Mapping a Summer Loop From North Georgia to the Gulf With a Pop-Up

Dana's rule for this summer fits on a sticky note, and it's stuck to the road atlas on our kitchen table: "One long day. The rest under five." One long day of towing, early in the trip while everyone is fresh, and every other driving day under about five hours. Everything else about our summer loop got built around that note.

Last June we drove 2,400 miles to the Smokies and back with a tent. This June we have the pop-up, 12 nights, three states and about 2,300 miles ahead of us, nearly all of it with the camper behind the Pilot. Until now my longest tow was Bahia Honda. So the route had to be kind to the driver as well as the kids.

Why North Georgia, the Gulf and a hotel in between

We wanted cool nights. Our Smokies week taught us that a mountain campground in June is a different planet from Miami, with lows in the 60s and creek water cold enough to make a nine-year-old shriek. North Georgia gives us that on a shorter drive than Tennessee.

Dana booked the Georgia half back in February on the state parks reservation site: four nights at Vogel State Park near Blairsville for $214, and two at Tallulah Gorge State Park for $108. Then she spent a week checking the Florida State Parks site every morning for a cancellation at Grayton Beach on the Panhandle. On day seven, a three-night block opened up for $151, and she booked it before she finished her coffee.

The Panhandle in late June breaks Dana's 70 rule in every possible way. Dew points will be in the mid-70s. But Grayton is a site with 30-amp power, and the camper has a roof AC, so for the first time we're planning a Florida beach in summer on purpose.

That left a gap between Tallulah Gorge and the Gulf, about seven hours of towing in one shot. Maya filled it. She has been asking about the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga since a library book about penguins in March, and a night there splits that long day into two shorter ones. It adds about two hours overall, but two short days beat one long one. Last Saturday I called a Holiday Inn Express there and asked if we could park a pop-up overnight. The manager said yes, back of the lot along the fence. We booked direct on the nonrefundable rate, $164, and I wrote the manager's name in the trip log.

The legs, day by day

1. Sat, June 13: Kendall to Ocala, about five hours with the camper. Night at Ron and Linda's, camper in their driveway, the four of us in their guest room.
2. Sun, June 14: Ocala to Vogel. The long one, about seven and a half hours of driving plus stops. Out of the driveway by 8 a.m.
3. June 14 to 18: Vogel, four nights, no towing.
4. Thu, June 18: Vogel to Tallulah Gorge, about an hour and a half.
5. Sat, June 20: Tallulah Gorge to Chattanooga, about three hours. Hotel night.
6. Sun, June 21: Aquarium in the morning, then about six hours to Grayton Beach. We gain an hour crossing into Central time, which Nico considers a magic trick.
7. June 21 to 24: Grayton Beach, three nights.
8. Wed, June 24: Grayton to Ocala, about five and a half hours.
9. Thu, June 25: Ocala to home.

Yes, a couple of those days run past five hours. Dana has ruled that an aquarium morning counts as rest, and I didn't argue. June 21 is also Father's Day, which makes two years in a row I'll spend it driving. I asked for a milkshake stop and was told it would be considered.

The towing rules underneath

And a few rules left over from our first long tow, in March:

• Arrive with daylight. The goal is every campground by 5 p.m. Setting up a pop-up by headlamp is possible. I'd just rather not.
• Stop every two hours. Bathrooms, snacks and a walk around the camper with a hand on each tire and hub to feel for heat.
• Pull-through gas only. I'm marking fuel stops ahead of time on GasBuddy and skipping any station that looks tight. A gas station in Florida City taught me that one.
• 55 to 60 mph. Everyone else can pass.

The rough numbers

At the 15.5 mpg the Pilot has averaged with the camper and about $3.20 a gallon, 2,300 miles works out to roughly $470 in gas. Campsites and the hotel are already paid or locked in at $637. Add groceries, restaurants, the aquarium and Isabela feeding Pickles for 12 days at $15 a visit, and I've penciled in about $3,200 for the whole trip. The real total will come from the trip log in July.

Dana has her PTO approved and her shifts traded. Our season is still alive this week, so most of the planning has happened at 10 p.m. after practice, with me half asleep and Dana saying, "Just look at the map." The map now has 14 sticky notes on it. Nico added one. It says "fireflies," next to a drawing of what I think is a bug.