Calif to Florida

[Maltaman]

Considering about an 8 week trip from N California to Florida Keys. Prefer Southern route eastbound.

Looking for any/all suggestions on where to stay, areas to avoid, don't miss places, nice campgrounds etc.

Would like to go to the Gulf (first time). In Texas planning to go to San Antonio, Dallas, Longview. Suggestions on routes also would be helpful. Considering South Carolina, Tennessee as well since we'll be in the neighborhood.

We're considering mid September to mid November time frame.

We have a 2016 2500 Ram Cummins Longbed pulling a 2019 Reflection 29RS.

TIA

[jim1521]

Around the Gulf you'll be catching the peak hurricane season ("September Remember, October it's Over") so just keep that in the back of your mind. You'll have plenty of lead time though if something decides to kick up.

[Maltaman]

Thank you.

[MountainFolk]

You might want to check out the weather it could be hot/humid, at least for us Californians.
I would suggest looking thru the many pages on this thread and you can find info on most of the
area you are going thru.
Bypass Phoenix by dropping down to Gila Bend, KOA is nice or behind the Shell station is a RV park, ok for overnight.
Hwy 90 thru Texas is nice, Alpine in a nice stop, has the Fort, Observatory and Marfa Mysterious Lights.
Stayed at the Lost Alaskan in Alpine TX.
Goliad TX has some cool history that is tied into the Alamo, stayed at Angles in Goliad RV park.
Stay at the KOA to ride the bus to see the Alamo and other sites.
Hwy 14 thru south LA, we stayed at Cypress Bayou Casino in Charenton LA to
check out the area, lots to do/see.
The Gulf on Florida has lots of things to see/do.
We liked Apalachicola, we stayed a few nights at Ho Hum RV in Carrabelle FL, it
is right on the Gulf. I don't know how the gulf stuff is after the hurricane.

Whatever you do pick a few places to stop for a few days to explore the area.

[Maltaman]

Thanks so much! Definitely will check out the weather. Hopefully better than summer!

[JCZhome]

Welcome to the board....from a Sacramento native.....full timers now. We did the journey last year when I retired but we took four months just to get there. Be sure to do the air boat tour of the Florida Everglades. Click on this link for six pages of photos of things to see and do, all over the south.....if you have any questions, let me know?

https://www.cvoharley.com/smf/index.php?topic=113571.0

[D2Reid]

OMG what a wonderful trip. You are kind of all over the place, if you are doing San Antonio vs Dallas you are on 2 different tracks. I prefer the I-10 San Antonio route over the I-40 route, just personal preference. Overall the tracks you anticipate have many wonders to explore. But in order to give details we will need to know your proposed track.

[Maltaman]

Thanks for the reply. Looking for suggestions on track as well. Thinking of heading East on a a Northerly route through Dallas then West on a Southerly route hitting Galveston. Flexible on time frame too. If its still too hot in Sep may go Oct/Nov instead. Would like to catch South Carolina, Tennessee, as the Northernmost Southeast states.

[Bamaman]

Thanks for the reply. Looking for suggestions on track as well. Thinking of heading East on a a Northerly route through Dallas then West on a Southerly route hitting Galveston. Flexible on time frame too. If its still too hot in Sep may go Oct/Nov instead. Would like to catch South Carolina, Tennessee, as the Northernmost Southeast states.

I'm sorry, but Dallas is not the northerly route. The real northerly route would be I-70 thru Grand Junction, Denver, Kansas City, St. Louis and then turn south thru Paducah and Nashville.

The middle route is I-40 thru Flagstaff, Albequerque, OK. City, Little Rock, Memphis, Nashville, Chattanooga, Atlanta and south into Florida. That's I-40 to I-65 in Nashville and I-75 south of Chattanooga. It's preferable from Northern California.


The real southerly route is so far south that it'd be very expensive to take from Northern California. It's I-10, and just getting thru Texas alone is 895 miles. It's pretty boring to me, and expect the roads in Louisiana to about beat you to death. The distances in Florida are also deceiving, as it's 425 miles from Pensacola to Tampa going the short 4 lane highway--and longer on I-10. There's still over 250 miles to South Florida from Tampa.

[traveldawg]

Thanks for the reply. Looking for suggestions on track as well. Thinking of heading East on a a Northerly route through Dallas then West on a Southerly route hitting Galveston. Flexible on time frame too. If its still too hot in Sep may go Oct/Nov instead. Would like to catch South Carolina, Tennessee, as the Northernmost Southeast states.

fwiw...... We traveled a lot between Denver and FL. If you go through Dallas you are too far south for anything in the south but MS, AL, FL. We finally decided we don't care for I-70 through Denver, Kansas City, St. Louis and down to Nashville. You can come into Tennessee on I-40 and run the whole length of that to SC. Elvis/Graceland is in Memphis, Nashville is great if you like music. Not much between Nashville and SC for us. Maybe hit Chattanooga and then across the top of GA into the Carolinas. From the Carolinas we like I-77 or I-26 to Columbus, SC then I-26 to I-95.

We live on the east coast of FL in Titusville. When going to the the keys the only route for us is I-95 to Fort Pierce and the FL Turnpike all the way to Florida City. If you do any FL turnpike travel pre-apply and get a FL Sunpass transponder; the tolls are well worth it in S FL.