We live in Northern VA and just did this drive last month. We drove to Santee, SC (which took about 7 1/2 hours) and stayed the night at the Hampton Inn. The remainder of the drive took about 5 hours or so. We also did the drive straight through last May. It wasn't bad, but we were completely EXHAUSTED when we got there. If you plan to stop over night, be sure to book your room in advance. A lot of the better places fill up quickly. We arrived in Santee around 1am and saw notes taped to the door stating that they were completely booked for the night. Luckily, we had a reservation.