Driving to Florida from Michigan - Tips Needed

[SherryS]

(Because of the am/pm mix-up on TUG, my post appears first!!)
Hi! Consider when you will be approaching Chattanooga or Atlanta. The am and pm "rush" is quite a challenge for driving. On our latest trip from Grand Rapids to Sarasota, a semi wreck caused a big delay around Manchester, TN. That, in turn, caused us to be around Chattanooga during the evening rush hour. Not pleasant! We often try to drive just to the south of Atlanta to stay overnight. This avoids heading into Atlanta in the morning.

[kjsgrammy]

My DH and me (just the two of us) are driving from Michigan to Florida this coming January for a three week trip (two weeks in Sarasota at SandPiper Beach Club, one week in Orlando at condo to visit WDW).

Has anyone else driven from Michigan, and if so, any suggestions on where to stop for night on way down and way back? According to mapquest, it's 19 hours and 49 minutes from our house to Sarasota. We'll break it up into two days of driving each way, or maybe even three for trip down and back.

As much as I hate driving that distance, it's much cheaper than flying and renting a car for 3 weeks.

If anyone has done this trip and cares to share travel tips, would greatly appreciate them!

I also posted this on the disboard, so if you answered me there, THANKS!

[thunderbolt]

KJS, we are in a similar situation as you. We often drive down to Texas from Thunder Bay, Ont., and are driving to Orlando to stay for a month at MGV.Having the car instead of renting for the month is a great savings.

I don't know if this will help you but, we have found that joining Priority Club and picking out Holiday Inn Express hotels, has made any trip easier for us.
We drive till we have had enough then find the nearest H.I.Express using our navigator, call priority(often from the parking lot), book the room and walk in.
It costs 10,000 pts. per night and includes breakfast for each of you.
When we used to book ahead, we found it difficult to time our stops. Sometimes it was just too early to stop for the night. Sometimes if it was raining and I was getting "wiper hypnotised", I felt I couldn't make the extra 2hrs. to our booked hotel.
The H.I.Express' have all been very neat, clean and safe.

[MikeM132]

You're probably taking 75, I would think. I come from PA and go down 81 to 77 then back to 95 (going to East Coast and Orlando). We stop in Columbia SC. Your stop is probably going to be somewhat West of there on 75 but in the same general area. I try to make the longer day the first one, both ways. You should have no trouble making the trip in 2 days of driving. Not exactly what you are asking, but I have made this trip many, many times. I have never driven straight through. 15 hours in a day is about my limit (and I HAVE done that several times).

[svwoude]

We have driven Michigan to Florida many times. We usually go down 65 through Louisville and Nashville to Chattanooga. We stay somewhere in the Chattanooga area that first night. Then follow 75 the rest of the way. It should take about 20 hours of drive time.

Steve
www.lsfhome.com

[JLB]

Sounds like a plan!

We have been doing that from Kansas City and now from the Branson area, for around 15 years. Unfortunately our drives have usually coincided with a combination of snowbirders dragging their homes on wheels at 55 MPH and crazed football fans heading for bowl games at 90 MPH. It is a good test of competitive driving skills.

Some of those years we were pulling a trailer ourselves.

Because it often becomes bumper-to-bumper somewhere south of Atlanta, we do not try to make it in one day. We try to get to just passed Atlanta, actually the Atlanta Southlake exit, so that we are not in Atlanta rush hour traffic to start the second day.

As it is still a pretty decent drive the second day, I would encourage you to put in a fuller Day 1, and stop passed Atlanta rather than Chattanooga.

Yeah, we meet up with a lot of Michiganders down yonder somewhere.

It is a pretty drive from south of Nashville to Atlanta, but pretty monotonous elsewhere.

If you need to know where all the Murphy Gas gas stations, Famous Dave's BBQ, Chick Fil A's and Krystals are . . .

This year we are heading to Orange Lake 12/22 and 23 and coming back from Bonita Beach on 1/6 and 1/7. In 2008 we are heading to Tampa on 1/4 and 1/5, to fly to Grand Cayman, and then checking into Sandpiper on 1/12.

So give us a Sandpiper report if you will.

[kjsgrammy]

Sherry: See you in Florida in January! How's the weather down there?
Sylvia

[SherryS]

Perfect here on Siesta at this time of year! Water is mid 70's and air is lower 80's, great for walking the beach and swimming. Winds from the east make the gulf calm near shore. Come on down!

[thetimeshareguy]

There's a really great I-75 guidebook specifically written for people traveling this trip. I forget the author's name but believe he's Canadian. The book is available in the USA. You open it sideways and it shows the highway as a line down the middle of both pages, with all the points of interest and hotels and fast food outlets and gas stations, etc. all the way down, plus distances and travel times, and many many tips for each area you pass thru. We've made this trip every year for ten years and always use this book, which is revised regularly. I wouldn't go any other route than I-75, and I wouldn't travel without this book!

[The Conch Man]

We use to travel from OH to FL (Keys) twice a year but no more ~~ We live here ~~

[JoAnn]

Originally Posted by The Conch Man

We use to travel from OH to FL (Keys) twice a year but no more ~~ We live here ~~

Where are you from in Ohio, Conch Man...we lived in Middletown for 30 years..and we like it better here too .

[kjsgrammy]

Originally Posted by thetimeshareguy

There's a really great I-75 guidebook specifically written for people traveling this trip. I forget the author's name but believe he's Canadian. The book is available in the USA. You open it sideways and it shows the highway as a line down the middle of both pages, with all the points of interest and hotels and fast food outlets and gas stations, etc. all the way down, plus distances and travel times, and many many tips for each area you pass thru. We've made this trip every year for ten years and always use this book, which is revised regularly. I wouldn't go any other route than I-75, and I wouldn't travel without this book!

Could you be referring to this book - ""Dave Hunter Along I-75"? This was recommended to me by someone on the disboard. Anyone here have this and, if so, what do you think of it?

[JLB]

Gosh, yet another book I could have written, but won't!

[moonstone]

Along I-75 is a good book, similar in ways to the CAA/AAA Triptiks books. The author is indeed Canadian EH! The website is; http://www.i75online.com/
(hope that works -I'm not very computer wise!) We travel back & forth to Florida from north of Toronto mainly on I-79, I-77, I-95 because its shorter for us and there are fewer transport trucks. We only use I-75 if the weather looks bad (snow) at the north end.
Have a good trip.
~Diane

[The Conch Man]

JoAnn ~~

Think we had this discussion before ~~ Just up the road from ya ~~ Between Dayton & Springfield ~~

[JoAnn]

Originally Posted by The Conch Man

JoAnn ~~

Think we had this discussion before ~~ Just up the road from ya ~~ Between Dayton & Springfield ~~

We probably did, but, with me it's an age thing, ya know

[JLB]

And now you two are again in the same neck of the woods, albeit soggier woods, about 30 miles apart!

[The Conch Man]

Yup ~~ We still haven't met yet ~~ Bummer ~~

[rapmarks]

Yes, conch man, I haven't seen JoAnn for over three years. And with all the new shopping here, I can't believe she won't venture our way.

[JoAnn]

Originally Posted by rapmarks

Yes, conch man, I haven't seen JoAnn for over three years. And with all the new shopping here, I can't believe she won't venture our way.

Pat, we were just at the Grand Opening of the new Bass Pro Shop last Wednesday night. Gerry was at the DU (Duck's Unlimited)booth in the back and I was wandering around among the crowd. Very nice store, although I was disappointed in their women's section....much smaller than the one at the 'home' store in Springfield MO. I've also been to the new Belk store for their Grand Opening too. And Friday we were on Immokolee Rd from I-75 to Immokolee to go to the Farmers Market there and get some real bargains in veggies.

Maybe we could all meet there or at the other new mall opening in Estero...but not sure where that one is.

[JLB]

Wow, a Bass Pro store.

If we could afford to live there, we could move, if we could afford to move.

[rapmarks]

Lots of new stores opening at Cocunut Point Mall, but one problem. Stores are putting out maps which direct shoppers to our subdivision instead of the mall. We are one or two miles from the Mall (and from Mirimar OUtlet Mall too). Adding to the confusion is that the mall is really in Estero, but has a Bonita Springs address.

[JLB]

To counter, put out a map showing your golf course where the new mall is.

Originally Posted by rapmarks

Lots of new stores opening at Cocunut Point Mall, but one problem. Stores are putting out maps which direct shoppers to our subdivision instead of the mall. We are one or two miles from the Mall (and from Mirimar OUtlet Mall too). Adding to the confusion is that the mall is really in Estero, but has a Bonita Springs address.

[The Conch Man]

Actually ~~ Its Coconut Point Mall ~~ Grand openin is this Friday ~~ How do I know ~~ Cause the wife is here ~~ She said we are goin Friday ~~ Bummer ~~ They already have a lot of the stores open back two months ago & very recently ~~ The trouble is ~~ Not all the stores are goin to open but most will be open ~~

Mirimar is an Outlet Shopin Mall ~~

[Kozman]

I only go through Atlanta when I'm going to a western town in FL. When I go to Daytona or Orlando I go east on 40 out of Knoxville to 26 out of Asheville to 95 and down. I find this route a little longer, but much less hectic. I usually stop for the night in Spartanburg, SC.