For 2,000+ Mile Round-Trip Drivers Only! (II)

[dvczerfs]

I have seen PA close both lanes on a two lane highway and have all traffic going single lane each way in the other two lanes.

cross overs!!!! on int 80 in the poconos, they just leave them anymore. for the next time. there generally smoother than the highway!

 

[BC1836]

So called "rubber-neck" delays (those caused by drivers who simply slow down to look at something that doesn't actually affect the traffic -- an accident of any kind, a police stop, an automotive breakdown, etc.) seem to be worse here in NJ. Folks who just gotta know what's goin' on, ya know what I'm sayin.'?

 

[patclairesmom]

We played a game the whole way home to guess what the slow downs were:
1)A Lane Shift Ahead sign
2)Truck in the left lane next to an RV in the right lane...or could it be...
3)Actual construction???

 

[caitlinsdad]

Just got a new garmin gps for this trip, The old one was brought in 2005, Thought Instead of buying another map update, I get one with a lot of new features and larger screen.

First trip on local commute and it works and indicates any traffic slowdowns in area. Ok, next up change car oil, departure in 6 days. Road trip 2010 is almost here

Ct to Savanna GA, then WDW for a week, Then Alanta, a cabin in Tenn, then back home to Ct. 2 weeks on the road.

 

[sharadoc]

We played a game the whole way home to guess what the slow downs were:
1)A Lane Shift Ahead sign
2)Truck in the left lane next to an RV in the right lane...or could it be...
3)Actual construction???

I vote for number 2 Almost ALL the time!

You know, we first drove to WDW in 1994 and were really impressed by the truck drivers. They were really good at what they did. I used to believe that the trucks showed me the right way to do things - only passed when they had enough room, accelerate quickly in the left lane, don't cut people off, etc. Fast forward to today and it seems like they are all young and inexperienced and just as dumb on the road as the rest of us car drivers!

RVs usually stay in the right lane, so they are okay by me.

 

[pattibehan]

We leave tomorrow, but DH keeps moving the departure time!!

My concern is that we are leaving at 2pm from upstate NY. I KNOW we are going to run into the parking lot above NYC with people going home from upstate, but DH would rather be on the road than waiting at home.

The plan is to drive straight through..whenever we break up the trip, we end up sleeping poorly, and wasting a day! If we get really tired during the night, we will pull off for a couple of hours, then continue.

I will post times and conditions when we get to Florida

 

[dvczerfs]

We leave tomorrow, but DH keeps moving the departure time!!

My concern is that we are leaving at 2pm from upstate NY. I KNOW we are going to run into the parking lot above NYC with people going home from upstate, but DH would rather be on the road than waiting at home.

The plan is to drive straight through..whenever we break up the trip, we end up sleeping poorly, and wasting a day! If we get really tired during the night, we will pull off for a couple of hours, then continue.

I will post times and conditions when we get to Florida

have a safe trip!!

 

[dvczerfs]

for the drivers who take there trips in more than one day. how many hours do they sleep in the hotel on the way to wdw? i know for me, i fall a sleep around 9:30-10 and im up by 2am. i cant sleep. now dw and dd would sleep till 10am if i let them. i just woundered if anyone else has the problem?

 

[pattibehan]

That is why we don't stop anymore, dvzerfs, I wake up around 2am, just as my tweens are going to sleep!! They can sleep in the car without a problem, as can my DH. I hate the planning for one night in a hotel..seperate bag with all of our stuff for one night in it..so the straight drive is the best option for us!

 

[dvczerfs]

That is why we don't stop anymore, dvzerfs, I wake up around 2am, just as my tweens are going to sleep!! They can sleep in the car without a problem, as can my DH. I hate the planning for one night in a hotel..seperate bag with all of our stuff for one night in it..so the straight drive is the best option for us!

thats what happens, we get back in the van, dd17 is sleeping in the back, still in her pjs and dw ask me, are you ok if i fall a sleep? yup, wide awake!! than its time to "do some distance" while the speedometer watchers are sleeping!!!!(david!! do you know your doing 88mhp???)

 

[LisaNJ25]

We are leaving 2 weeks from todayHoping to leave around 4am from Northern NJ. We are thinking 95 all the way down. Anyone hit any major construction? I ordered Ezpass yesterday so I hope it gets here in time.

We are going to Orange City, Fl for a few days before wdw. Hoping to hit Georgia by Saturday night but not sure If I should book a hotel in advance of not.

 

[pattibehan]

I wouldn't book a hotel in advance, there are soooo many off 95. If you book one in, say Savanna, you may get there early and not feel like stopping. When we have had to stop in the past, we never had a hard time finding a nice room!

 

[Tina]

I'm looking for some feedback on GPS systems. We always drive to Florida for Disney. We also drive to Michigan a few times a years, so we're on the road fairly often. I'm thinking of getting a dash-mounted GPS system.

What do you have? What do you like/dislike about it?

Amazon has the Magellan RoadMate 1424-LM 4.3-Inch GPS Navigator with Lifetime Map Updates on the Deal of the Day today for $119. Anyone have this model or another Magellan with comments? I thought the lifetime map updates sounded great (heard they can be expensive).

 

[michael's mom]

I wouldn't book a hotel in advance, there are soooo many off 95. If you book one in, say Savanna, you may get there early and not feel like stopping. When we have had to stop in the past, we never had a hard time finding a nice room!

When you do this, do you find that you're still getting decent rates or are you paying more because you didn't have a reservation. DH and I will be most likely driving down in April with DS(4) and haven't quite decided if we are going straight through or not. I'd prefer to do that because DH's typical work day is 2am-noon so my thinking is, why waste that time if he's up anyway? But we haven't ruled out a stopover for a few hours to sleep either.

Someone mentioned pulling off for a few hours in the car? Do you mean you sleep at a rest area? I've never done this drive as an adult and I'm excited about it...but flying is what I know how to do so this is brand new territory for me

 

[Tina]

I wouldn't book a hotel in advance, there are soooo many off 95. If you book one in, say Savanna, you may get there early and not feel like stopping. When we have had to stop in the past, we never had a hard time finding a nice room!

I think this might depend on the time of year and how heavy the vactioner traffic is at that time. The first time we made the drive (I believe it was in May), we decided to book ahead at the Hampton Inn in Santee at a neighbor's recommendation. We made it there just after 1am and were SO THANKFUL we had booked in advance. The hotel had a sign on the door say it was all booked up for the night and not accepting additional guests. Another family was just getting into their car to leave as we pulled up. It was their 4th attempt at trying to find a room for the night. They were giving up and planning to sleep in their car, but didn't know where to go.

 

[Vickis3js]

I wouldn't book a hotel in advance, there are soooo many off 95. If you book one in, say Savanna, you may get there early and not feel like stopping. When we have had to stop in the past, we never had a hard time finding a nice room!

We learned the hard way the first year when we were driving home to BOOK a room. You don't have to do it days in advance and you can do it on the road. It took 5 stops and another hour of driving to find a room since every where we stopped was booked. Plus we paid a bit more by just walking in then we would have if we booked online. We brought the Mifi and laptop last year and booked the room in the car on the way to the hotel and saved us $45 and got the room because by the time we got there they were booked solid!

 

[dvczerfs]

I think this might depend on the time of year and how heavy the vactioner traffic is at that time. The first time we made the drive (I believe it was in May), we decided to book ahead at the Hampton Inn in Santee at a neighbor's recommendation. We made it there just after 1am and were SO THANKFUL we had booked in advance. The hotel had a sign on the door say it was all booked up for the night and not accepting additional guests. Another family was just getting into their car to leave as we pulled up. It was their 4th attempt at trying to find a room for the night. They were giving up and planning to sleep in their car, but didn't know where to go.

time off year, conventions, weddings, hockey tourny,races,car shows,button shows, up to a few years ago we never booked in advance either. now we hit the same place and the same time every trip. you can cancell and change a resi. with hampton inns up to 6pm. some places are 4pm. i see people sleeping in rest areas, to each his own but i wouldnt be able to stand up if i slept in the car.

 

[shafke]

I wouldn't book a hotel in advance, there are soooo many off 95. If you book one in, say Savanna, you may get there early and not feel like stopping. When we have had to stop in the past, we never had a hard time finding a nice room!

Last trip we booked a room in SC and were running way ahead of schedule. We stopped for lunch, connected to a free wi-fi connection, cancelled the reservation we made, and booked a new one in Brunswick, GA. When we got to the hotel in GA they were all booked up. We probably could have found a room in another hotel but not necessarily the price or type that we wanted.

 

[chipper10]

All this talk about booking hotels, has got me thinking. We leave on August 13th (13 days) from STL. We really have no clue how far we will get the first night. This is the first time we have ever driven anywhere with DS. I don't know how he will do at all. Also, DH has badly spained his ankle and is on crutches until August 12th. The doctor told him he can start walking on it the day we leave and its also his right ankle. So, I'm not sure how much help he is going to be driving.
The plan is to wake up around 4am and as soon as we get everything together -- hit the road. I don't think that will be anything later than 4:45am. We are going to get to Atlanta no matter what. I would like to stop for the night around 8-9pm (all depending upon how everyone is doing - it could be earlier or we might push for 11pm is everything is going smoothly).

Anyways, should we take the laptop and book something when we know about where we will be to stop? We don't have a wifi card or anything, so we would have to stop somewhere along the way that offers free wifi. (I know many of the McDonald's around here do).

What do you think?

 

[BC1836]

All this talk about booking hotels, has got me thinking. We leave on August 13th (13 days) from STL. We really have no clue how far we will get the first night. This is the first time we have ever driven anywhere with DS. I don't know how he will do at all. Also, DH has badly spained his ankle and is on crutches until August 12th. The doctor told him he can start walking on it the day we leave and its also his right ankle. So, I'm not sure how much help he is going to be driving.
The plan is to wake up around 4am and as soon as we get everything together -- hit the road. I don't think that will be anything later than 4:45am. We are going to get to Atlanta no matter what. I would like to stop for the night around 8-9pm (all depending upon how everyone is doing - it could be earlier or we might push for 11pm is everything is going smoothly).

Anyways, should we take the laptop and book something when we know about where we will be to stop? We don't have a wifi card or anything, so we would have to stop somewhere along the way that offers free wifi. (I know many of the McDonald's around here do).

What do you think?

You can more accurately estimate the distance you can reach by the evening once you make progress in the afternoon. By 4:00 p.m. or so, make two reservations (gather the appropriate phone numbers of the hotel reservation lines in advance of your departure) and cancel one just prior to 6 p.m. (the most common time to make room cancellations). Go with the other one and, of course, you'll have a place to stay for the night.

All the best.

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