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urnmor · 01-16-2015, 07:08 AM

My wife and I are planning our first long road trip from our home in Berlin Md to Florida. We are retired military so we are elegible to stay at military facilities.

We are planning on being gone about three weeks and will probably leave the second or third week in Feburary returning in early march.

I am thinking of driving about 300 to 350 miles per day but not sure what route to take as we could take route 17 down the coast over to 95 or take interstate 95 from Emporia Va on down to Florida. We are not sure if we want to go the west coast or stay on the east coast, however, we do have family on the east coast and would like to visit.

Any suggestions as to the route or where to overnight and maybe spend a day or two would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

John and Claire

Skater · 01-16-2015, 07:30 AM

Route 17 - slower, much slower, but more scenic. I-95 gets you there faster but tends to be more stressful (although, having people pull out in front of you and stopping for red lights all the time on those blue highways gets old, too). It's a personal decision...I'm not sure what advice we could give you. Extra time and extra fuel for the scenic route.

I enjoy stopping at South of the Border on I-95 at the South Carolina/North Carolina border. They have a decent campground that's inexpensive. There are plenty of other campgrounds along the way, too. But I don't have the military base option, so that's something I can't help with. The campground apps (Allstays for example) have them listed. Note not all campgrounds are open in winter, so you'll want to check that if you're planning to stop somewhere.

300-350 miles/day is a good number. That's what we usually try to do. On our trip home from Florida a couple years ago, we were looking at potential bad weather at home early the day we planned to return, so we drove something like 500 or 550 miles to get to Fayetteville, NC from Disney. The 500+ mile day was a very long one, and I was pretty tired at the end of it.

polarlyse · 01-16-2015, 07:33 AM

Depends on if you want to move around or be more stationary. We're leaving next week ourselves. First destination is Key West for a few days. Everglades for a few. We move around and hit both coasts. Florida is long but not very wide so it's not a bad trip to go from one coast to another. If you want a specific campground you should make reservations for that time of year is busy. Melbourne has the Airstream park, Land Yacht Harbor. We're there for a few days too and it's very nice. They do take non-Airstreams too so if you have a non-Airstream friend along they should be able to stay there too. Other Airstream parks are not so tolerant of the " Others". State Parks fill up early but if you look around you might find some spots. We did and just last week so don't give up.

Oh, and if you're military there are the Military bases. We stay at Kings Bay, St. Mary's, Ga along the way. Jacksonville has several, Pensacola among others.

windfallsp · 01-16-2015, 08:47 AM

Land Yacht Harbor does not accept Airstreamers traveling with pets.

Mick33 · 01-16-2015, 12:53 PM

Being retired military, they have a nice RV park at the Navy Base here in Pensacola Florida. It is also a nice place to visit. Give me a holler if additional info is needed. Mick

B00merang · 01-16-2015, 01:01 PM

Urmore
Heading south from the farm in Morgantown I usually cross the GA/FL line at the end of the second day...then take the first (or 2nd) exit to Fernandina Beach and stay for a couple of nites at Fort Clinch State Park to let the AS catch its breath. Its a beautiful park...with great beaches (and fort) to hike over. The SP has two campgrounds: If its cold, chose the sunny one. If its too warm, chose a site along the river. Further south there are great campgrounds/state parks off of A1A. But if you over to the west coast, there are great beaches and campgrounds along the FL panhandle (grew up there)...the best being the St. Joe Peninsula State Park..and St. George Island. Safe travels. jon

noreen&sal · 01-16-2015, 01:04 PM

From N.C. south I95 is not that bad and there will be many campgrounds open. Sal

Foiled Again · 01-16-2015, 01:06 PM

NAS Oceana has a nice RV park - pretty well filled even at this time of year as many active service people live in RV's. Route 17 crosses I-64 in Newport News and it's only about 40 miles east to Va Beach and Oceana Naval Air Station. From VB you can go south and west on I 64 East (yes it's true) to catch Route 17 as it meanders south-east. I-64 ends in a big fish hook loop that goes straight South and then turns West! One of the main exits is 17 south.... but do choose to bypass Suffolk if you can.

Oh, if you like watching jets landing Oceana is great, if you don't like HEARING them or seeing them fly so low you can determine the aviator's eye color... maybe not so great. February in Va. Beach... bleah, but there are some nice museums.

n2916s · 01-16-2015, 01:08 PM

All-stays has a free app with all the military bases on it.

Key West NAS has two sites. At one you rotate between full hook ups, partial and dry camping. The other, closer to "town" is all dry camping. They have never turned anyone away so you are good to go there.

MacDill AFB (Tampa) can usually find you a spot. Ot on the tip of the peninsula so can be breezy but pretty nice facilities.

I've had mixed luck getting into the Famcamp at Patrick AFB. Be sure to use the commercial gate or you will get grumped at.

Enjoy the journey

Mike

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Chip2013 · 01-16-2015, 01:59 PM

If you are planning on driving 300 plus miles a day I think I95 is your only choice. Your route would be 13 to 58 west to I95. We traveled to Florida this year leaving Chesapeake,VA on route 17 all the way to Florida. A very pleasant drive with good roads along the coast. Being military you could stay at Camp LeJeune, Charleston,SC at the nuke school and Jacksonville,FL. We stayed at Wilmington,NC, Myrtle Beach,SC, and Savannah,GA, before heading to the west coast of Florida for two weeks. We then headed over to the east coast where we are spending the rest of the winter at Land Yacht Harbor in Melbourne,FL. My wife and I both enjoyed our trip down this year using rt.17. Let us know about your trip.

Ed Brownfield · 01-16-2015, 06:00 PM

If you are near Pensacola make sure to visit Fort Pickens National Park. Most beautiful beaches that I have ever seen. The camp ground is nice but it's the beaches and land in the park that make it special.

urnmor · 01-16-2015, 07:12 PM

Thanks for all of the input. There is a lot to think about. The good part we have no real agenda other then to get away.

urnmor · 02-02-2015, 06:42 AM

As we begin to pack for the trip I was wondering if we will need both Honda 2000 generators or will one of them suffice for the trip.
Thanks
John

Skater · 02-02-2015, 07:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by urnmor

As we begin to pack for the trip I was wondering if we will need both Honda 2000 generators or will one of them suffice for the trip.
Thanks
John

When we did it, we only took one, since that would be enough to recharge the batteries to run the furnace. Our propane and water tanks were full. (We were mostly concerned about getting stuck somewhere if a bad snow storm hit.)

Beach Bum · 02-02-2015, 08:21 AM

During snow bird season in FL you may need to make reservations in advance as many of the nicer parks are full or have limited space. Central part of the state has many nice places on lakes or rivers that have better availability than the coast's.

Retire military......www.militarycampground.us is best website we have found for military CG's. It run by a retired AF person. Also has active reviews from campers.

woodenicol · 02-08-2015, 05:06 PM

Hi,
We are also planning to head to Florida in the next few days if the weather cooperates. We are also going to wing it for our first time.
We met at Assateague NP a few years ago.
Neil

urnmor · 02-08-2015, 06:49 PM

We have packed for our trip to Florida but I am wondering what I forgot as I still have room in the bed.

urnmor · 02-08-2015, 06:50 PM

Neil
We are looking to leave on Wednesday if the new fuel tank is installed. Havn't made any reservations but being retired military looking to stay on base with a couple of days at Disney.
John