April 2022 Trip Planning - Hohenwald meandering route to sw Florida

[Boudicca908]

Greetings to the Oliver family!

So.... After waiting since mid-November, I finally have word from my auto dealer that my new truck is now on the south-bound train to Tampa (!) and while he anticipates a "slight delay" for transport from Tampa to Ft Myers, he thinks I'll have the truck by 3/10. My Ollie delivery date is at the end of March!  So instead of hunting for temporary storage space near Hohenwald and transport from the factory to storage, I am finally feeling confident enough to make campground reservations for my first Oliver journey. Normally, I love trip planning, but this late start might land me in a pickle. 

Any recommendations for places between Hohenwald and SW FL are greatly appreciated. Meandering is good, I'm looking for the slow roads and practice practice practice. I really don't like the interstate, and would rather take extra days on the slow road than reduced hours on I75.  I can spend about 3 weeks to get back home. Then I plan to head to the Rally (yay!) so I'll be reversing course in May. So far, here is what I have:

RESERVED:

• Oliver camping 
• 3 nights at Davey Crockett SP 

Thanks in advance for ideas, suggestions, and DOs and DON'Ts. 

[dewdev]

I have been using RVParky for my trip planning lately. It is free.

You program your route (town to town). At each stop, you can then cllick "Find a campground" and see what CG's are available near each town and it has reviews by other people that had visited that CG.

RV Parky will tell you the distance between your stops and total route distance and the time of travel. It will also give you an idea of the amount of gas used on your route.

I have planned a few trips but have not tested it yet, but will be making my trips this summer, fall and early winter.

[ScottyGS]

So you'll have about 20 days between getting your new truck and picking up your Oliver?  Including a drive from Tampa up to Hohenwald...   If I have that correct the first plan would be to read your manual and plan those 20 days to break your new truck in.  Whatever they say, you should do even if it involves driving around town every day for a week. 

If your backing skills are new or non existent, you should look to reserve campgrounds with a pull through site.    You can stay at Wal-marts and if the lot is big enough practice your backing there.   Is your TV an F-150?  Pro Backup Assist is very helpful to newbies.  

Huntsville has the space museum if you are looking for entertainment.  The parking lot has RV spaces that are pull through.  Not too far from Hohenwald

All Stays App will help find campsites and other stuff you will need.  Cheap at $10.   (at least that's what I paid years ago.)

Pulling an Oliver forward is very very easy.   Just make sure to make your Right Turns on the late or wide side to give clearance for the trailer.  In other words... when turning right hug the cetner line of the road you are turning on to.... and keep an eye on your trailer wheels in your passenger side mirror.   And if you have to go on the interstate... 62-65 mph is the sweet spot. 

All for now... You'll do fine.   Good Luck and have fun. 

[topgun2]

2 hours ago, Boudicca908 said:

Meandering is good, I'm looking for the slow roads

Have you thought about simply heading down the Natchez Trace?

The NT is only two lane and is slow, there are camp grounds  both on and off the NT.  ScubaRx lives near the NT - so - if you get in trouble, call!😁

Natchez has some decent restaurants and a nice State Park not too far out of town.  Then it is an easy drive back over to SW Florida from there.

And, as ScottyGS says - have fun!

Bill 

[topgun2]

See the "Planned Natchez Trace Parkway Route" thread - HERE

Bill

[Landrover]

3 hours ago, Boudicca908 said:

Greetings to the Oliver family!

So.... After waiting since mid-November, I finally have word from my auto dealer that my new truck is now on the south-bound train to Tampa (!) and while he anticipates a "slight delay" for transport from Tampa to Ft Myers, he thinks I'll have the truck by 3/10. My Ollie delivery date is at the end of March!  So instead of hunting for temporary storage space near Hohenwald and transport from the factory to storage, I am finally feeling confident enough to make campground reservations for my first Oliver journey. Normally, I love trip planning, but this late start might land me in a pickle. 

Any recommendations for places between Hohenwald and SW FL are greatly appreciated. Meandering is good, I'm looking for the slow roads and practice practice practice. I really don't like the interstate, and would rather take extra days on the slow road than reduced hours on I75.  I can spend about 3 weeks to get back home. Then I plan to head to the Rally (yay!) so I'll be reversing course in May. So far, here is what I have:

RESERVED:

• Oliver camping 
• 3 nights at Davey Crockett SP 

Thanks in advance for ideas, suggestions, and DOs and DON'Ts. 

Some of the major  FL. back roads two lanes are 301, 441 us19 I’m sure there are more. Be speed minded when on these routes small towns pop up quickly and the speed limit will drop to 65-35-25 mph. The boys in blue will be waiting to take your money.💰😩

[Boudicca908]

Thanks for all the great feedback! 

6 hours ago, dewdev said:

RVParky

I'll check that out -- I have downloaded quite a few apps, from reading in the forum pages. Haven't actually tried to find parks or make reservations with any of them yet. 

3 hours ago, topgun2 said:

Have you thought about simply heading down the Natchez Trace?

I had not thought of this, and I like the idea -- I'll take a gander at my calendar and the potential routes! 

4 hours ago, ScottyGS said:

So you'll have about 20 days between getting your new truck and picking up your Oliver?

Yes -- the truck was supposed to be delivered on Jan 4th; now I feel lucky that it's finally on the train! My plan was to make a road trip to the Appalachian mountains with the new truck and the old tent -- my last hurrah sleeping on the ground -- to put a few thousand miles on before towing. Now I'll probably drive around Florida -- maybe visit parks and check out camping spots.  Back in January I downloaded the truck manual and started reading; it would be more interesting if I could put my hands on the truck! It will be a learning curve, but I'm fairly studious. Luckily a friend with a landscape trailer has been generous enough to meet me a couple of times and let me practice backing it into [abandoned] parking lot spaces for a few hours. He says it will be easier with the Oliver's double axle and more weight. 

Huntsville Space Museum will be of interest -- also there's a super-big radar installation somewhere up in that area of lower Alabama/Florida panhandle that I'd like to see (if they allow visitors). Thanks for the reminder -- someone else suggested Huntsville to me as well. 

3 hours ago, Landrover said:

The boys in blue will be waiting

The slow road -- I take the slow road so I can go slow!  Not too slow, but not too fast. Thanks for the warning. 

[SeaDawg]

4 minutes ago, Boudicca908 said:

The slow road -- I take the slow road so I can go slow!  Not too slow, but not too fast. Thanks for the warning. 

The Starke bypass on 301 has helped a lot, imo. 

 

[Boudicca908]

21 hours ago, topgun2 said:

Natchez Trace Parkway

Just a general FYI -- a LOT of the Natchez Trace Parkway and amenities are closed for various reasons. The NP website isn't extremely clear until you reach this page that lists "What is Closed. What is Open."  I might wait and do that parkway when more of it is available. 

https://www.nps.gov/natr/planyourvisit/what-is-open-what-is-closed.htm

 

[Mattnan]

There is a very cool Harvest Host site in Tallahassee just of I 10. It is a collectable car museum.  They have much more than cars. We did this and would do it again.  A bit loud at night due to I 10 and busy intersection.  Nachez Trace is cool and you can find camping off of the Trace if sites are closed. We did a section in December and you could still park and get out to see the sites.  If you do it from end to end consider a stop in New Orleans on the way to Florida.  The WW II museum is amazing and is a must see there is a city campground in the French quarter.  Noisy but close to everything.  We did a swamp tour and has a blast on that.

 

[Boudicca908]

Just an update here.

With kudos and thanks to all in the forum for the great ideas, my reservations are complete for the return trip with the new Oliver. I'll spend about 2 1/2 weeks from my pickup date to meander and return south -- I would have taken more time, except for a commitment at home. My campgrounds will include:

• Tennessee -- Oliver TT, Davey Crockett State Park, Fall Creek Falls SP 
• Alabama -- Lake Guntersville 
• Florida -- Three Rivers SP, Silver Springs SP 

I'm still looking to see if I can find something more remote (or less popular) that has openings in Florida. It's the week before Easter, so busy and late planning. I need a dump station at that last spot, though, so I can empty my tanks before coming home. Unless maybe I empty them at Three Rivers (hmmmm, maybe a good idea). 

I've not been on the forum every day, because I'm juggling all that wonderful paperwork in preparation for the truck purchase, car sale and trailer purchase (insurance, tags, titles, storage facilities, manuals, mandatory gear purchases -- what fun!) -- but I will continue to try to monitor every few days. The truck is still anticipated on 3/10 delivery, giving me 2 weeks to put on some break-in miles and learn the feel of the new vehicle before heading north. 

Thanks again to all for the help!