Anxious about drive!!

[disfanRN]

We are leaving in 9 days for FW- while I am excited about that, I am a little anxious about the loooong drive!! We are leaving Friday afternoon and are schedule to check in to FW on Monday. We only plan to drive 6 hours a day, I think it is 22 hours or so down. I don't like to drive or be in the car that long so I am hoping I don't get too grumpy!! My DH plans on doing the actual driving, I will be dealing with our 14 year old doggie who doesn't love the car either! To top off the anxiety level, our truck (new) has developed a little problem this week with the A/C suddenly not working, intermittently of course, so the dealer can't find out what's wrong!!!

Has anyone else who really doesn't like to be in the car survived a long drive down? any tips?

 

[THE RAT]

Wow we leave on Friday to and check in on Monday never drove down so can't wait to see how it goes

 

[John VN]

We are leaving in 9 days for FW- while I am excited about that, I am a little anxious about the loooong drive!! We are leaving Friday afternoon and are schedule to check in to FW on Monday. We only plan to drive 6 hours a day, I think it is 22 hours or so down. I don't like to drive or be in the car that long so I am hoping I don't get too grumpy!! My DH plans on doing the actual driving, I will be dealing with our 14 year old doggie who doesn't love the car either! To top off the anxiety level, our truck (new) has developed a little problem this week with the A/C suddenly not working, intermittently of course, so the dealer can't find out what's wrong!!!

Has anyone else who really doesn't like to be in the car survived a long drive down? any tips?

You can always check with your Dr. and your dog's Dr. to see if something is available to help with the time spent in the truck. 6 hours a day will be a breeze and the closer you get to FW the longer you will want to drive so you get there faster.

Make sure you get the AIR fixed in the truck because without it you might be wishing that you didn't leave home.

Have fun and RELAX!

John

 

[allisophie]

HI
DH likes to drive pretty much straight through.. usually at gasoline stops EVERYONE gets out to stretch and take a potty brake.. (naturally in the TT )I try not to eat too much since the more I eat the more car sick I get

now that we are older we try and stop around Atlanta area and hotel it.. one year we just stayed over nite in a truck stop, boy that was fun (I work for a company that sells tractor trailer parts so I was yakking away with the truckers)

when we had our coco,she would nudge us to go potty being a german short hair she would bounce across the truck if she really had to go we were lucky that she didn't get motion sickness. I always carried her shot papers and made sure she had some tranqulizers and she was up to date on the kennel cough (just incase she was in the kennel there at the fort)

as for your ac.. dh is a mechanic and I asked him about the ac.. he say could be a vaccuum problem or too much/not enough freon in there.. hopefully the dealer checked this out.. good luck.. and yes,you will need the ac especially as you head south.. today it was in the 90º's here in st louis.

good luck and enjoy the Fort

 

[wildernessfamily]

6 hours a day should leave you some time to visit the area where you camp. Look on the internet and see what is around. If you kind of know where you will stay, many campgrounds will list attractions near them. Outlets, little known museums, different parks or wildlife refuges..It might give you soemthing to look forward to at the end of 6 hours. Plus you will have time to relax before the next day drive. Hope your dealer can accomadate you and fix that AC. We traveled with our dog when she was 16, so I understand the stress there. Hope it all works out for you.

 

[bigdisneydaddy]

After driving all the way home in August 2003 from WDW without AC, I would really make an effort to get it fixed. Our compressor locked up on the Suburban and it all but melted the clutch off the front of it. The dealer in Ocala got us right in but couldnt locate a repair comp closer than Texas (several sources later told me the shortage was due to an abnormal number of failures of that brand)
I couldnt wait for the parts so I ended up having to cut the AC belt off of it myself since the dealer wouldnt do it.
95 degree weather with a 6400 # trailer and rain make it a little steamy inside the truck.
It may have already been suggested but start by dealing with the service manager and tell him what your plans are and that you need them to get serious about the repair.

good luck

 

[CindyT]

We drive from Indiana and have switched to I-65 through Alabama instead of I-75 through Georgia. There is much less traffic that way and we don't feel so wrung out when we arrive. We find that we can drive a bit longer than 6 hours that way. 6-7 hours is a good plan, though, especially if this is your first trip pulling a camper. Have a great time -- I am envious. We are not going to WDW until next year.

 

[disfanRN]

thanks everyone for the tips! We did talk to the dealer about the Durango and the A/C problem. He talked to Dodge, and they are sending $1200.00 worth of parts and have told them how to fix it. Apparantly the problem is when the engine is already heated up, then you turn the car off and restart in a short period of time, the A/C goes out, sometimes. The super unfortunate thing is they cannot fix this before we leave. SO, we will have to hope for the best.

Today I am packing the trailer, it is hot here today, 92 degrees already, so I am trying to get everything gathered in the house today, then maybe it will cool off this evening and I can go in the trailer and put it away.

We are still dealing with how to transport our bikes- there seems to be no good solution to this, and we think we will have to put them in the trailer itself.

Does going through Alabama make the trip longer?
Have a great day everyone!

 

[briannesmom]

where in michigan are you leaving from? we have driven down many times and I-75 has been best for us. the only time we had traffic problems in atlanta was when they had the olympics

 

[CharlesTD]

We drive the 20 hours every year with 3 kids from Ontario Canada the drive is great don't worry yourself.

 

[VAN]

We also drive with our pop-up every year from SW Michigan. We are on the road by 3:30 am and then stop in Tifton, GA (at a hotel) for the night at about 8:00 pm. We pull in to FW about noon the next day.

On the way home, we get on the road by 6:00 am (this puts you just ahead of most of the traffic...an hour later, you are in the thick of it) - then stay the night in Elizabethtown, KY (again, about 7:30-8:00 pm). We're on the road early and then home by 1:00 pm.

Without any major traffic tie-ups, we log about 20-21 hrs of drive time.