my slant buildup

right now, trying to figure out "when" we will go.... "life" is threatening to interfere..... wanting to go in May, around our 30th anniversary/ but with mother in law going in for back surgery towards the end of April, , then to rehab for a couple weeks, before hopefully going home (lives alone) that puts alot of "limbo" into "when" we go. we want to do a tourist trip at the same time as well, and possibly hit a junkyard or 2 along the way too..... but for my wife's sake... we have never been to that part of the US, neither of us.... Savannah sounds interesting, but so does the Smokey Mountains of TN..... do we go get my parts and "turn and burn" to Tennessee on the way back, or do we burn rubber thru Tennessee and stay around GA for a few days/ than "turn and burn" back, spend a day or 2 in GA and find a place in TN, to do the same? I have plenty of vacation days, as everything got canned last year and I ended up not using as much vacation as normal. Looking to take up to a week for this.
the guy who has my truck bed sides lives not too far from Savannah. Gonna have to do some serious map crunching, I want to get from here to there without going anywhere near Atlanta.... I hear nothing but horror, about how driving around there is at all hours.... and pulling a trailer too.... wanting to avoid that as much is humanly possible, without going 3 hours out of the way. just so you all know I grew up 1/2 hr south of Chicago, now live almost an hour south of Chicago and I avoid going into Chicago, like the plague. I end up having to pass thru there at least once a year, and cringe every time I do. we like the outdoors, wish I could bring my camper and my utility trailer.... if I still had my Dodge B-van, I could bring the camper and not need the utility trailer. I often miss that thing.
PMs about "things to see" between here and there welcomed.