need advice traveling Cincinatti to Gainesville, FL traversing Smokeys or ATL??

Hey everyone, My name is Dan and am looking for some advice traveling to Gainesville, FL from Cincinatti, OH. My wife and I are doing a day trip to move for work and I was trying to avoid Atlanta. The routes I came up with were thru knoxville, Sevierville and Gaitlenburg over the smokeys on 441 to Cherokee then down thru athens and Macon, GA to I-75. Alternatively, we could take I 40 through the smokeys and not sure that its worth the extra travel. Of course, we could ride straight through Atlanta on I-75 the whole time but we stand to hit Atlanta around 5 PM on Friday. What are your thoughts? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Dan D

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

Cinci to Gainesville is a 800 mile drive on the direct route through Atlanta. Despite what Google might tell you, that's a 15 hour drive in good conditions, and is simply too far to safely do as a day trip - even with 2 drivers.

The route you've listed as an alternative doesn't add many extra miles, but it does include a ton of miles on much slower 2 lane roads, including through a National Park, and is likely to take quite a bit longer, even compared to Atlanta traffic.

If you really want to avoid Atlanta, I think you'd be better off taking I-40/I-26 and come into Florida on I-95. That adds about 70 miles vs going via Atlanta, but I suspect it would still be faster than going through the Smokeys.

But again, the critical thing is that any way you go, you need to be planning an overnight stop.

Thanks for the insight. We really need to be there saturday as that is when my car is being dropped off and we cannot get on the road till 6:30 am tomorrow. It will be quite a push but I think we can manage.

Statements like that make your plan even more dangerous, because even if you notice the warning signs of fatigue, your deadline is going to give you reason to ignore the dangers.

The simple fact is that after about 10 hours of sitting in a car (even as a passenger), the effects of fatigue make your driving skills become very similar to that of someone who has had too much to drink. By the time you "feel" tired, you've already been driving far too long.

Dropping your car off on time is not worth risking your life, or the lives of everyone else with whom you will be sharing the road.

Suggestion, then: Leave on Friday at 6:30 am. Don't delay. Stay on the road for 600 miles -- 10 to 11 hours. Take a motel room, sleep. Get up and start the next morning at 6:30 and do the other 200 miles. Unless you tarry for breakfast or get a traffic snarl, you should be there by 10 am on Saturday morning. Would that work?

DON'T try to do this in one sitting. You'll hate yourselves in the end. Believe me, I speak from experience!



Donna

We have a friend in Lexington, KY we are going to stay with tonight to make it a little less stressful. It isn't much but we are thinking it will help. Then we will drive thru Atlanta before rush hour and cruise on to Gainesville. Weather looks like it will cooperate.

Made it from Lexington to Gainesville in under 9 hrs. Drove thru Atlanta around 1 pm and went right thru the city without issue. Really not a bad drive at all for two people. Thanks for the suggestions.

You covered 720 miles in under 9 hours?

We're glad you made it, but that's an AVERAGE of 80 miles per hour. Unless you were actually traveling around 120 MPH for a cruising speed and/or had a police escort, something doesn't add up there.

On the internet you can be anything/anyone you want to be.......

Frankly, agreeing with Michael's analysis, I don't believe you!

Lifey

well we left lexington around 7:30 am and got to gainesville around 5:30 pm. you are right more like 10 hrs...seriously though, not a bad drive at all for two people.

So an average speed of 72 mph then? Factoring even the minimum of stops and slowdowns, you had to be driving well over 90 mph for the vast majority of the trip, and gotten quite lucky that you never got behind a slow semi or saw any traffic or construction at all.

Anyone driving anywhere close to the speed limit (with 5-10 mph) will be doing very good to get an average of around 60 mph with a typical trip. Trying to keep stops as short as possible and having great luck with traffic still usually will only get that average up to even 62 or 63 mph.

So let's just say, the results you're sharing are not typical and others shouldn't expect to see them.