Nashville area stop in early April

[Theed31u 10]

We are heading to the fort early April and are looking for an area to camp on our way to down. Anyone know any places on the cheap? We will be on the road at least 8 hours by the time we get there so we don't need a lot of bells and whistles.

Thanks!

[TnBob 311]

are u going south on 65 thru Alabama (the good way) or south on 24 to 75 thru Atlanta (the traffic nightmare way)?

[Theed31u 10]

are u going south on 65 thru Alabama (the good way) or south on 24 to 75 thru Atlanta (the traffic nightmare way)?

I had looked at going through Atlanta just because I was familiar with that route because my parents used to live there. Is south on 65 a good route?

[TnBob 311]

It's kinda personal preference, I would go a long way out of my way to avoid Atlanta. I find going the 65,85,Taylor Road, 231 to 10 route to be a lot more relaxing drive and a whole lot less traffic. I ask people that come to the campground which way they are going and many feel like I do and wouldn't go thru Atlanta, esp towing. Now if you ask Carol, she always goes thru Atlanta.

 

Anyway, if you are going the 65 south way there is a campground (where I live) about 50 miles south of Nashville at exit 27 called Texas T. The campground is right at the exit (easy off-on).

[geoffdaddy 33]

For us living in Huntsville, AL, there is no direct freeway route to Atlanta despite the relatively close distance. The shortest path is all backroads (which is kinda pretty) to Adairsville about an hour north of Atlanta on i-75, via Rome, GA (traffic light capital of the world), via Chattanooga, or via Birmingham. We have driven via Adairsville three times, and via Birmingham (the longest path by about 60 miles) and have hit snarled traffic in Atlanta all the times we've been. I didn't attempt the 285 bypass to i-20 though this last time, so maybe that might have made a difference? Who knows? looks like from Nashville it's about 56 miles difference vs i-65.

 

Like TnBob, I prefer his exact route. We have done this way numerous times and it's a lot less hectic, for us it's only about 30 miles difference from the shortest route through Atlanta, and my parents live in Dothan so we have a good mid-point stay that we can do if we go that way. Under ideal conditions that means about a half hour's longer drive by the numbers, but I consider that each time we have gone via Atlanta now it has taken AT LEAST 1 hour to traverse the city with white knuckled driving (and one time we were stuck in stop and go for about 2 hours). There are traffic lights in Dothan and Montgomery (on Taylor rd), but traffic is generally light there. Birmingham and Alabaster (just south of Bham) are usually the problem points on that route, so if you can time it where you can get through that area to avoid rush hour traffic you should be good.

[momof3kids-Yvonne 596]

Like geoffdaddy we live in the Huntsville area. My husband has to go to Atanta for work occasionally. He also prefers the route Bob takes to get to Orlando.

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[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

We also are from the Huntsville area and prefer the Atlanta route. We always time our visits to leave Huntsville after 2pm central. That puts us through Birmingham at 3:30 central and gets us through there before rush hour, and to Atlanta at 7pm Eastern or later. We rarely have any issues getting through Atlanta at that time. We also go directly through downtown Atlanta. We lose the trucks through downtown. We have driven it so many times, we even know what lane we need to be in for all of the exchanges well ahead of time.

 

If we are pulling the camper, we stop somewhere in South Georgia or North FL, if we are not pulling the camper, we push on all the way through.

 

We do stop at a hotel as the camper usually has something riding on the bed on the way down, so no room to sleep.

 

Coming back is usually a Sunday and we drive straight through, so Atlanta traffic is no big deal on Sunday, and even so we usually get to Macon in the evening and stop for dinner there, and once again, we are going through Atlanta after 7pm.

[Theed31u 10]

I think we are going to try out the 65 route and I have emailed the Texas T campground to see about reservations. I think my wife would really like to avoid Atlanta because of the traffic and the motorhome being fairly new for us.

[CJHokie 43]

I think we are going to try out the 65 route and I have emailed the Texas T campground to see about reservations. I think my wife would really like to avoid Atlanta because of the traffic and the motorhome being fairly new for us.

We took our MH through ATL last year on our way to Destin. We have a friend who lives in ATL so I was texting him to see if we should get on whatever the beltway is or stay straight through. He said it really varies, sometimes one way is less traffic and sometimes it's the other way. We ended up going straight through. My husband actually bumped side mirrors with a tractor trailer at about 3mph. The guy looked mad and then just rolled his window down and readjusted his. We, OTOH, could not do that as it was the passenger side, so he basically had to stay in that lane until we could get to a truck stop and fix it, and I had to try to direct him with not great visibility on my side.

On the return trip, we drove across the FL panhandle to Jax, stayed a night there, and then up 95 (the horror) to avoid ATL. We are going back to Destin this spring break with 3 other families. Not sure yet which route we will take.

[Theed31u 10]

CJHokie

I would be interested in an update after your trip to find out what route you took and how it worked out.

[TnBob 311]

I think we are going to try out the 65 route and I have emailed the Texas T campground to see about reservations. I think my wife would really like to avoid Atlanta because of the traffic and the motorhome being fairly new for us.

tell them I sent you and there will be a spot for you lol, it's not a busy time so you'll be ok stop in to site 13 and say hey, we will be back by then, and for Gods sake don't break anything or I will have to fix it.

 

CJHokie

I would be interested in an update after your trip to find out what route you took and how it worked out.

you don't trust my judgement?

[Theed31u 10]

tell them I sent you and there will be a spot for you lol, it's not a busy time so you'll be ok stop in to site 13 and say hey, we will be back by then, and for Gods sake don't break anything or I will have to fix it.

you don't trust my judgement?

I emailed them about stopping there on our way to and from. You'll have to give me more of your name so they know who sent me there.

I trust your judgment but they will be driving it very close to before I will so they could have any information about construction.

[CJHokie 43]

Bob, I will take more info on your route, like where you get onto those certain roads you mentioned. I couldn't really find all the roads when I was checking Google maps.

 

Google maps did give me an alternate way that I will try to check out before taking a MH on it.  It involves I-77 to Columbia, I-20 to I-520 to Augusta, US-1 to GA-88 to GA-68 to GA-112 to US-129Alt/US-341to GA-257 to I-75 to GA-300 to GA-234 to US-19 to GA-91 finally to I-10.  Ok, that sounds like a LOT of roads and turns, but it looks pretty straight, like the roads may have multiple names/numbers.  I think it may be too many small towns with red lights though. And I need to get my atlas off the MH to check what kinds of roads those are as Google maps isn't as descriptive there.

 

Also, I will check my RV GPS and see what it says, though we have to take it all with a grain of salt now after 3 issues on our cross country trip.