2019 Florida to Michigan-Our Backroads Route & Campgrounds

Our Travels - 2019 Florida to the Northeast and Midwest
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As of December 31, 2023, we are no longer camping much and I an no longer updating this website. I have left it online for the time being, knowing that people still find their way to my articles and find them helpful. Please note, however, that as time goes by, some of the information presented here (particularly on specific products) may become outdated and links may no longer work.
 
I've enjoyed eight great years of interaction with thousands of other small travel trailer owners. Thanks for all your support, and hopefully a few of us will meet again somewhere in the woods or on the road! - Denny

Taking Time to Enjoy the Journey

After writing about how we avoided highways on our recent trip from Orlando to Michigan, I received quite a few emails. With so many people making this trip (I suspect most of them coming to Florida in the winter), a lot of people asked about the specific route we took. So here are a few details for those of you that may be interested in all or part of this itinerary.

Our Trip Plan

We were fortunate to be able to take a seven week trip this summer. As we planned it out, we decided on just a few main goals:

  • Spend a month in Michigan in my home town, visiting old friends and cousins, and enjoying some cooler weather.
  • Spend Memorial Day weekend with our son and grandson in Louisiana
  • Visit other friends along the way
  • See some new areas and visit new campgrounds along the way
  • Take our time and enjoy the journey...in other words, avoid the "rush to get there"!
 
Route for our Summer 2019 trip

Route for our Summer 2019 trip

Map Details

NOTE: The yellow circles are where we stayed. The grey ones were added in order to tweak our route.

1 Home Maitland (Orlando), FL
5 Hitchin Post Corral and Campground Cottondale, FL
8 Staying with friends Pensacola Beach, FL
12 Fairview Riverside State Park Madisonville, LA
14 Twltley Branch Campground (COE) Collinsville, MS
17 DeWayne Hayes Campground (COE) Columbus
19 Staying with friends Birmingham, AL
20 Honeycomb Campground Grant, AL
21 Fort Boonesborough State Park Richmond, KY
22 Johnny Appleseed Campground Fort Wayne, IN
23 Eastpointe RV Resort Grand Haven, MI
24 New Lisbon Family Campground Straughn, IN
25 Kendall Campground (COE) Jamestown, KY
26 Mountain View Campground Hiawassee, GA
27 Winfield Campground (COE) Appling, GA
28 Jenny Ridge Venue and RV Park Folkston, GA
32 Home Maitland (Orlando), FL
 

This gives you the basic details. If you plug the towns into your GPS or a mapping program it will give you details on the roads (before we tweaked things just a bit). I'd suggest you review my Enjoy Your Drive and Avoid the Highways article to see how we went about deciding on the exact route for this trip and tweaked the mapping.

When laying out an overall trip plan, I generally use MyScenicDrives.com. It allows you to add notes along the way, plan all your stops, add a factor for your average speed, your budget, and much more if you really want that much detail. You can click here if you'd like to see all the turn by turn details of this trip.

Winfield Campground (COE park) - Now one of our Top 3 favorite places

Winfield Campground (COE park) - Now one of our Top 3 favorite places

The Places We Stayed

If you're interested in details about where we stayed, we have reviews (with lots of photos) of all the places in our Campground Reviews. Click the button below to access the Campground Index page.

Be sure to drop me note if you have any questions.
- Denny
Denny Johnson

Denny Johnson

After having spent most of our adult life in Orlando, my wife Fay and I moved to Knoxville, TN in 2020. We are loving the change of seasons and being near the mountains. Plus, this part of the country is loaded with great places to camp. 
 
We camped years ago with a pop-up camper, but got serious about it when we purchased our Casita in 2014. There was a lot to learn as we started traveling with it, and a lot of conflicting opinions on line. That's when I decided that creating a website would be a good retirement project. I started tinyTowable.com to share things we've learned along the way that have worked well for us in hopes that the information would be of help to others.
 
However, since moving to Tennessee, I've gotten involved with new hobbies (you can check some out on my personal website at https://www.softrite.com) and we haven't camped very much. So, at the end of 2023, I made the tough decision to stop updating this website.
 
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6 thoughts on “2019 Florida to Michigan-Our Backroads Route & Campgrounds”

  1. Nice trip ! We are planning a two week back roads only trip from NYC to the Catskill Mountains then on to the Finger Lakes. I really enjoy doing the driving this way instead of the super slab highway. Is it slower …yes ….but you get to see so much more of the region you are traveling through. Its nice to have the time to do this now that we are retried. We totally enjoy your website and happy camping !

    Reply

    1. Thanks for the encouragement Ed. I always wonder if the stuff I write is really of value to anyone or not!

      For us, it’s really the difference between driving somewhere to get to enjoy our destination vs enjoying the entire journey.

      Reply

  3. I did the Florida to Michigan thing and back but used I-75. I took side trips on the way back. I didn’t have enough funds for a longer trip. This was October 2018. I did tour the Bicycle Museum of America in Ohio, the Kentucky Horse Farm (it’s right alongside I-75), and the original KFC. Michigan roads are horrible! I am still finding loose screws in my Scamp. But, the fresh cider and donuts were worth the trip!

    Reply

    1. Yea, the Michigan roads are pretty rough…even the highways. The state is so beautiful in the summer though, that it’s worth every bump!

      Reply

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