Needing a night time stop on way to Florida

[Miss_Ellie1]

We will be leaving Maryland in Jan for Florida with our golden retriever and 2 cats. Our unit is winterized so we need a place to stay to park the truck & unit plus someplace that will allow the pets. We just picked up our 5th on Saturday and they told us not to dewinterize it until Florida and Hubby says we could do it in Georgia but we don't think we can go that far without letting the cats out to use the litter box in the unit. The dog will be fine with a few stops but the 2 cats not so much. We have a Cedar Creek Hathaway.

[ependydad]

I've driven from Maryland to Florida a variety of times. Here are the places we've stopped:

• Kosmos Village RV park in Glen Allen, VA - http://www.kosmovillage.com/ - kinda trashy, but fit the bill for an overnight stop
  
• The RV Resort @ Carolina Crossroads in Roanoake Rapids, NC - http://www.rvresortatcc.com/ - nice place, offers a discount for arrivals after X:00pm
  
• Walmart in Dillon, SC - large level lot and quiet
  
• The Oaks at Point South in Yemessee, SC - https://www.thousandtrails.com/south-carolina/the-oaks-at-point-south-rv/ - lots of trees (I couldn't pull out of my pull-thru site due to tree placement); came with warnings from reviews to watch it if it rains
  
• Whispering Pines in Rincon, GA - http://www.whisperingpinesrvpk.com/ - decent overnight but not a real nice place
  
• Pecan Park in Jacksonville, FL - https://www.sunrvresorts.com/Community/PEP - fully paved sites that are surprisingly unlevel; we've always been able to stay hitched up overnight, though
  
• Lake City RV Resort (formly known as Oaks N Pines) in Lake City, FL - http://lakecityrvresort.com/ - nice place with overnight pull throughs at one end; had one of the nicest pool tables I've ever seen outside of someone's home
  
• Stagecoach RV Resort in St. Augustine, FL - http://stagecoachrv.net/ - decent "no frills" place. Long level pull throughs.
  

[Merrykalia]

The last time I saw South of the Border, it had about 4' of water standing in the sites. You might want to check them out.

[portliz]

We have left Ontario as late as mid January. Stay in the rig. Flush toilet with Ani freeze. Use bottled water for coffee and drinking. Electric blanket on the bed. We stay in Northern Indiana the first night so not warm. Furnace keeps us cozy. Check for campgrounds open all year. You will find them along the way. We would rather be sleeping in our own bed than a hotel. Travel with 2 dogs who also prefer familiar surroundings. If you have a gel topper be sure to turn on electric blanket way before going to bed. Otherwise you will be sleeping on a bed of ice! Safe travels and have fun.

[NoVa_RT]

Leaving Rockville, MD @ Jan. 2 to arrive in Ft. Myers, FL Jan 4 early enough to set up.

That's a bit over 1,000 miles. When I go south, I stop at South of the Border in Dillon, SC. It's "tacky-chic" at best, but it's right off I-95, has gas stations, restaurants & a self-service car/RV wash, and is pretty inexpensive, with discounts for just about everyone, AAA, Good Sam, AARP, and military. Never real crowded when I've been there, and they have plenty of pull-thru sites, as well as back-in. It'd be be about 375 miles from Rockville, a mid to late afternoon arrival depending on when you left home, so it would leave you on schedule. Depending on the weather, you might even be able to de-winterize there.

[ESVA_Travelers]

We've left from the Eastern Shore of Virginia around Jan. 5 for the past 5-6 years with our Cedar Creek winterized. We usually stop around Fayetteville, NC around 3:30 (about 6-7 hrs. after leaving home)and de-winterize there. Never had a problem with very cold temperatures in that area. You will have heat on in the RV overnight, warming it up. If 32 degrees or below was expected for the night, we'd drain the water hose to the RV so the water lying in it along the ground wouldn't freeze, delaying us in the morning. Being dewinterized after that shouldn't be a problem the next day as you are driving into warmer and warmer temperatures. By the way, our destination is about 40 min. north of Ft. Myers. We spend our second night at St. Mary's, GA right next to the GA/FL border. We get to Port Charlotte early to mid-afternoon the next day. Hopefully, Fayetteville campgrounds will be OK by January. I'm sure they are scrambling to be ready for the snowbirds.

[Coach-man]

Miss Ellie wrote:
My apologies. Leaving Rockville, MD @ Jan. 2 to arrive in Ft. Myers, FL Jan 4 early enough to set up. Travelling with a Golden Retriever and 2 cats. Going down I 95. Trailer will be winterized.

OK, since the trailer is "winterized" then you can not use it on your trip, right? That is what they need clarification on! Are you looking for a hotel, or RV park?

[jnharley]

I would think that as long as you planned to use your furnace, you should be able to dewinterize your rig and just stay in it. I would sanitize and fill my fresh water tank and just hook to electric during my overnight stop. I mean fulltimers (we are) deal with this all the time. We are currently in the Midwest and have already encountered freezing temps. We set the furnace to 55 degrees and that is plenty warm enough to keep the water lines safe. We also use space heaters when it is too cold for the heat pumps..

[Dave_H_M]

On the cats sand litter box thing. We travel with two labs and three cats.

The cats ride in the fifth wheel and have all their usual amenities.

One Jan travel day it was like close to zero in the morn when we took off. left the furnace run for the cats in the camper till we got farther south. of course they did not get the setting on 72. :R

[The_Painting_Te]

We use America's Best Value Inn located in St. George SC for $55/night. It's an old-time cinder block, plain looking place BUT comfortable bed, wi-fi, fridge, microwave, clean, and quiet. Large grassy area for the RV and the walkable complex provides a Waffle House, Skynards Grill and Sports Bar (highly recommended), gas station, McDonalds, and a Denny's.

[FordDiesel250]

DW and myself just came and went to Florida from Branson Mo and we spent the nite at a Flying J in North Little Rock Arkansas and right next door was a Speedco where I had my oil changed and fluid levels topped off. DW was impressed with the location and she is hard to please.

[Landroamer1]

South Of The Border in Dillon SC used to be nice . Unsure of how it weathered the hurricane .

[lucy6194]

Red roof inns we don't dewinterize till we get to Florida

[Miss_Ellie1]

My apologies. Leaving Rockville, MD @ Jan. 2 to arrive in Ft. Myers, FL Jan 4 early enough to set up. Travelling with a Golden Retriever and 2 cats. Going down I 95. Trailer will be winterized.

[DutchmenSport]

For the last 3 years we've been going to Florida over Christmas Week (From Indiana). And yes, we have a dog and a cat. Once our son and his 2-year old went with us too.

Here's how we do it. Camper is winterized in Indiana and pack and ready to go. We carry a 6 gallon water jug with fresh water.

We plan a drive about 1/3 way to Florida, which usually puts is in near the Tennessee - Kentucky border. We do a search on the internet for "Pet friendly" motels and they are now everywhere! We also check to make sure they have adequate parking for RV's, and so far, we've never had one say they did not have adequate parking. We do the drive, check into the motel, leave the camper in the parking lot, bring the cat litter into the motel room, and ENJOY THE SWIMMING POOL AND HOT TUB. Because they do not want you to leave pets in the rooms by themselves, when we are at the pool, we put the pets in the camper. That is their home, and actually more comfortable there than in the motel alone.

Second day of travel, we travel, not so far, and have pre-planned an over night at a KOA or a Good Sam campground (It's important to have full hook-ups). It is here we get there a bit early in the day, so we like to restrict the driving to less than 5 hours. It is here I un-winterize the camper using the campground water hook-up and the available sewer hook up to flush plenty of water through the lines to clean out the "pink stuff."

As we usually leave Indiana on Saturday morning, this puts at the motel Saturday night, and our first campground out of the snow belt on Sunday afternoon, evening. Monday morning we leave, having dumped the tanks one final time from all the winterizing and using the camper over night, and adjust our time of departure so we arrive at our destination campground Monday afternoon, early enough we can set up camp. We stay till Saturday morning, and reverse the process coming home.

Coming home, we leave Saturday morning and, usually taking a different route home, we find another campground to spend the night, just slightly South of the snow belt (usually in Northern Tennessee), and on Sunday morning I will re-winterize the camper to head home Sunday and get home Sunday night. (coming home is 2 days).

Now, last year (Christmas 2015), we reversed the trip home completely, Left Florida Saturday morning, drove the same route home, winterized at the same Good Sam campground, stayed at the same motel Sunday night, and made it home Monday evening.

3 years ago, the motel we stayed at had a tornado that night! Now that was real interesting.

2 years ago we unhitched the trailer at the motel and went sight seeing and a movie.

1 year ago, left the trailer and truck in the motel parking lot and was able to walk to a local restaurant and had a really great meal!

All the time we were out and about, the dog and cat stayed in the camper. Once we returned back, they were in the motel room with us. It world out great!