PEACH COUNTY, Ga. — As more Floridians make travel plans to the peach state, a lot of Georgians are giving them a safe place until the hurricane passes. This includes RV and interstate parks.
Marsha West manages Interstate RV Park in Byron, Georgia; she said since 9 a.m. Saturday, she's taken nearly 100 calls from people trying to plan for shelter as they make their way up from Florida.
She said her campsites are near capacity, but a little further down on I-75 South is Perry Ponderosa Park. Owners Randy and Donna Bryant are allowing people with motor homes to set up in their dry camping space for free.
Folks from Florida tell 13WMAZ that they have to sit in traffic for hours to get to their destination, but are relieved to have somewhere safe to stay.
Randall Olson and Bill Manley, both Florida natives, said they weren't prepared for Hurricane Milton while states are still reeling from Hurricane Helene.
"There's no preparation for the emotional trauma of these kind of storms. I just pray for a miracle and for the state of Florida and my family," Olson said.
Olson is from Palmetto, Florida. He says his family just moved their son to a new property after Helene destroyed his home; now, he has worries about Milton's impact.
"We spent last week or so to help him get out, moved him into another place he's still on, the water is threatening to surge and hurt him again with this one," Olson said.
Manley and his wife reside in Orlando and though they moved to the sunshine state 40 years ago, he said they've never evacuated for a storm.
"We normally don't leave but yeah this one's bad," Manley said. "I pray it goes over with little to no damage, but it doesn't look like that."
The Olsons made the decision to flock to Fort Valley on Sunday. They've been to Central Georgia before but weren't expecting to pass back through until their Thanksgiving travel, but he said this trip doubled in time because of heavy traffic.
"Evacuation was so intense that you couldn't even get off to get gas, you couldn't get off to use a rest area; you just had to stay in that flow so we had a heck of a time getting here yesterday."
But both families said they appreciate the last minute accommodations.
"This has been, this has been fun. I hate to say it. We left a tragic, horrible storm, but we're kind of enjoying," Olson said.
They say they'll head back to Florida once the coast is clear.
For people traveling by mobile units and RVs, you can download the RV Parky app, type in your location and it'll give you information for the nearest park.
To stay updated with the latest traffic updates, check Georgia 511 and if you're looking for other places to stay as places continue to fill up, Rigby's Water World has space, as well as Echeconnee MX in Lizella.