Speed Drive from CO to ATL, quick camping spots along the way?

[altmanm]

Hey all. I will be driving from CO to ATL early July. I'm leaving either the evening of July 1 or super early on the 2nd and am trying to get there for the Phish show on the 3rd! I plan on just driving straight through but I'm probably gonna need to get a few hours rest at some point. I don't wanna pay for a room for just a few hours so I was wondering if anyone had any quick, nice, free (or cheap) little areas that I could camp at along the way. I wanna have a few locations ready so that if I need to stop, I can aim for a camping area. Let me know! Thanks

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

Sorry, but there is no way you can safely drive 1500 miles just stopping for a few hours rest. Giving you help trying to plan a trip like this would be like giving keys to a drunk - and we're not going to put other people in serious danger to meet your unrealistic and unsafe goals.

Unless you can plan to stop for two full nights of sleep on this trip, you really need to just buy a plane ticket. Quite frankly, it will be likely be cheaper, and you won't be endangering others - sounds like a win-win.

[altmanm]

I'm just going to play it by ear. Of course I won't be driving if I'm not able to. I can't fly because I will have my dog with me. If I make it by July 3, great. If not, I am not worried and I'll be there for the 4th. But in either case, do you know of any quick spots to pull over for a nights rest along the way?

[Dominic Longo]

If you are going to do this it needs to be a bare minimum of 2 days and thats not even safe. It would take you 30 hours on road to complete this trip. 2 days of 15 hours each won't be much fun at all and could ultimately prove to be dangerous. An exhausted person behind the wheel is like a drunk driver in that your judgement and reaction time will be way off. It will be even worse to do it alone, assuming that your dog can't drive. Leave the dog home and take a plane. The dog won't even know it missed the concert. You'll make everyone on the road much safer, including yourself.

And some airlines have places for dogs and such as long as the dog is in a carrier. Call whichever airline you choose.

[altmanm]

Ok everyone. I am leaving on the 1st...plenty of time to make it by the 3rd. I have a second driver. SO, can anyone recommend any camping spots along the way close to the highways? Thanks

[Midwest Michael]

There are a couple of state parks near I-70 as you approach Kansas City. Clinton State Park would be one of those options.

For your second night, Land Between the Lakes National Rec. Area would be an option that wouldn't be too big of a detour off the Interstate.

[altmanm]

Thanks! Those look great and exactly in the locations I planned to stop. Do you know of any good spots that are past Land Between the Lakes on the way to Atlanta? I want to get a couple more that are further along just in case we drive more than 8 1/2 hours that day. Thanks again.

[Midwest Michael]

Your best bet is to do one or more of the following things: take a look at the Tennessee State Parks website, grab a decent atlas and simply look for camping symbols, or take a guess on where you might want to end up and then do a google search for that city + camping.

We simply can't do all of the planning for you, and come up with all of the potential sites that you might be interested in, but that should give you the tools to find what you need on your own.