advice? 
Also any recommendations on where to camp in Atlanta?  I guess we 'll need a one night stop on the way there too. And probably 2 nights at different points along the route on the way back from Orlando.
We have reservations to camp at WDW while we're in Orlando.
Thanks!
 
Thanks!  I guess we'll take the wait and see approach here.  If the weather is dry we'll take the shortes route, if not we'll change plans accordingly. 

Anyone have any thoughts on campgrounds along the way or in/near Atlanta?
 
Joel, It's funny, as I finally looked at a road atlas for this trip, I came up with the same route you mentioned. 
If the weather looks good, we'll cut over on 24 in Nashville to hook up to 75.

Anyone been on this pat of the route and know anything I should know?

I think we'll drive as far as we can (or the kids will allow) in one day and find a hotel along the way to Atlanta.  And the same plan for the way home from Orlando.  Hoping for good/dry weather!

Still would like a reommendation for camping near Atlanta.  And any tips on where to park an RV downtown!  My husband will drop me off at a hotel for my seminar while he and the kids camp 2 nights and see area attractions.  We don't tow a car though.

We've been in downtown Atlanta before but not with an RV.  The area by the aquarium and Coke museum would be nice for them to visit.

 
The stretch between Nashville and Atlanta has some steep grades as you pass through the mountain range. In poor weather this could be dicey, I-65 would be flatter and safer, but more miles.

The other day someone on the forum posted this link, http://www.wunderground.com/roadtrip/ for a neat trip planner. It shows the weather along the route you select which could come in handy especially during the winter.

For overnight stops we joined Passport America for the 50% discount. We prefer this over truck stops or Walmarts. Their website has a directory of campgrounds and there are quite a few from Nashville south along your probable route. We usually check the directory then go to http://www.rvparkreviews.com to get some ratings from those who stayed there.

Edit: after checking the PA directory there are not as many as I recalled.
 
We use rvparkreviews a lot. In fact, found a cg (also a Gs cg) on our way home from MS just this past weekend using that site. Ours was in Piney Mtn, Ga which is an hour south of Atlanta. I'm sure you can find plenty of CGS on outskirts of the city. We weren't looking for anything w/I the city so can't help you there.
 
SeilerBird said:
Are you going to Disney World in February? I will be there for the first two weeks of February.

We are. We'll be there from the 10th to the 17th camping at Fort Wilderness.  Are you camping too?  Onsite? 

This is our first time camping there.  We are DVC members (own at Boardwalk Villas, Bay Lake Tower, and Animal Kingdom Villas) so I'd say we're WDW veterens, but camping newbies!

I'd appreciate any tips about Fort Wilderness if you have them!
 
dave61 said:
The stretch between Nashville and Atlanta has some steep grades as you pass through the mountain range. In poor weather this could be dicey, I-65 would be flatter and safer, but more miles.

The other day someone on the forum posted this link, http://www.wunderground.com/roadtrip/ for a neat trip planner. It shows the weather along the route you select which could come in handy especially during the winter.

For overnight stops we joined Passport America for the 50% discount. We prefer this over truck stops or Walmarts. Their website has a directory of campgrounds and there are quite a few from Nashville south along your probable route. We usually check the directory then go to http://www.rvparkreviews.com to get some ratings from those who stayed there.

Edit: after checking the PA directory there are not as many as I recalled.

I appreciate the resources!  My sister just returned from visiting her in-laws near Atlanta and convinced me that we should take the longer flatter route.  She says she is scared driving her car through the mountains!  Wait a minute...I just remembered that she has no depth perception.  Her opinion may be off.  Ayway, we won't even consider it unless we go through during daylight hours in dry conditions.  Our RV is less than 30 feet, but we aren't the most experienced drivers either. 
 
jemz said:
We are. We'll be there from the 10th to the 17th camping at Fort Wilderness.  Are you camping too?  Onsite? 

This is our first time camping there.  We are DVC members (own at Boardwalk Villas, Bay Lake Tower, and Animal Kingdom Villas) so I'd say we're WDW veterens, but camping newbies!

I'd appreciate any tips about Fort Wilderness if you have them!
Yep, I am staying at Fort Wilderness from Jan 31st to Feb 13. I have never camped at Fort Wilderness and I have never been to Disney World. I am not a DVC member either. I would love to have a lunch with you while I am there.
 
Steve & Linda said:
We use rvparkreviews a lot. In fact, found a cg (also a Gs cg) on our way home from MS just this past weekend using that site. Ours was in Piney Mtn, Ga which is an hour south of Atlanta. I'm sure you can find plenty of CGS on outskirts of the city. We weren't looking for anything w/I the city so can't help you there.

Hope you had a good trip!  We'll check out that site.  Thanks!
 
SeilerBird said:
Yep, I am staying at Fort Wilderness from Jan 31st to Feb 13. I have never camped at Fort Wilderness and I have never been to Disney World. I am not a DVC member either. I would love to have a lunch with you while I am there.

Your first trip to Disney World, and you're staying 2 weeks?!  Wow! 

We're planning pretty packed days at the parks since we'll get in on the evening of the 10th and I have a seminar that starts on the 14th, so we don't have a ton of park time together.  With the kids our schedule is unpredicatable, so I don't know if it's possible to meet up for lunch.  If you need any Disney tips though, let me know!
 
jemz said:
We are. We'll be there from the 10th to the 17th camping at Fort Wilderness.  Are you camping too?  Onsite? 

This is our first time camping there.  We are DVC members (own at Boardwalk Villas, Bay Lake Tower, and Animal Kingdom Villas) so I'd say we're WDW veterens, but camping newbies!

I'd appreciate any tips about Fort Wilderness if you have them!

We are DVC members as well, since 1991, Old Key West, that is all they had back then. Our favorite is Boardwalk then probably the Beach club. Fort Wilderness is cool and big, I see you have a mess of kids so you might try to get a spot all the way in the back close to the lake and other kid stuff. There are buses to get you around within the campground and to the front gate where you can get the other buses to parks, transportation center, etc.

 
I lived in the Atlanta area for six years and I can say that there are no decent commercial campgrounds in or near Atlanta.  There are a couple nice state and COE parks on the north and northwest side of Atlanta around Lake Lanier and Allatoona Lake.

If you just need a stopping place on the way back from FL then I'd recommend Georgia Veterans Memorial State Park in Cordele, GA. It's an easy day's drive from Orlando and another one from there to Chattanooga, TN

 
If you are planning on stopping while still relatively far north (i.e., TN or KY), I would check to make sure the CG is actually open for the season.  Only reason I know this is I was trying to plan a trip to Nashville for the last wk of March for my daughter's spring break softball tournament, and could find literally NO parks (public or private) close to the north side of Nashville that would be open.  They all open for the season on April 1.  (So I'll be shelling out for a motel)
 
Many Corps of Engineers campgrounds are closed during this period yet still permit camping, just no water.  You would have to contact the district COE office to find out what is available.
 
Thanks, Tom.  I appreciate that info.  The closest CG to where I want to be is a COE park.  So you're saying I might be able to use electrical hook-ups there?  (Jemz, no intent to hijack your thread, but this might be helpful info for you as well.)
 
jagnweiner said:
Thanks, Tom.  I appreciate that info.  The closest CG to where I want to be is a COE park.  So you're saying I might be able to use electrical hook-ups there?  (Jemz, no intent to hijack your thread, but this might be helpful info for you as well.)
The way it works around here (SW Mo.) is the COE looks for hosts to winter over at select CGs.  If they get someone, they will make that CG available even though it might not state so on their website.  Typically, when a CG is open under these conditions, they will provide electricity, but not water.  The only way I know how to find out is to contact the COE district office.
 
dave61 said:
We are DVC members as well, since 1991, Old Key West, that is all they had back then. Our favorite is Boardwalk then probably the Beach club. Fort Wilderness is cool and big, I see you have a mess of kids so you might try to get a spot all the way in the back close to the lake and other kid stuff. There are buses to get you around within the campground and to the front gate where you can get the other buses to parks, transportation center, etc.

Good advice, thanks!
 
Thanks for the info, everyone! 
Our plans now are to stay in hotels on the way to and back from Orlando including in Atlanta. My seminar hours are long anyway (5pm to 11:30pm and 8am to 5:30pm) so it will be nice to immediately hit the bed and not worry about anything else.
 

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
134,554
Posts
1,431,383
Members
140,125
Latest member
Schwabelectric
Back
Top Bottom