Have you ever wondered what it’s like to tow a massive 5th wheel through a major city? Answer is; it’s very stressful! I was used to pulling smaller trailers in and around Huntsville, but getting this massive camper out on the open road and through Atlanta was extremely interesting!
As we set off on our way from Sharon Johnston Park to Stone Mountain Park Campground, Lindsay and Aiden were pretty nervous, this was a 230 mile voyage! You got to think, this is our first “long distance” trip with our new to us house! Anything could happen! Luckily, I felt super comfortable towing and our rig has the Furrion camera system (2 side cameras and the back camera), so I am able to use the back camera as my rearview mirror, mainly.
We ended up getting through Chattanooga pretty easily, we tootled on down I-75 effortlessly until we hit Marietta and the I-285 junction. This is where things get a bit sketchy, if you know anything about Atlanta area traffic, people have no concern for anyone that’s towing a camper, much less a rig that’s 45’ long! We ultimately made it to Stone Mountain Park. This Park is pretty nice and it was pretty easy backing our camper into our spot. *If you own a towable camper, you know it’s so much easier to back in to the angled sites over the 90 degree sites.
Stone Mtn Park Campground has some lake access for fishing and kayaking. Aiden and I tried our luck at a little fishing and ultimately didn’t catch anything, but that’s why it’s called fishing and not catching. While we’re fishing, Lindsay was planning a few things for us to check out in the area.
We decided to check out Stone Mountain Park first, but we weren’t able to go in as they were holding a Halloween Bash that required pre-purchased tickets. That’s ok, we still got to see the carving on Stone Mtn and we were able to read about the history and how it came to be.
We then visited the 3 Stone Mtn Stranger Things filming locations. Here’s a link for all filming locations in Georgia, Stranger Things filming locations in Georgia.
- Stone Mtn cemetery (Billy’s grave)
- Max and Bily’s house
- Season 1 where the kids walk the tracks (Cherokee Trail, Stone Mtn Park)
A good friend back home suggested we visit Village Corner German Restaurant Bakery and Tavern. This place was great! They had an awesome beer flight, great grub and an awesome atmosphere!
The majority of the time we spent at Stone Mtn Park Campground was spent learning more about our rig, letting the dogs relax, walking the campground and spending more time adjusting to this amazing lifestyle!
Departure days were still a thing to get used to. This proved to be more stressful. Turns out there’s a groove to it that just takes time and experience. However, at this point in time, it took a couple hours to get the rig all packed, sucked in, hooked up and ready to head out.
Originally, we were supposed to start our life on the road and head out into the wild blue yonder, but on our way to Stone Mtn, we had some issues with the truck again. I contacted the dealer and they agreed to take the truck in to check it out. We ended up getting the rear differential serviced and it was good to go again. But this required us to stay at a spot near Murfreesboro, TN while we waited. We chose to use Harvest Host for the one nighters; this is great because it allows us the opportunity to stay at farms, breweries, and wineries for a night. This particular time we stayed at a nice little horse farm in Shelbyville, TN. We then ended up back in Huntsville at the Space and Rocket Center Campground (this campground no longer exists).
We ended up spending 7 days at the Space and Rocket Center Campground, this is where we attempted to rebuild our front patio. It had bad water damage from the previous owner. This “fix” only lasted a couple months. And this is where we ended up with some very unwanted guests! Stink Bugs! These bastards are terrible, hard to get rid of, invasive and long-time travelers. However, the Space and Rocket Center Museum is very cool to visit.
We decided to then spend 1 more week in Alabama at Sharon Johnston planning out our journey. Plan 1 was to head to the Northeast Region and Plan 2 was to head to the Pacific Northwest. We didn’t end up choosing the North Eastern Region because they were getting pounded with rain and constant wishy washy weather. So, we chose the Pacific North West! Lindsay put a route together that would take us up through Kentucky, parts of Illinois, Missouri, then up Nebraska and through South Dakota. We decided to leave the route open when we got to South Dakota just in case we had to change plans. *Spoiler…… as you can see, we ended up going south after the Black Hills of South Dakota.
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