"For 2,000+ Mile Round-Trip Drivers Only!" (Part V)

[amcnj]

We are heading out late tonight for our trip from southwest michigan!

Two mini vans with my DH, a 17 month old, four teenagers and three twenty-something year olds and one of them is 6 months pregnant!

We must be crazy!lol I pray I get to the mouse with my sanity intact.

Safe travels! Hopefully most will sleep through the bulk of the drive (except the drivers of course!)

 

[powellrj]

We are making the trip in September this year. I kept checking Southwest all day yesterday and finally decided to go ahead and make the drive. Last trip we didn't make reservations ahead of time and it was during Bonnaroo. Huge mistake! It was the first time we had ever slept in the car! I will keep checking back for road updates closer to our trip.

 

[scrappinmom]

Safe travels!!!

 

[LadyBeBop]

We are making the trip in September this year. I kept checking Southwest all day yesterday and finally decided to go ahead and make the drive. Last trip we didn't make reservations ahead of time and it was during Bonnaroo. Huge mistake! It was the first time we had ever slept in the car! I will keep checking back for road updates closer to our trip.

Sounds like you like to stay overnight in the Knoxville area. You might like to reserve a room if you are traveling during a University of Tennessee home game. Rooms will probably be booked for miles. A couple of years ago, we spent the night around the Lake City, Florida area. Only room we could find was about ten miles area on I-10 going toward Jacksonville. It seemed most of the rooms were filled for the Florida State football game. Nearly a hundred miles away in Tallahassee.

 

[powellrj]

I never even thought about that! Thanks for the heads up, we usually leave when DH gets off works so Knoxville is a nice stop for us.

 

[BC1836]

Time to start packing. Another drive (#37 since 2002) is scheduled for next week.

All the best!

 

[BC1836]

Over 1,250,000 views!

A recent examination of the accumulated views of the first four incarnations of this thread resulted in over 1,000,000 views!
Lots of views...but lots of miles driven to and from WDW!

All the best!

 

[stitchfan75]

We are driving from Fort Worth to Orlando in September for our first WDW trip. Our first plan was to drive straight through, we were going to leave at 2pm getting to AKL at around 7am. My concern was, if our room isn't available I'll have 3 exhausted people on my hands and then taking them to the parks would be a nightmare. I have anxiety when I'm not driving so the idea of me sleeping while dh is driving will not happen. Also previously working night shift as a nurse for 7 years, I know how I function after being up 24 hours (answer is...badly).
So I talked the family out of that mess and we are leaving around noon, stopping around Mobile, AL and then getting up early to head out to AKL arriving around 2pm.
We've done long trips before, last summer we did to San Antonio round trip in one day (12 hours of driving) to drop the kids off at camp. I went to college in Buffalo for a bit and would drive the 7 hours+ to Long Island for breaks solo. Then there was the years we lived in AZ and would drive the 6+ hours to DLR.
We are driving our 2010 Kia Soul and GasBuddy has us at $157 r/t which seems kind of low.

 

[nono]

We are driving from Fort Worth to Orlando in September for our first WDW trip. Our first plan was to drive straight through, we were going to leave at 2pm getting to AKL at around 7am. My concern was, if our room isn't available I'll have 3 exhausted people on my hands and then taking them to the parks would be a nightmare. I have anxiety when I'm not driving so the idea of me sleeping while dh is driving will not happen. Also previously working night shift as a nurse for 7 years, I know how I function after being up 24 hours (answer is...badly).
So I talked the family out of that mess and we are leaving around noon, stopping around Mobile, AL and then getting up early to head out to AKL arriving around 2pm.
We've done long trips before, last summer we did to San Antonio round trip in one day (12 hours of driving) to drop the kids off at camp. I went to college in Buffalo for a bit and would drive the 7 hours+ to Long Island for breaks solo. Then there was the years we lived in AZ and would drive the 6+ hours to DLR.

I loved reading your post. So many times, people forget that it doesn't matter how it works for anyone else, you have to design your travel for how it will work for you! You are well-thought-out.

 

[amcnj]

We are driving from Fort Worth to Orlando in September for our first WDW trip. Our first plan was to drive straight through, we were going to leave at 2pm getting to AKL at around 7am. My concern was, if our room isn't available I'll have 3 exhausted people on my hands and then taking them to the parks would be a nightmare. I have anxiety when I'm not driving so the idea of me sleeping while dh is driving will not happen. Also previously working night shift as a nurse for 7 years, I know how I function after being up 24 hours (answer is...badly).
So I talked the family out of that mess and we are leaving around noon, stopping around Mobile, AL and then getting up early to head out to AKL arriving around 2pm.
We've done long trips before, last summer we did to San Antonio round trip in one day (12 hours of driving) to drop the kids off at camp. I went to college in Buffalo for a bit and would drive the 7 hours+ to Long Island for breaks solo. Then there was the years we lived in AZ and would drive the 6+ hours to DLR.
We are driving our 2010 Kia Soul and GasBuddy has us at $157 r/t which seems kind of low.

That is the main thing, to figure out what works for you. Some can handle overnight drives, some can stay up 24 hours straight, some can do early morning leaves, etc. No matter how good something sounds, if you know it won't work for you, then you might be setting yourself up for issues.

So far as the gas cost, if you know the miles you will be travelling, and your vehicle's usual miles per gallon (mpg) for similar driving, you can just estimate the gas cost yourself: miles to drive/mpg = # gallons needed x cost per gallon of gas = estimated fuel cost.

Good luck with your trip!

 

[BC1836]

It's that time again...!

Drive #37 (this time an indirect one via Richmond, Colonial Williamsburg and Raleigh) begins in about 90 minutes.

All the best!

 

[amcnj]

It's that time again...!

Drive #37 (this time an indirect one via Richmond, Colonial Williamsburg and Raleigh) begins in about 90 minutes.

All the best!

Safe travels! Have fun!

 

[BC1836]

An uneventful drive from the Jersey Shore to Richmond. However, those folks driving north around 2 p.m. on I-95 in VA faced stop and go traffic for about three miles from mm88 to mm91. Ugh.

All the best!

 

[kerry34]

Leaving from central MA in 48 hrs for another drive to the World. Driving the 84-81-77-26-95 route. Taking a leisurely ride down after two overnight stops, one in Maryland on Thursday night and the other in Georgia on Friday night. We should be passing under the Disney arches around 12:30 Saturday afternoon! The nice thing about taking two days going down is that we will have pretty much all of Saturday at the resort and we won't be fried from hours of driving. Love the drive down...not so fond of the ride home though.

 

[Original Amber]

We're leaving Saturday for an indirect trip. Last time we went to WDW first. This time we're going to Huntsville first.
What's in Huntsville you ask? The Rocket Center, of course. About 20 miles down the road is Scottsboro and the Unclaimed Baggage Center. We're hoping to make it to both buildings this trip.
I just hope if it's going to thunder in Bloomington, IL Saturday it waits until after noon so my son, can run both his races!

 

[jm106]

We are 2 weeks out from our second drive with plans for a third this year all the way to the Keys!

Octobers trip, we left at 4 pm on a Friday and drove through the night.
This time, we plan to leave early morning from NJ, on a Saturday. I am wondering, if we should reconsider our route due to it being a Summer time Saturday and day time? Or a suggestion on timing to leave?
Plan is to stop in Florence SC. We did 95/495/295 I believe.
thank you

 

[BC1836]

We are 2 weeks out from our second drive with plans for a third this year all the way to the Keys!

Octobers trip, we left at 4 pm on a Friday and drove through the night.
This time, we plan to leave early morning from NJ, on a Saturday. I am wondering, if we should reconsider our route due to it being a Summer time Saturday and day time? Or a suggestion on timing to leave?
Plan is to stop in Florence SC. We did 95/495/295 I believe.
thank you

It depends where in NJ you are leaving from. If the weather is good and you are driving on a road that leads to the NJ Shore, you should expect traffic. Going against the grain, e.g., route 72 west, should not be a problem.

All the best!

 

[jm106]

I'm on north west NJ, no place near the shore, just a few minutes from PA

 

[BC1836]

I'm on north west NJ, no place near the shore, just a few minutes from PA

Turnpike to DE Memorial Bridge or PA route via I-81?

 

[jm106]

We are closer to 81. That's what we are considering