Driving from CT to FL

[tmaxwell]

Good morning!!

We will be making the treck from CT to FL for our what it seems like annual Disney trip! My job has given us Friday's off this summer (woohoo)! My question is - would you leave early Friday morning and make a stop in South Carolina for the evening or just drive all Friday night and get to FL late afternoon Saturday?

We drove all night last year - and while the kids slept in the back like champs - I didn't since I was the co-pilot (which my husband said he didn't need - ya right). Only downside of driving during the day is the traffic. I figure, if we left our house at 7am, we could make it to Florence, SC by 8pm (maybe 9pm with the stops and traffic).

Any insight would help.

Thanks!!!

 

[Hettie]

We haven't driven straight through from KY since we were in our 20s with no kids and we'll never do that again. It isn't worth it to get there sooner and be completely exhausted IMO. Even though we could leave early and get there late in the evening, I much prefer to pick a spot to get a hotel, eat some dinner, relax, and continue on early the next morning well rested. Otherwise, we spend a whole day recovering from the sleep deprivation.

 

[tmaxwell]

We are lucky enough to recover at a family member's house on Saturday and then head to Disney the following day. It worked out really well last year.

Only thing that didn't work was me sleeping in the car, and my husband getting to sleep all day on Friday before we left. lol

 

[isabellea]

We drive straight-thru from Montreal, QC so a bit further north than you. Our favourite schedule is to leave home around 1pm so we arrive in Orlando for dinner the next day (we average 27h total). Leaving at 1pm allows the kids to spend as much energy as possible in the morning and eat a light lunch at home (cheaper and healthier than on the road). DH starts with the driving until dinner time when I take over until midnight. DH then drives until 3-4am and I finish the night before stopping for breakfast. Our kids sleep well in the car and we feel less tired this way then when we stopped for the night in NC.

 

[DisneyCAL]

I hate night driving personally.. think its dangerous and why lose sleep at the beginning of the vacation. Depending on where you live in CT (I live on shoreline past CT river) but typically we leave at 9am to miss the new haven morning traffic and that gets us to Delaware by 2 or 3pm which could mean trouble around DC at rush hour time but you could go down DE rather than Maryland and skip that mess potentially. If you are on the west side of CT then leaving at 7-8am is probably just fine.

 

[KrazeeK120]

We drove from IL to FL earlier this month. We stopped overnight. Personally, I don't think it's safe to drive through the night. Getting catnaps in the car just isn't the same as several hours in an actual bed. Plus, the middle of the night is the time that other tired drivers, drunk drivers, etc. tend to be out in higher numbers. Also, I didn't want to start my vacation exhausted. It was well worth it to us to stop.

 

[DH-2-mamaduck]

We made the drive from MN last year taking our time getting there. It is not worth exhausting yourself before you get there but all depends on if you can get sleep in the car. I have no problem sleeping, DW, not so well. We try not to go more than 15 hours. Usually on the trip home I try to push it but DW usually foils that plan. I think last year we went 19 hours on the way home. I always say "go to sleep and when you wake up, we will be in the driveway." But instead we end up spending the night somewhere.

Sounds like you are asking the question of the same thing my wife and I discuss. I want to keep going and she wants to sleep in a bed for the night.

 

[jeepnjudy]

We drive down from VA each year and stop for the night either in SC or GA. It helps break up the trip. I would suggest leaving earlier than 7AM. We tend to leave around 4 or 5AM to avoid some of that morning traffic.

 

[monorailsilver]

I live shoreline CT, bordering the CT River/95 area but I am fortunate to still have my mother in my hometown 1/2 from the NY line along the Merritt....so the year we drove and the year we took the AT, we left our house Thursday after school and sports and drove to hers. Woke up the next day and left no later then 6, beat the traffic on the MP and we were in NJ passing the Vince Lombardi rest stop just after 7am. No traffic. We did that 2 yrs in a row except the 2nd year we took the AT and arrived there at 11am.

The year we drove the whole way, we hit traffic in Richmond on 9t so we got off and took RT 1 which was still a mistake...

But that was it. No traffic. The yr we took the AT, I kept checking google maps (DH uses waze to drive but google shows the traffic pattern easier..thanks to waze) and saw that 95 was clear straight thru D.C. So we didn't take the loop. That was probably around 11 am on a Friday.

We ended for the night in Santee, SC. I wasn't hoping to get to the GA border but that Richmond traffic slowed us down.