Illinois to Ft Lauderdale …… in December

Illinois is a big state... where are you planning to start? Quad Cities per your sig?

Whenever we leave Illinois, our goal is to be out of the state in one day...

Our preferred routing to FL is I-57 to I-24 to I-75. By not stopping anywhere in Illinois in December, that means pretty much getting away from exposure to freezing temps.

6 hours gets us to Paducah, 8 gets us to Nashville, 10 gets us to Chattanooga.

Never stopped in Paducah (not even for fuel)...

Nashville has good music history, great food, and lots of places where you can get live music with food... Bringing a 30' trailer into those areas downtown? Not so much fun, but if you're going to overnight in a campground, you've got options to drop and run for a couple hours of fun or you can call an Uber...

Chattanooga is two hours further down the line, and more or less the halfway point, so it's a more logical stop for us. Lot of Civil War related sites in that area to visit either as a slow drive-thru or by dropping the trailer and being tourists for a day.

Can't speak to much of anything south of there -- we're either two day drivers or round-the-clock-non-stop when we head to Florida just because I still work and rarely have more than 8 days off at a time.

Hopefully someone else has some ideas on that I-75 corridor.

When we make that trip from central IL we head straight south before making the change in direction to FL.
If you can make it to Sikeston MO the first day that's a bit over 400 miles for you. There's a nice overnight stop at Sikeston about 1/4 mile east of I-55. Easy on and off. And a short drive to Lambert's Cafe.
Another 400 mile day on I-55 will put you about Brookhaven MS. In December would normally be out of the really cold weather. Then pick up I-12 and I-10 into FL.
Or another route is south of Sikeston head towards Dyersburg and Jackson TN to Corinth MS to Birmingham. Depending on where you're going in FL then Birmingham to Dothan and to FL. Or if going to the Pensacola to Ft Walton Beach area then take I-65 to Evergreen AL and 31 south.
Both of those routes you'll avoid Nashville, Chattanooga, and Atlanta. Always lots of traffic going thru all 3 cities. As long as everyone behaves you can get thru them with no problems. But it just takes one knucklehead to really plug up the works resulting in a mess. Also we've seen I-75 south of Atlanta into FL be at a total stop for no reason other than people not knowing how to drive, slowing down, and plugging up the flow of traffic.

take 65 down to 10 and bypass hotlanta

We avoid hot lanta and the chatanooga mountains.
I-80 to Illinois 394 south to Illinois State 17, turns into Indiana State 2.
South on 41 (divert to 63 to avoid local 41) to Evansville, IN.
41 turns into I-69 to I-24.
First night at Clarksville RV Park, open all year. Dewinterize.
Next day I-24 south to Nashville I-65.
If traffic is more than a nightmare, take the Briley Parkway around Nashville.
I-65 to Birmingham where the road is more than bumpy.
I-65 out of Montgomery, take I-85 to Taylor Road to 231 south to Troy AL.
Second night at Deer Park Campground, right off 231.
Then 231 through Dothan, AL (or take 605 around Dothan and that blasted Ross Clark Circle).
To I-10. We go to Port Richey so we take 19 all the way south, but I-75 is just further east.
Just off I-75 is a nice campground in Wesley Chapel, Quail Run Resort. That could be your last night before Miami. Good luck!

After many trips through Atlanta, I'm done!

I-65 to I-10 in the pan handle will be my next trip to FL.