stopping point/overnight camp between Ohio & Fort Wilderness

dodge guy wrote:

DownTheAvenue wrote:

dodge guy wrote:
Stone Mountain, Atlanta GA. I drove it from the NW Chicago suburbs. Only stopping for food and gas. That's 14 hours. So from OH it shouldn't be too bad.
We stayed at the Forsyth KOA when coming home. It was a decent place, no complaints. Stone MTN is the better choice.

Stone Mountain is nice, but is on the other side of Atlanta from their route through town and through some of the worst traffic Atlanta has to offer. They could be well south of Atlanta by not taking this detour in the same time it would take just to get to Stone Mountain.

I went through on a Friday afternoon. And yes there is traffic but not what I see in Chicago expressways. I’ll take Atlanta Friday rush our over Chicago rush hour any day. And it’s only about 30-40 minutes out of the way, well worth the extra time!

You were very lucky, indeed. Usually from 4 to 6 PM it is over an hour and very often closer to 2 hours!

Dave in TN- perfect idea! I will use that method! thanks so much guys for all the info! its appreciated!

DownTheAvenue wrote:

dodge guy wrote:
Stone Mountain, Atlanta GA. I drove it from the NW Chicago suburbs. Only stopping for food and gas. That's 14 hours. So from OH it shouldn't be too bad.
We stayed at the Forsyth KOA when coming home. It was a decent place, no complaints. Stone MTN is the better choice.

Stone Mountain is nice, but is on the other side of Atlanta from their route through town and through some of the worst traffic Atlanta has to offer. They could be well south of Atlanta by not taking this detour in the same time it would take just to get to Stone Mountain.

I went through on a Friday afternoon. And yes there is traffic but not what I see in Chicago expressways. I’ll take Atlanta Friday rush our over Chicago rush hour any day. And it’s only about 30-40 minutes out of the way, well worth the extra time!

Dave in TN wrote:

jabres wrote:
Thanks guys! so many good suggestions....
However, will I need to make advance reservations for any of these overnight campgrounds south of atlanta for the evening of new years eve? or is there enough options that getting one night wont be a problem? thanks!

I have found that many campgrounds along I-75 catering to overnight guests will fill up as the evening progresses by folks without reservations simply stopping for the night, and many folks stop earlier than I like to. But in the afternoon there are lots of spots. Not wanting to stop that early, I often will prepare ahead of time a list of potential stopping places along my route, with their phone numbers. Then when I stop to fuel up mid to late afternoon, I'll see how the day has been going and decide about how much farther I want to get, and make a phone call to reserve a spot at that point. I hate to make a reservation days or weeks ahead not knowing how the traveling will go, but by the afternoon of that day I know how far I'll get and can usually get a spot reserved, whereas if I wait until 8 or 9 that evening to stop without a reservation, it's possible the campground will be full.

I agree with Dave in TN.

dodge guy wrote:
Stone Mountain, Atlanta GA. I drove it from the NW Chicago suburbs. Only stopping for food and gas. That's 14 hours. So from OH it shouldn't be too bad.
We stayed at the Forsyth KOA when coming home. It was a decent place, no complaints. Stone MTN is the better choice.

Stone Mountain is nice, but is on the other side of Atlanta from their route through town and through some of the worst traffic Atlanta has to offer. They could be well south of Atlanta by not taking this detour in the same time it would take just to get to Stone Mountain.

jabres wrote:
Thanks guys! so many good suggestions....
However, will I need to make advance reservations for any of these overnight campgrounds south of atlanta for the evening of new years eve? or is there enough options that getting one night wont be a problem? thanks!

I have found that many campgrounds along I-75 catering to overnight guests will fill up as the evening progresses by folks without reservations simply stopping for the night, and many folks stop earlier than I like to. But in the afternoon there are lots of spots. Not wanting to stop that early, I often will prepare ahead of time a list of potential stopping places along my route, with their phone numbers. Then when I stop to fuel up mid to late afternoon, I'll see how the day has been going and decide about how much farther I want to get, and make a phone call to reserve a spot at that point. I hate to make a reservation days or weeks ahead not knowing how the traveling will go, but by the afternoon of that day I know how far I'll get and can usually get a spot reserved, whereas if I wait until 8 or 9 that evening to stop without a reservation, it's possible the campground will be full.

By the way, I like to use this map resource when planning out my list of potential stops.

https://www.epgsoft.com/CampgroundMap/

Thanks guys! so many good suggestions....
However, will I need to make advance reservations for any of these overnight campgrounds south of atlanta for the evening of new years eve? or is there enough options that getting one night wont be a problem? thanks!

Dave in TN wrote:
...the holiday week traffic...

That would be my main concern. I know I-95 is rough all that week between Christmas and New Years, I'm sure I-75 is the same. Stop and go traffic is tough with kids. If you had a Motorhome, maybe not so bad, but since they'll need potty breaks more often, that means getting off the Interstate or trying to pull over and get back into traffic.

I would plan on making it as far as you can, but check on campgrounds or stops earlier so you aren't scrambling if you can't get as far south as you want. New Years Day, traffic shouldn't be bad early in the morning.

-Michael

dodge guy wrote:
Stone Mountain, Atlanta GA. I drove it from the NW Chicago suburbs. Only stopping for food and gas. That's 14 hours. So from OH it shouldn't be too bad.
We stayed at the Forsyth KOA when coming home. It was a decent place, no complaints. Stone MTN is the better choice.

I was going to suggest Stone Mountain as well - if you decide to stay there, go to their website for directions around a very low overpass on the route that GPS will take you.

Stone Mountain, Atlanta GA. I drove it from the NW Chicago suburbs. Only stopping for food and gas. That's 14 hours. So from OH it shouldn't be too bad.
We stayed at the Forsyth KOA when coming home. It was a decent place, no complaints. Stone MTN is the better choice.