For 2,000+ Mile Round-Trip Drivers Only! (II)

[dvczerfs]

Travel Report (random notes mainly)

Juy 1 - I got home from work and went to bed. I woke up at 10:45pm and showered. We left Hartford at 12 midnight exactly on July 2

Took 84-684-Tappan Zee Bridge-78-81-77-26-95

Had a wonderful drive all the way to Charlotte. Light traffic, few trucks, good weather. Everyone slept until 9:30 am. I got a little tired around 7am, so I pulled into a rest stop and closed my eyes for 15 minutes and it did wonders.

I-81 is a beautiful road (view, road condition, traffic level, services, everything).

The construction near Christianburg, VA was really minor.

We stopped just south of Christianburg at 9:30am for breakfast. DW drove for 90 minutes while I slept.

Traffic heavy in Charlotte. Turned into stop and go traffic south of Charotte. Took a detour that took us south of Columbia, SC (rte 321). Got on I-26. Very heavy traffic that stopped about 10 miles outside of Columbia to rubberneck an accident on the other side of the highway. This added 30 minutes to our travel time.

We made it to Jacksonville at 8:30 pm. 20-1/2 hours of driving, which included 1/2 hour traffic delay and two 1-hour meal stops.

Lots and lots and lots of highway patrol cars. Also saw brush fires in Georgia. Boy, gas sure is a lot less expensive in SC (3.13/gal vs 3.79 in CT).

Made it to Windsor Hills in Kissimmee last night.

 

[ksc37]

Just a little more than 6 weeks until our first drive down to Disney World! We decided to play it safe and not try and drive straight through for our first time.

We plan to leave on a Thursday evening after work (around 6:30 PM) from the Philly suburbs, and drive 6 hours or so to Southern VA where we’ll stop for the night. Then, on Friday we should have a reasonable drive to Florida, with most of the congested areas behind us.

Can anyone recommend good, safe places to stay in Southern VA? Right now we’re looking at Emporia due to the large number of chain hotels there.

Also, if anyone has recommendations on where not to stay, that’s good information too!

Thanks!

 

[BC1836]

Just checking in to this site after being chained to my computer for the last five days. Finally finished my authorized biography of a Disney Legend.

Details to follow.

All the best.

 

[dvczerfs]

Just a little more than 6 weeks until our first drive down to Disney World! We decided to play it safe and not try and drive straight through for our first time.

We plan to leave on a Thursday evening after work (around 6:30 PM) from the Philly suburbs, and drive 6 hours or so to Southern VA where we’ll stop for the night. Then, on Friday we should have a reasonable drive to Florida, with most of the congested areas behind us.

Can anyone recommend good, safe places to stay in Southern VA? Right now we’re looking at Emporia due to the large number of chain hotels there.

Also, if anyone has recommendations on where not to stay, that’s good information too!

Thanks!

ive stayed in a hampton inn in that area and didnt have a problem. make sure, what ever you do, you get by richmond thursday night so you dont have to deal with richmond friday morning. other than that, i think you got a good plan going.

 

[dvczerfs]

Just checking in to this site after being chained to my computer for the last five days. Finally finished my authorized biography of a Disney Legend.

Details to follow.

All the best.

looking forward to it bc!!

 

[sharadoc]

Bumping my message for Sharadoc as it got burried and I really want to get your input on this!

So Sorry, I was busy being on vacation, LOL

We didn't use it ALL the time, but never had a problem when we did use it. I had it set on all our netbooks and my Droid and they picked up the signal with no problem. Since we were staying next door to DVCZerfs, I texted and offered use of the signal but he didn't use it - he had already paid Disney, sadly.

I definitely used it in the van while driving along 95, and used it in our room both at the Contemporary and OKW. Dowload times were great and we never lost the signal.

It was really nice not having to check the clock when we used it, just fire it up whenever. DD used it for videos and had no buffering issues. I mostly used it for e-mail, traffic sites (sometimes a little too late, LOL) and news sites.

I honestly wouldn't say there was any bad or ugly about it, other than making sure you don't overpay for it. I got mine from eBay for around $60, retail is $150 which is a little high for me. I liked the fact that we could share the signal, although most times we DID just do one at a time anyway.

The only issue I would mention is that Virgin Mobile customer service really stinks. They are the cookie cutter, out of the country, follow this list/flowchart to try and solve any problems. They honestly have NO IDEA what they are talking about. You need to be able to set up the wireless network on your own. I did ours and it was really easy.

I didn't need customer service on the internet, but I did try and use them on my phone when I first activated it. If I could have, I would have returned it. We joked in our house about the customer service rep named "Peggy" from that commercial.

 

[sharadoc]

tanooki, i would pm her to make sure she gets it. if she text me, ill let her know. she was telling me what it was but im not to tech savy.

Good idea - contact my assistant with any technical questions and I'm SURE he will be able to answer - or at least give a healthy HUH??

 

[ksc37]

ive stayed in a hampton inn in that area and didnt have a problem. make sure, what ever you do, you get by richmond thursday night so you dont have to deal with richmond friday morning. other than that, i think you got a good plan going.

Getting past Richmond is my primary reason for leaving on Thursday night. I've been in the summer shore traffic on 95 once before - not fun!

Also, thanks for the info on the Hampton Inn - I'll check it out.

 

[dvczerfs]

Good idea - contact my assistant with any technical questions and I'm SURE he will be able to answer - or at least give a healthy HUH??

im your agent. are you still up for a road trip july 16th?

 

[dvczerfs]

Getting past Richmond is my primary reason for leaving on Thursday night. I've been in the summer shore traffic on 95 once before - not fun!

Also, thanks for the info on the Hampton Inn - I'll check it out.

there not the cheapest but i have a short story. this trip, we stopped at a hampton inn in virginia. my wife jumped in the shower. i needed something in the bathroom and when i went into the bathroom, my wife didnt have the shower curtain in the tub. there was water on the floor. my wife said use the white towels under the sink and sop it up. i used a white towel on a hotel room bathroom floor!!! after i was done, the towel was as white as it was when i started!!!! i couldnt believe it myself. you could have eaten off the floor.(i wouldnt but it was clean.)

 

[sharadoc]

im your agent. are you still up for a road trip july 16th?

Absolutely - it's on the calendar already!

 

[sharadoc]

there not the cheapest but i have a short story. this trip, we stopped at a hampton inn in virginia. my wife jumped in the shower. i needed something in the bathroom and when i went into the bathroom, my wife didnt have the shower curtain in the tub. there was water on the floor. my wife said use the white towels under the sink and sop it up. i used a white towel on a hotel room bathroom floor!!! after i was done, the towel was as white as it was when i started!!!! i couldnt believe it myself. you could have eaten off the floor.(i wouldnt but it was clean.)

I had to read this twice - I thought you meant there was no shower curtain in there and the water was going everywhere

 

[dvczerfs]

I had to read this twice - I thought you meant there was no shower curtain in there and the water was going everywhere

it was like there was no shower curtain.

 

[dvczerfs]

Absolutely - it's on the calendar already!

ill pm you the directions. are you ok coming up the northeast extension of the turnpike?

 

[Tanooki]

So Sorry, I was busy being on vacation, LOL

We didn't use it ALL the time, but never had a problem when we did use it. I had it set on all our netbooks and my Droid and they picked up the signal with no problem. Since we were staying next door to DVCZerfs, I texted and offered use of the signal but he didn't use it - he had already paid Disney, sadly.

I definitely used it in the van while driving along 95, and used it in our room both at the Contemporary and OKW. Dowload times were great and we never lost the signal.

It was really nice not having to check the clock when we used it, just fire it up whenever. DD used it for videos and had no buffering issues. I mostly used it for e-mail, traffic sites (sometimes a little too late, LOL) and news sites.

I honestly wouldn't say there was any bad or ugly about it, other than making sure you don't overpay for it. I got mine from eBay for around $60, retail is $150 which is a little high for me. I liked the fact that we could share the signal, although most times we DID just do one at a time anyway.

The only issue I would mention is that Virgin Mobile customer service really stinks. They are the cookie cutter, out of the country, follow this list/flowchart to try and solve any problems. They honestly have NO IDEA what they are talking about. You need to be able to set up the wireless network on your own. I did ours and it was really easy.

I didn't need customer service on the internet, but I did try and use them on my phone when I first activated it. If I could have, I would have returned it. We joked in our house about the customer service rep named "Peggy" from that commercial.

Thank you so much for your review!
Since we are not in the US, anything is expensive when it comes to wireless communications. I was considering paying for Internet access at Pop while we'll be there (YES! We are going! Leaving in 38 days) but the prospect of having unlimited wi-fi for the road trip as well is very appealing And I'm sure the kids will appreciate it for our 2-day trip...

Thanks again. I'll keep my eye on it on Ebay

 

[tazdev3225]

I took some minor practice for driving last week. I drove to Lancaster PA on tuesday and home again leaving early in the morning, doing some touring and then home again. I logged 200+ miles that day. Wednesday I went to the Jersey shore and home again the same day adding another 150+ round trip. It is getting me use to driving but it served a better purpose. I had low tire pressure coming home and had to fill my one tire several times. The tire gave out when I got home. I now have 4 new tires so I only have to worry about road hazards.

We are still debating departure time but are leaning towards 4 AM. It's a wednesday so I should miss shore traffic but DC rush hour is still a worry. I'm getting a check of the van next eek just to make sure everything looks good. I just passed state inspection so I'm not expecting any problems. The van only has 33,000 miles on it and is fairly good shape.

 

[dvczerfs]

I took some minor practice for driving last week. I drove to Lancaster PA on tuesday and home again leaving early in the morning, doing some touring and then home again. I logged 200+ miles that day. Wednesday I went to the Jersey shore and home again the same day adding another 150+ round trip. It is getting me use to driving but it served a better purpose. I had low tire pressure coming home and had to fill my one tire several times. The tire gave out when I got home. I now have 4 new tires so I only have to worry about road hazards.

We are still debating departure time but are leaning towards 4 AM. It's a wednesday so I should miss shore traffic but DC rush hour is still a worry. I'm getting a check of the van next eek just to make sure everything looks good. I just passed state inspection so I'm not expecting any problems. The van only has 33,000 miles on it and is fairly good shape.

breaks, belts and fluids. 33k is not alot of miles. ive been taking my black and decker portable generator with me. its about the size of a car battery and it will pump up a car tire, run something thats 120 volt etc... its something handy to have along and it dont take up alot of room. for some reason, i drive 250 miles a day for work and i wonder how im going to drive to wdw and back? but the 1086 miles one way dont seem as bad as it sounds.

 

[tazdev3225]

breaks, belts and fluids. 33k is not alot of miles. ive been taking my black and decker portable generator with me. its about the size of a car battery and it will pump up a car tire, run something thats 120 volt etc... its something handy to have along and it dont take up alot of room. for some reason, i drive 250 miles a day for work and i wonder how im going to drive to wdw and back? but the 1086 miles one way dont seem as bad as it sounds.

When the car was inspected I asked about the brakes specifically. They passed with flying colors. The transmission fluid was changed also. I am getting the radiator flushed and the fluids changed and the belts look good but I do plan to have them checked again. I'm also getting a load test on the battery. I will have to look into the generator. i don't have one but it might not be a bad investment. I had been reading this thread when I took the van in for inspection so I knew some of what to check out then. My DH is the long distance driver in the family he logs a minimum 75 miles a day but usually more. He will be doing the majority of the driving. My DGS volunteered to help but since he is turning 13 the day we leave I don't think so.

 

[jasko5990]

I have made it through not even half of this thread! Our drive is 1072 miles one way...My husband and I have driven to WDW pre-kids...now I have 3 (ages 7,4,1) we re driving as flying is just too expensive.
I am thinking that a stop on the way down is inevitable, though I would rather just drive straight through. I am looking at maybe stopping in Savannah or Brunswick...but I can't seem to find a hotel-I am just nervous to book!I am going to read through the rest of the pages but any recommendations?
Thanks!
jenn

If you want to stop I'd stay in Florence, SC, at any of the Marriot brand hotels or the Hilton Garden Inn just off I-95 exit 160.

 

[dvczerfs]

When the car was inspected I asked about the brakes specifically. They passed with flying colors. The transmission fluid was changed also. I am getting the radiator flushed and the fluids changed and the belts look good but I do plan to have them checked again. I'm also getting a load test on the battery. I will have to look into the generator. i don't have one but it might not be a bad investment. I had been reading this thread when I took the van in for inspection so I knew some of what to check out then. My DH is the long distance driver in the family he logs a minimum 75 miles a day but usually more. He will be doing the majority of the driving. My DGS volunteered to help but since he is turning 13 the day we leave I don't think so.

my dd is 18 and i let her sit in the back seat only!! come on dad, let me drive. NO WAY!!