Driving from Ottawa

[twotime]

Hello all. Has anyone done a driving trip from Ottawa?
My Sister and a friend is planning to drive down to orlando on March 28th. She works half day friday and plans to leave the city by 2:00 PM. She is taking I81 and cutting over to I95 where she plans to stay the night at a friends place in Richmond VA.
She will drive straight to Orlando the next day.

Is this plan doable? Is Richmond ambitous given she is leaving at 2:00 pm? Is this the best route from Ottawa? Is bad weather a concern this time of year? How long is the hold up at the boarder crossing?

They have never driven through the mountains before.
Any advice is appreciated? Thanks.

 

[DisneyLisa]

Hi there,

I just got out our trip log to check things out for you. We left Ottawa at 6:15 am & were in Richmond, VA at 6:15 pm...so you're looking at a 12 hour drive...might be a little tough if they're leaving at 2pm.

We stopped for the night in Kenley, NC at 9:30 pm (15 hours of driving) but we were on the road 1st thing in the morning. After a half day at work and driving 12 hours until 2 am...I think I'd be exhausted (unless they're sharing the driving). From Richmond to WDW is ~ 12 hours.

The mountain drive on that route is not too bad. Really pretty but you're not in them for long. They definitely want to by-pass Washington, DC. (we use the CAA TripTiks...they're great).

Not sure about the weather, but hopefully by then, winter will be over!

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask...I've driven it 4 times (different routes) and so have a lot of Canadian DISers..