Driving from southern NY towing a camper

[gr8filed@msn.com]

my family and i will be leaving for fort wilderness in a few weeks. it will be our first trip to disney with our kids and our first towing our camper to fort wilderness. we plan on leaving southern ny at 2 am on a saturday. my plan is to stay on rt 95 the whole time. i am looking for the easiest way down. i plan on being thru the dc area before 8 am. anyone with any sugestions? i would love to get to south of the border by the end of day 1 but that may be too much. i will be towing a 30 ft trailer. any camping sugestions. i would prefer a campground because i will need to use ac during august. i am giving myself 3 days to get to the fort, we cant check in till tuesday. does anyone think i can find a campground near disney if i arrive a day early? any sugestions for getting thru the dc area? please send any tips you may have.

 

[NJRRK]

You might run into one problem. The tunnels under Baltimore Harbor, both the Harbor tunnel and the Ft. McHenry tunnels have bottled gas restrictions.

Check on the web for the restrictions and if they'd apply to you.

 

[NJRRK]

Ok, my OLD Exxon Touring Service abilities are coming out.

If you need to avoid the Balitmore tunnels due to your bottled gas requirments try the following for an alternate.

Use I-84 west to I-81 south (that'll put you in the Scranton PA area).

Take I-81 to the Harrisburg area where you get onto I-83 south.

I-83 will take you into Maryland where you can pick up the I-695 south around Baltimore. Take that to I-95 south until you hit Wash DC area.

Use the beltway I-495, not I-95 around the west side of Washington and pick up I-95 south again in Virginia.

Also use I-295 around Richmond, it'll save time and hassle.

I used the same (basically) route when we went down with a motorhome.

Another Advantage you avoid the NJTpk with this route.

 

[ParrotBill]

"Southern NY" - that sounds so funny... to me, it's all "downstate".

If you want to stick to I-95, just take the I-695 beltway west of Baltimore to avoid the tunnels. The alternate route to I-81 is a very good route but probably far out of your way. I drive I-81 south from Syracuse myself then join I-95 at the last possible time off I-26 in South Carolina.

I-95 is rough driving. Heavy traffic, lots of trucks. Lots of people trying to too fast and driving unsafely. Take lots of breaks.

The travel corridors can be very difficult for campers. It takes luck to get a campsite with 30amp power without a reservation. Get and carry a good campsite directory, and invest in a driving GPS. You can set a target, estimate ETA, and start calling ahead to campgrounds in your book. Also look on Google for the state tourism sites and see if there are campground listings, or associations like we have in NY (CONY).

Another option? Campground prices with hookups are approaching the cost of low end motel rooms. Consider overnighting in a motel instead... and along the way you will find discount booklets with rates designed for last minute use.

One last suggestion - get a book called "The Next Exit". It shows which exists have truck/TV friendly gas stations and restaurants. Might even show campgrounds.

 

[cc911va]

I live in Northern VA in the DC area and have all my life so I can give you some advise for the DC area. I agree with previous post stick to I-95 until Baltimore then take I-695 around Baltimore over the Francis Scott Key bridge (sometimes has high wind warnings but if you made it over the Delaware Bridge you should be ok) Then continue on I-95 south. If you are traveling through DC on the weekend you need to be south of Springfield and Dale City by 0900 or it will take you 3 hrs to get to Richmond. If its Saturday morning get in the HOV lanes they are running south in the mornings. If its Sunday they are running north. I-95 backs up south on the weekends by then. Once you reach the NC/VA border it should take you 3-4 hrs to get to see Pedro at South of the Border.

 

[faindrops27]

Wow, good luck fellow NY'er. You are an adventurous family!!

 

[gr8filed@msn.com]

i think i decided to take the following route from new york.
new jersey turnpike south to delaware memorial bridege
rt 295 west to 95 south
695 east baltimore beltway outer loop over key bridge.
95 south to dc area
495 west around dc to 95 south towards richmond va
take 295 south around richmond to 95 south.
i think this will work out the best and easiest for me. any thoughts?

 

[NJRRK]

If there are high winds, they will not allow the trailer on the NJ Tpk.

But that usually (95%) only happens in the winter.

 

[PlutoPony]

Rush "hour" in DC starts 5-5:30 am, so you definitely want to hit 495 as early as you possibly can. I'd hate to be on the Beltway in rush hour towing a trailer ! Once you get to I-95 south of 495 you should be ok, especially taking 295 in Richmond, which should help you avoid much of the rush hour there (altho there will be some).

 

[Bichon Barb]

We did the trip from Syracuse towing a 25 foot camper a couple of years ago during April break. I can't remember what we did going down, but I do remember the route we went on the way back to avoid the DC area. It's definitely more miles, but it's way less stress.

If you reverse the trip:

81 South to 66 -- just past Winchester I believe.
Route 66 to 17 South. (Beautiful drive here)
17 to 95 south.
You may want to go around Richmond depending on what time of day.
95 to 4.

Oh, there is a new bypass that takes you off of 4 and goes straight into WDW, but it ended up costing us quite a bit in tolls. Seems like ever half of mile you have to stop and pay. Going home, we avoided all the bypasses and went straight through Orlando, Jacksonville and Richmond without any problems.

We did run into a 1 hour traffic jam on 95 going down, and a 1.5 hour jam coming home. Make sure you have a good atlas, because you may want to hop off 95 and go a different route for a few miles if this happens to you. It was really frustrating. Especially since one of the traffic jams was absolutely nothing! Some cones blocked off about a quarter of a mile of the right lane. Nothing was going on there.

As far as lodging, we stayed at a Days in somewhere around Rocky Mount, NC, on the way down. It was pretty nasty. Even my kids were grossed out. LOL. I think the first day was 12 hours of driving and the second day was 11.5.

On the way back, we stopped at a KOA somewhere in Northern NC. That was a really long day, because it involved one of those traffic jams. Second day we followed my in laws and their 5th wheel as we met up with them at the KOA.

Good luck to you! We had a great time at FW. I think we stayed in the Big Bear loop.

 

[Bichon Barb]

I'm pretty sure this is where we stayed on the way home. http://www.koa.com/where/nc/33142/

If you can get that far on the way home, the next day shouldn't be too bad. When we arrived, we didn't even hook up water or anything and just used their facilities and had dinner at my in laws' camper. I have to say, I think a hotel room is a little easier if you can find a good deal and one that will let you keep the rig in the parking lot.

I just re-read that you are taking three days to get down. Sorry for my babbling.