For those folks driving!

[danalee]

Originally Posted by SondraC

Hello neighbor! We are in the process of trying to throw together a trip for June! We are usually such planners this last minute trip is putting me in a frenzy!
We are going to drive it, even though we usually fly. That's is the way we are pulling off this last minute trip though. We are going on a cruise in July, so we are budgeting on the travel down.
I drove this once before in 1991, but that was before kids, but they are 16 & 17, and we have a minivan so that should be okay.
For our routes AAA & google has us going 119/19/77/95. When I drove this before we did 95 down, but the nice lady @ AAA stated that was because we were coming from Johnstown at the time. She also said that if we try to do 95 from the 'burgh it would add another hour. It looks like our kids will miss South of the Border!
I was going to post on the 2,000 mile thread, but saw this post from you and thought I would chime in.

Hey there!! thanks for chiming in...I to am in a tizzy and we dont leave til September!
We are actualy in Kittanning PA about 35-40 minutes north of Pittsburgh but nobody ever knows where that is so Pittsburgh it is!! We have two differnt routes "picked" out both ending up with 95, its just the starting points that are different

Please try and post back about your drive, I would love some "local" insight! We have an 11 & 6 year old making the trip with us, should prove interesting

Good Luck on your drive & have a great trip!! i am off to check out AAA

[mrodgers]

Originally Posted by danalee

We are actualy in Kittanning PA about 35-40 minutes north of Pittsburgh but nobody ever knows where that is so Pittsburgh it is!!

We say Pittsburgh also. I know better where Kittanning is than the area of Pittsburgh, hehe. Grew up in Butler, but now live way up near I-80, which is only 20 miles from Butler and where I work, but everyone thinks I live so far away from work.

[danalee]

Originally Posted by mrodgers

We say Pittsburgh also. I know better where Kittanning is than the area of Pittsburgh, hehe. Grew up in Butler, but now live way up near I-80, which is only 20 miles from Butler and where I work, but everyone thinks I live so far away from work.

So you get it!!! I say Kittanning and people act like they have to take a covered wagon and canoe just to get here really I can hit rt28 (which is 2 minutes from my house) follow it straight to Pittsburgh and be at a Steeler/Penguin game in 35-40 minutes...nice to see I'm not alone

[DisFan331]

We are leaving on a Saturday in August from central CT. How is traffic through the DC area on a Saturday?

[beachpal]

I live just north of Baltimore and travel down 95 frequently to visit my mom who still lives outside of DC and the traffic is always a toss up. I actually think it is worse in the summer than during the school year. The volume is heavy but it moves (as long as there is not an accident) so if you are a patient person, it shouldn't bother you much. If you suffer from freqent bouts of road rage, you should probably consider another route.

[diznee25]

Do you use a rental car, or drive your own? We're driving to WDW in December and we're looking into car rentals. Can anyone recommend a good company? I know that some companies charge for taking the car out of state, and some don't.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

diznee25

[amtag]

Originally Posted by diznee25

Do you use a rental car, or drive your own? We're driving to WDW in December and we're looking into car rentals. Can anyone recommend a good company? I know that some companies charge for taking the car out of state, and some don't.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

diznee25

I looked into rental cars, we are driving from NJ in August and we have a mid-size car and 4 adults and a carseat so I looked into renting a mini-van or SUV and it was almost as expensive as flying LOL! Unlimited mileage is hard to find once you are planning to go outside of the tri-state area and drive over 2000 miles. We also are going to be gone for 10-11 days, so to rent a car for that long is more expensive, the lowest I found was around $800-$900 including mileage but without any of the insurance added yet, plus your gas will be higher in a mini-van or SUV. Good luck, post if you find any good deals

[jasko5990]

With the exception of taking Amtrak's Auto Train in 2008, we have driven from the Philadelphia, PA area every trip since 2002. My current strategy is to wake up around 6am the day we are leaving, then go back to bed around 4-5pm and sleep until about 11pm. We leave around midnight and drive straight through on I-95. My wife & kids stay awake that day until we leave, then they sleep in the Avalanche and don't wake up until we are in North Carolina where we stop for gas and a Cracker Barrel breakfast around 7am. We then hit the road again, only stopping for one more gas stop and when bathroom breaks are needed. The trip lasts 16 hours, + or - 1/2 hour. By leaving when we do we miss all of the morning traffic in the northern section of I-95 (especially around teh Washington DC area), and when we stop for breakfast we avoid a lot of the traffic during the morning rush. I have tried other departure times, routes, and also stopping for sleep along the way, and have found this current strategy to be the best for us. The long drive and hours aren't a problem for me since I work rotating shifts and spend up to 13 hours a day in a vehicle and am used to being awake all night in a car. The few times I needed a power nap my wife drove for a short time (usually less than 45 minutes) so I could rest. We get to do it again in 2011.

[MamaJessie]

Originally Posted by DisFan331

We are leaving on a Saturday in August from central CT. How is traffic through the DC area on a Saturday?

Hmm... I think there is some sort of loop so you can bypass the dc area. I am pretty sure there were signs on the highway recommending this What a help I am

[SplashMom]

We have decided to drive in August for free dining! I'm very excited but it is a really long drive--from Nova Scotia! Driving time is about 37 hours. We have driven once before, several years ago. We went straight down the I95 from Maine to Florida. It wasn't bad--a little nerve wracking at times! Not sure if we will do the same this time. We are going to take 4 days because we don't want to drive late at night as we are not familiar with the roads at all. Any advice?

[M_T]

Hello

Does anyone know of a website that lists the active construction on I95/I77/I79 ?
Driving from Toronto and would like to know where I could get caught up in traffic jams?
(iPhone apps or GPS addons are also good)

thanks
mark

[alexensmom]

Originally Posted by danalee

Hey there!! thanks for chiming in...I to am in a tizzy and we dont leave til September!
We are actualy in Kittanning PA about 35-40 minutes north of Pittsburgh but nobody ever knows where that is so Pittsburgh it is!! We have two differnt routes "picked" out both ending up with 95, its just the starting points that are different

Please try and post back about your drive, I would love some "local" insight! We have an 11 & 6 year old making the trip with us, should prove interesting

Good Luck on your drive & have a great trip!! i am off to check out AAA

Originally Posted by M_T

Hello

Does anyone know of a website that lists the active construction on I95/I77/I79 ?
Driving from Toronto and would like to know where I could get caught up in traffic jams?
(iPhone apps or GPS addons are also good)

thanks
mark

I love Pittsburgh and go there to shop. No one knows where we live either so we say 1/2 hour from Pennsylvania border or 1 1/2 hr. from Pitt.

For last year's trip, we drove to Va to stay with family then headed out from there. We stayed at a hotel in Orlando and hit WDW the next morning. This year we are leaving from home. We will be heading down I79 to I77. It will add 4 hours to our trip, but we still plan to stay at the same hotel in Orlando. We had a great trip last year with DD. DS will be going with us, so it should be more interesting this year.

I79 has several bridge construction projects, but they are dated to finish at the end of June. I would check the Department's of Transportation of each state before heading out to check conditions.

[billybobblockhead]

Originally Posted by M_T

Hello

Does anyone know of a website that lists the active construction on I95/I77/I79 ?
Driving from Toronto and would like to know where I could get caught up in traffic jams?
(iPhone apps or GPS addons are also good)

thanks
mark

Don't know of a website, but having driven 95 on our last trip to WDW (early April), I can tell you that there is construction in both the north and south bound lanes of 95 around the Savannah/Brunswick area. It's only about 20 miles or so, but they post for trucks to get in the left hand lane and they lower the speed limit to 55 which really stacks everyone up. That's all that I can comment on because we don't pick up 95 until it joins with 26 in SC.

[kidd_freeper]

Originally Posted by M_T

Hello

Does anyone know of a website that lists the active construction on I95/I77/I79 ?
Driving from Toronto and would like to know where I could get caught up in traffic jams?
(iPhone apps or GPS addons are also good)

thanks
mark

http://www.i95exitguide.com/alert/index.php

[beachpal]

We're driving down 95 (yes, I hear you gasp at the traffic) on Friday from Baltimore to Savannah for an overnight before getting to WDW on Saturday. We REALLY want to listen to the US world cup game on the way down- they play at 9:30AM. Do any of you fellow travelers know the ESPN radio stations past Richmond and into North Carolina?