Caravan from CT!!!!!!!

KristinU · Jul 10, 2015

pjpoppins said:
Just got back from Brialee Tuesday. We liked it. The campground was a little run down but not bad. There was tons of activities for the kids (and adults too). We are going back for Halloween (Oct 23) I believe.

Glad you had fun!

4077 · Jul 10, 2015

Cool

spent the 4th at Mystic KOA. Was good. Liked Copake KOA in Copake, NY few weeks back...at corner of NY/MA/CT. Going with just my boys for a night at Nelson's in East Haddam tomorrow (couldn't 'to be home from work until too late to get out there tonight. Summer weekends seem to go by too fast !

PaHunter · Jul 10, 2015

4077 said:
Summer weekends seem to go by too fast !

Unless you are working them. :sad2:

4077 · Jul 11, 2015

I

PaHunter said:
Unless you are working them.

I 'll wish a fast weekend of work for you, but a slow camping weekend for me...

peg110 · Jul 21, 2015

Fortunately for me, I haven't had to work (at a paying job anyway) a weekend for a while. Recent security changes at work have also cut of several folks "Remote Access" so I cannot even check my work email when away from my work computer. That's kind of nice too.

I agree with 4077. I hope anyone that works weekends, no scratch that, I hope anyone that WORKS has a Fast workday and anyone relaxing (like at the fort) has a slow day.

megveg · Jul 26, 2015

im in MA! I have driven down twice over the past 2 novembers and tent camped both times (at homestead miami speedway, not disney) but I am DYING TO TENT CAMP the fort!

WorldWacky · Jul 26, 2015

jbrostek said:
With 2016 reservations you will have lots of time to learn the camper and figure it all out. I would recommend trying to squeeze in something that is a bit of a drive for you in the mean time. Nearby campgrounds are great for quick trips, but the lack of experience on a longer road haul can leave you unprepared for how much fatigue you can get driving such a distance. I learned that the hard way with the farthest I ever took my first bus was 4 hours. Only 2 months before the trip I took a trip 6 hours away and learned a lot about what I need to adjust for a longer ride. Now after 6 years of making the trip to FW every winter I feel like an old salt and my trip down 95 is just ticking off the miles till I get there.

Enjoy the adventures of the new RV!!!!

How long/miles would you say you go at a time? Do you tend to just stop overnight or spend a few days at a campground on the way? The longest we've gone was from Niagara, where we bought the camper to Long Island-about 470 miles (Took us around ten hours with NY traffic.) We're planning on going to the Fort next summer. To the Fort it's 1147 miles. Any suggestions from anyone on when/where to stop would be great!

peg110 · Jul 27, 2015

WorldWacky said:
How long/miles would you say you go at a time? Do you tend to just stop overnight or spend a few days at a campground on the way? The longest we've gone was from Niagara, where we bought the camper to Long Island-about 470 miles (Took us around ten hours with NY traffic.) We're planning on going to the Fort next summer. To the Fort it's 1147 miles. Any suggestions from anyone on when/where to stop would be great!

From Northeast PA, we typically leave the Night of our last work day (before Vacation). So leaving about 6 PM at night traveling down below DC (in the evening is better than the day, for sure) Then we end up stopping at the "Ashland" Virginia Exit. We like it because there is a Truck stop there where we can park our camper and sleep for the night (if you can deal with all the trucks Idling. I like it, it's like white noise to me. DW doesn't, but since I am the one doing all the driving, she puts up with it). Then in the AM we get up and there is a cracker barrel right across the street too. We get a good breakfast and hit the road again. It's a longer haul, but we can typically make it most of the way there. We will then generally stop at a rest stop just outside of the Fort for a couple more hours, and then do an early check-in at the fort. Even if it's not available yet, we can then use the lot there to drop the camper and start enjoying the parks or just relax while waiting to get our site. (They will send you a text message when it's ready, if you like).

pjpoppins · Jul 27, 2015

I was told to do the same thing peg110. Leave around 7p at night and get down past DC by 3 am or so. Then sleep a little, get up, have breakfast and see how far we can get down that day. I would imagine we will have to stop that night as I am the only one doing the driving as well (travel trailer).

pjpoppins · Jul 27, 2015

Also, the other 2 parties that are coming with us are currently out at Sturgis (with another party). 1 travel trailer, 1 toy hauler, and one RV pulling an enclosed camper. So hoping they will have some good lessons/tips.

WorldWacky · Jul 27, 2015

We have left around 9 or 10 pm in the past. We have traffic getting off Long Island through NJ to contend with. :crazy2:

And a lot of the time, there's no rhyme or reason for when it's backed up. With the camper though, we'll be a little slower and we'd probably hit morning DC traffic. We'll really have to try to weigh this one out.

peg110 · Jul 27, 2015

WorldWacky said:
We have left around 9 or 10 pm in the past. We have traffic getting off Long Island through NJ to contend with. And a lot of the time, there's no rhyme or reason for when it's backed up. With the camper though, we'll be a little slower and we'd probably hit morning DC traffic. We'll really have to try to weigh this one out.

Oh, I agree that there is no Rhyme or Reason to NJ traffic. It seems like a lot of commuters in NJ do it backwards. Drive Left Lane, Pass Right Lane (at least on I80 from PA to NY)

We are considering, on our next trip adding a few miles (about 20) to our trip which takes us AROUND Washington DC. It's supposed to be quicker by avoiding it. I can say the one time coming home, we got into DC on an early Sunday morning and I thought it would be "Light". Boy was I wrong. It was worse than a Monday morning or Friday Afternoon. Plus we had to find a place to get gas while stuck in traffic making it worse. Never again. I think my DW dug nails into the arm rest during that trip.

PaHunter · Jul 27, 2015

WorldWacky said:
How long/miles would you say you go at a time? Do you tend to just stop overnight or spend a few days at a campground on the way? The longest we've gone was from Niagara, where we bought the camper to Long Island-about 470 miles (Took us around ten hours with NY traffic.) We're planning on going to the Fort next summer. To the Fort it's 1147 miles. Any suggestions from anyone on when/where to stop would be great!

We left Northeastern PA last winter, at 3am and drove to Walterboro, SC, arriving there about 5pm. This included and unscheduled puking kid stop. Next day left about 5am and rolled in to the Fort about 1130.
Coming Home we left the Fort and stayed at Rocky Mount, NC, that split the trip almost an even 9 hours of travel time each day. I was hauling a 30ft TT with a 1500 Chevy truck at the time. We used 81 to 77 to 26 to 95 down. Returning 95 to 64 to 81.

pjpoppins · Jul 28, 2015

How was 81? We went that way a few years back (4 adults and DD) in a packed minivan (took 84W from CT over to PA). I remember there being some crazy hills. It's a really nice drive but worried about hauling. Almost same setup - Sierra 1500 with a 31' 7200# load capacity. Figured I would stick to 95 just to stay away from the mountains.

jbrostek · Jul 28, 2015

WorldWacky said:
How long/miles would you say you go at a time? Do you tend to just stop overnight or spend a few days at a campground on the way? The longest we've gone was from Niagara, where we bought the camper to Long Island-about 470 miles (Took us around ten hours with NY traffic.) We're planning on going to the Fort next summer. To the Fort it's 1147 miles. Any suggestions from anyone on when/where to stop would be great!

Our trip to the fort is about 875 miles one way. I have never tried to make the run non stop and always split the trip into two days. How far we make it depends on traffic and stops mostly. I can only handle about 12-13 hours on the road and after that I am pretty much wiped out. Rather then risk fatigue and not to mention just needing to be out of the truck for the night we stop. Now that can be as little as 500 miles for the day, or as much as 600 miles for the day. We start early enough usually on Friday or Saturday to miss the DC traffic, Around 7:30-8:30am. Richmond traffic has never been an issue for us since we hit the area outside commuting time. We usually end up stopping at Point South KOA (I95S Exit 33 in SC), though one rainy day south we only made it to New Green Acres RV Park (I95S Exit 53 in SC) and then had a year where great time was made and got as far south as Savannah South KOA (I95S exit 87 in GA). Usually we are stopping between 7-9pm at those locations, and since we are traveling with a caravan of campers it means we all need to be willing to go the distance.

But from that stopping point is about a 6 hour haul to Disney for us. That includes usually one fuel stop in GA and one potty break before the I4 exit. If I had to tack on the extra mileage I would try to find a way to still do it in two days time, but you are still talking about 23 hours on the road for the entire trip south. First I would try to get off LI before the traffic picked up. Even if it meant leaving at night just to get a few hours outside the area, then shoot down. Stopping points would still need to be figured out for you, do you plan to do I95 and deal with the tolls, or head through PA and avoid the tolls Mid Atlantic traffic.

WorldWacky · Jul 28, 2015

jbrostek said:
Our trip to the fort is about 875 miles one way. I have never tried to make the run non stop and always split the trip into two days. How far we make it depends on traffic and stops mostly. I can only handle about 12-13 hours on the road and after that I am pretty much wiped out. Rather then risk fatigue and not to mention just needing to be out of the truck for the night we stop. Now that can be as little as 500 miles for the day, or as much as 600 miles for the day. We start early enough usually on Friday or Saturday to miss the DC traffic, Around 7:30-8:30am. Richmond traffic has never been an issue for us since we hit the area outside commuting time. We usually end up stopping at Point South KOA (I95S Exit 33 in SC), though one rainy day south we only made it to New Green Acres RV Park (I95S Exit 53 in SC) and then had a year where great time was made and got as far south as Savannah South KOA (I95S exit 87 in GA). Usually we are stopping between 7-9pm at those locations, and since we are traveling with a caravan of campers it means we all need to be willing to go the distance.

But from that stopping point is about a 6 hour haul to Disney for us. That includes usually one fuel stop in GA and one potty break before the I4 exit. If I had to tack on the extra mileage I would try to find a way to still do it in two days time, but you are still talking about 23 hours on the road for the entire trip south. First I would try to get off LI before the traffic picked up. Even if it meant leaving at night just to get a few hours outside the area, then shoot down. Stopping points would still need to be figured out for you, do you plan to do I95 and deal with the tolls, or head through PA and avoid the tolls Mid Atlantic traffic.

We do plan on using I 95. We were thinking of trying to make it to the Virginia/NC border and then stopping for the night. We're just trying to figure out if we should make the trip in two days or three days.

PaHunter · Jul 28, 2015

pjpoppins said:
How was 81? We went that way a few years back (4 adults and DD) in a packed minivan (took 84W from CT over to PA). I remember there being some crazy hills. It's a really nice drive but worried about hauling. Almost same setup - Sierra 1500 with a 31' 7200# load capacity. Figured I would stick to 95 just to stay away from the mountains.

81 is not that bad, I would use 81 to 64 to 95 if we are doing it again. This would allow us to miss most major cities. We got involved in traffic in NC taking 77 that slowed us down. We towed most of the time around 70 mph and averaged around 8 mpg with our truck trailer combo. Hopefully the new 3500 diesel will get better gas mileage.

jbrostek · Jul 29, 2015

Just getting out of LI is the tough one. If you where to leave early, say 4am I think you could miss the rush around the VZ and Goethals bridge and get southbound. If you have driving help then you would be pretty set to make a big run for SC and stop at new green acres. But that would be 14-15 hours. Then you have about 7 or so hours before you get to FW.

An alternate though, leave the evening before and making it at least till MD which is about a 5-6 hour run depending on traffic. There are some campgrounds north of Baltimore that you could stop at. From there I would shoot for 12-13 hours on the road the next day which should get you down to New Green Acres and Point South KOA. Then the last leg is a short one and you can plan on a drivers rest evening.

WorldWacky · Jul 29, 2015

I think leaving around 4am is our best bet too. Try to get at least into NC. We're both ok to drive. To be safe, since it's our first time on a trip this long, maybe stop somewhere in FL (Jacksonville) for another overnight and then the next morning get to the Fort. It's an extra day built in for any issues that may arise.

jbrostek · Jul 30, 2015

Just so you know, we do not push it either. Rolling we are doing about 65, but when we stop its easily 30 minutes and sometimes up to an hour. First stop for us is a JRs, usually includes lunch, some cigar shopping for me, and a puppy walk. Next stop is usually Bathroom break and refuel for one of the 3 RVs we caravan with, and then we end up at the campground.

So if you where to limit stops I think you could make from the LI to southern NC. At that point you are probably looking at a 12 hour run to Disney from there, so doable but having a backup plan to stop in the area and leave the last 2-3 hours is a good one as well.

I would leave yourself options. If you leave at 4am you know you could stop at in Ashland, VA. Could make is as far as Southern VA and stop before NC. Or make it even further. But pick a few stopping points within what you can think for a overnight. And then next day keep on trucking till you get there or have one more stop.

Caravan from CT!!!!!!!

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I'll fly for this Mickey Mouse outfit!

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I'll fly for this Mickey Mouse outfit!

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Drink up me hearties, yo ho!

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