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Local expertise requested - trip planning

1K views 22 replies 13 participants last post by  SteveWPA 
#1 ·
I am organizing the return trip half of our family's Disney vacation. I plan to take a week or so and make stops along the way from Florida to PA, and I am looking for help finding fun stuff for my family and our Jeep.

The plan so far involves a day at Kennedy Space Center/Daytona area, a day at the Okeechobee Swamp, the over to Asheville, NC and the Great Smokeys and up the 81 corridor through Shenandoah. I am looking to this community to help me find opportunities that I might otherwise miss, particularly opportunities involving the Jeep.

For example, I heard that one can drive on the beach in Daytona. Is that true? Does anyone know where I can find details?

Is there anything in Okeechobee, Great Smokey or Shenandoah for the Jeep?

What else along the way am I overlooking?

I am going to try this post in a few spots on the forum over the next couple of weeks to see what responses I get, don't take offense that the answers you gave weren't good enough if you see it posted somewhere else next week.

Thank you in advance for the help this community is sure to provide in helping my family enjoy our country and our Jeep.
 
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#3 ·
As far as Daytona, you may or may not want to visit there certain times of the year. Bike Week, Race Week, Speed Week, any number of events will have 10,000+ people there, and you'll end up sitting in traffic the whole time (unless those appeal to you).

Jeep Beach in Daytona -
http://www.jeepbeach.com/

You can drive on the Beach, certain sections, all year around as far as I know. :)

Maybe some Jeep clubs on the forum can help as well, there are quite a few of them.
( https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jeep-Events-in-Florida/148549468647069 )

and they are all over the state :0)

...
 
#4 ·
Daytona definitely has beaches you can drive on. Try posting in the Florida local forum and I'm sure someone can give you more details.

Lake Okeechobee is HUGE and covers at least two different counties. Have you decided where you'd like to stay? If you're planning to stay in Palm Beach county, JW Corbett is a fun park to go offroad. That was the first place we took Mike's jeep when he got it.

Up around Asheville there's an old fire road called Hurricane Creek that is a fun drive with the jeep. Depending on the weather, it can be super easy/fast. It's not an 'official' park or anything, so there's no web site for it. If you're interested in more details, feel free to send me a PM. My in laws lived there for 13 years before they moved to Texas with us, so I know lots of stuff around that area, not all Offroad related.

There's another Offroad park in Georgia between Florida and North Carolina. I can't for the life of me think of the name. You might check leeindy and tabber02's build threads. I am pretty sure they've posted the name and photos of their trips there.

Sounds like a fun trip! :)
 
#10 ·
Daytona definitely has beaches you can drive on. Try posting in the Florida local forum and I'm sure someone can give you more details. Lake Okeechobee is HUGE and covers at least two different counties. Have you decided where you'd like to stay? If you're planning to stay in Palm Beach county, JW Corbett is a fun park to go offroad. That was the first place we took Mike's jeep when he got it. Up around Asheville there's an old fire road called Hurricane Creek that is a fun drive with the jeep. Depending on the weather, it can be super easy/fast. It's not an 'official' park or anything, so there's no web site for it. If you're interested in more details, feel free to send me a PM. My in laws lived there for 13 years before they moved to Texas with us, so I know lots of stuff around that area, not all Offroad related. There's another Offroad park in Georgia between Florida and North Carolina. I can't for the life of me think of the name. You might check leeindy and tabber02's build threads. I am pretty sure they've posted the name and photos of their trips there. Sounds like a fun trip! :)
The local forums will be next, I thought I would start here so I can refine my questions a bit first.

I will send you a PM about Asheville.
 
#7 ·
At Kenedy Space Center you'll also have the opportunity to buy tour tickets to Cape Canaveral, which is a truly living history. If I was to visit again, I'd do the early Cape Canaveral tour, then come back and explore Kennedy Space Center.
The time I went, it was so much fun at KSC, that I missed the bus (story of my life ;)), and didn't go to Cape Canaveral. :facepalm:

Hope your vacation is awesome!:beerdrinking:
 
#12 ·
At Kenedy Space Center you'll also have the opportunity to buy tour tickets to Cape Canaveral, which is a truly living history. If I was to visit again, I'd do the early Cape Canaveral tour, then come back and explore Kennedy Space Center. The time I went, it was so much fun at KSC, that I missed the bus (story of my life ;)), and didn't go to Cape Canaveral. :facepalm: Hope your vacation is awesome!:beerdrinking:
Good tip. I will plan on it in that order.
 
#14 ·
If you're interested in some light wheeling there are trails inside George Washington National Forest outside Edinburg VA. I find 81 to be miserable most days. I'd travel the blue ridge parkway and skyline drive as much as Possible.
Yeah, Skyline Drive is the plan, the I-81 corridor was just to get people in the ballpark for suggestions. Speaking of which, your tip was great. As a thorough newb, am I correct to be looking at the OHV trails in GWNF? This is what I found, which didn't tell me much:

http://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/gwj/recreation/ohv/recarea/?recid=73883&actid=93
 
#17 ·
I did the ride along blue ridge parkway and it was beautiful. You might think about skipping the park section unless you are planning to do something in the park. The cost plus the low speed limit combined with the lack of things to see made it our least favorite section. Coming up prior to that we made countless stops on the pull offs for pictures and sightseeing.
While in Florida you can drive on Daytona and New Smyrna beaches. there is a fee but its not much. I was just there this summer and had a great time. The sand will get in everything, You might want to think about pulling your carpet and stashing it in the back. If you go naked plan to spend some quality time with a shop vac(totally worth it).

There are a lot of forest roads in the Ocala national forest, They showed up on my GPS as roads but look like dirt ruts. Lots of fun exploring there.
 
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