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

[BC1836]

Any 2,000+ mile round-trip drivers heading to WDW this weekend?

All the best.

 

[dvczerfs]

Awesome! It looks like a have a good option to avoid some trouble spots, if I go that route, 495/290/84/684/287/78/81/77/26/95 I'll avoid Boston, NYC and Washington? That's sound too good to be true!

I want to enjoy the drive some so it sounds like going through the mountains will be wonderful!

If anyone has a detailed discription of this route, I'd appreciate it. I am going to check Google Maps right now.

Thanks so much for all the help.

when you cross over the pa state line from nj on 78 west, wave out the right hand side of your care when you get to the rt33 pocono exit. i dont live to far away from there!

 

[BC1836]

Any 2,000+ mile round-trip drivers heading to WDW this weekend?

All the best.

...and with a potential n'oreaster on the way!

All the best.

 

[Flowers4]

Is oohh soo happy that I found this post.... We are taking our first trip in August and decided to ROADTRIP!!

We are driving from Northwest 'Burbs of Chicago. I have ready about the last 20 pages of this thread and gotten great routes from the fellow IL people.

No questions right now ...yes I know...

 

[Laurabearz]

SUbbing to this thread..

We are driving from Chicagolandia to Orlando this summer, so when I have time I and going to scour this thread for tips!

 

[Becky2005]

Thanks guys! Now my debate is whether to pull DS10 from school that Friday and leave early or wait until he's done and leave around 3p. It scares me to think of leaving Chicago at 3ish on a Friday in June. We are strongly leaning toward pulling him, he's already missing the last 2.5 days of school so what's one more.

I'm a big "don't pull the kids out" person but unless he's old enough for final exams -- at that point I wouldn't worry about it. I know the last week of school here for the lower grades are really not much going on. Clean out desks, sign yearbooks, watch movies the last day, etc.... PLUS I'm assuming the extra ones are snow days and you know there will be a higher than usual % not going those days anyway due to pre-made plans. If I weren't taking the backroads I don't think I would do Chicago traffic at 3 pm on a Friday...EEK!!!! Why don't you split the difference if you don't feel comfortable pulling him out and remove him at lunchtime?

We are driving from Northwest 'Burbs of Chicago. I have ready about the last 20 pages of this thread and gotten great routes from the fellow IL people.

Welcome....lots of different ways you can take.

We are driving from Chicagolandia to Orlando this summer, so when I have time I and going to scour this thread for tips!

Welcome.

 

[cruisingkat]

Thanks guys! Now my debate is whether to pull DS10 from school that Friday and leave early or wait until he's done and leave around 3p. It scares me to think of leaving Chicago at 3ish on a Friday in June. We are strongly leaning toward pulling him, he's already missing the last 2.5 days of school so what's one more.

It depends on your route - going toward Chicago on I80 in the late afternoon isn't that bad (at least from what we can see on our return home)- unless there is a game, concert, or something going on downtown. But heading any direction on 294 is miserable. I355 heading south can be pretty bad. We found that leaving at around 9am means that we miss just about all of the rush hour traffic headed into Chicago. If you would leave promptly at 3 - you might be at the front of any traffic. We have noticed that most traffic jams start closer to 4 pm.

 

[BC1836]

For newcomers to this site, cruisingkat holds a number of "For 2,000+ Mile Round-Trip Drivers Only!" records, including the most increedible of all: shortest time between trips!

See Page 97, March 1, 2011, comment #1441.

All the best!

 

[donnaf516]

Has anyone ever had a problem with car trouble or break down along the way. I'm guess it depends where it happens, but does anyone have advise on where to go or what to do if it happened?

I hate to put a bad vibe on our trip, but want be prepared.

 

[sharadoc]

Has anyone ever had a problem with car trouble or break down along the way. I'm guess it depends where it happens, but does anyone have advise on where to go or what to do if it happened?

I hate to put a bad vibe on our trip, but want be prepared.

We have AAA and we plan to pay the extra to take the vehicle to a chain for repairs, rather than a local repair shop. We have had work done at our local Tires Plus, so we prefer to use that. AAA will tow us wherever we want, for an extra fee, of course.

Then we'll call Enterprise, go on our trip and come back to that point and pick up the vehicle on the way home. If it's within 3 hours or less of Disney World, we'll pick up the van when it's ready. Otherwise, it will have to wait for us.

Or, if it's something that can be fixed in a few hours, we'll have to wait for it.

But, we always get a thorough check-up, flush and fill the transmission, radiator, etc., check tires, brakes, tune-up, oil change. We always feel the vehicle is in top condition, so it should be fine!

 

[irish dancer]

I'm a big "don't pull the kids out" person but unless he's old enough for final exams -- at that point I wouldn't worry about it. I know the last week of school here for the lower grades are really not much going on. Clean out desks, sign yearbooks, watch movies the last day, etc.... PLUS I'm assuming the extra ones are snow days and you know there will be a higher than usual % not going those days anyway due to pre-made plans. If I weren't taking the backroads I don't think I would do Chicago traffic at 3 pm on a Friday...EEK!!!! Why don't you split the difference if you don't feel comfortable pulling him out and remove him at lunchtime?

He is in 5th grade so no finals there. I'm sure it's going to be a lot of cleaning, movies and class picnic. I'll feel it out with his teacher but I'm leaning heavily to pulling him. He has autism and the lack of schedule that happens at the end of every school year is already hard on him so I can avoid that stress if he's not there.

It depends on your route - going toward Chicago on I80 in the late afternoon isn't that bad (at least from what we can see on our return home)- unless there is a game, concert, or something going on downtown. But heading any direction on 294 is miserable. I355 heading south can be pretty bad. We found that leaving at around 9am means that we miss just about all of the rush hour traffic headed into Chicago. If you would leave promptly at 3 - you might be at the front of any traffic. We have noticed that most traffic jams start closer to 4 pm.

Will have to discuss more with DH. Maybe if we pick up DS from school right when he gets out at 2:30p we'd be OK. I'll also keep an eye/ear on traffic reports the few Fridays before to see if there is any pattern.

 

[Phil'sFrontier]

I live in Yukon, which is right beside Alaska. just plugged into google a trip from here to DTD and it read almost 6500km's one way. That is over 4000 miles. All I have to do is talk the wife and kids into it. We also have a small dual axle travel trailer which would be nice on the road, but as it is now; we(me and DW) both only have V6 engines. I would want to have a V8 and preferably a diesel to go on a trip that long with the TT.


My theoretical trip could go something like this.
Go from Yukon to Edmonton, then to Minneapolis, and Chicago.
Or we could take the Stewart Cassiar highway out of Yukon and head down the BC coast thru Vancouver. Head down to California and swing by DisneyLand, Vegas, and New Orleans on our way to WDW. That would be an epic road trip.

You would be surprised at how many Florida licence plates I see up here in the North.

 

[kidd_freeper]

Has anyone ever had a problem with car trouble or break down along the way. I'm guess it depends where it happens, but does anyone have advise on where to go or what to do if it happened?

I hate to put a bad vibe on our trip, but want be prepared.

For peace of mind, get your car checked about a month in advance of your trip:

check belts & hoses
oil change
check fluid levels (wiper, brakes
tires/brakes ok for the length of the trip?
spare tire pressure ok?
can spare tire be removed (or is it rusted on tight)?
check air conditioning
check lights & wipers
check alignment
inspect fuel line for unusual issues
check shocks/struts/supports/linkages

make sure your car has proof of insurance that is up to date in the car.

If you do this, it is highly unlikely that you will experience a problem. Summer highway driving is very mild on a car. But anything can happen, so AAA is always a good thing to have.

 

[C&G'sMama]

Has anyone ever had a problem with car trouble or break down along the way. I'm guess it depends where it happens, but does anyone have advise on where to go or what to do if it happened?

I hate to put a bad vibe on our trip, but want be prepared.

I echo having AAA and having everything checked out before you go. I just had 4 brand new tires put on the van which is at about 90k miles. It's due for an inspection next month (April) anyway. We head to WDW the end of May. So I told them we would be traveling and to check it stem to stern. My brakes are okay, the oil's been changed. We'll either get it changed again before we go or find a Quik Lube or something and get it changed while we're down there.

Make sure your spare or donut is in good shape etc.

 

[wdwfamilyinIL]

We have never drove, but I am planning on taking mine in to get the normal checks, I have 22000 on mine so hopefully all is well

 

[BC1836]

I live in Yukon, which is right beside Alaska. just plugged into google a trip from here to DTD and it read almost 6500km's one way. That is over 4000 miles. All I have to do is talk the wife and kids into it. We also have a small dual axle travel trailer which would be nice on the road, but as it is now; we(me and DW) both only have V6 engines. I would want to have a V8 and preferably a diesel to go on a trip that long with the TT.


My theoretical trip could go something like this.
Go from Yukon to Edmonton, then to Minneapolis, and Chicago.
Or we could take the Stewart Cassiar highway out of Yukon and head down the BC coast thru Vancouver. Head down to California and swing by DisneyLand, Vegas, and New Orleans on our way to WDW. That would be an epic road trip.

You would be surprised at how many Florida licence plates I see up here in the North.

You certainly would earn a spot in the "For 2,000+ Mile Round-Trip Drivers Only!" record book with a drive like that!

All the best.

 

[C&G'sMama]

Thanks guys! Now my debate is whether to pull DS10 from school that Friday and leave early or wait until he's done and leave around 3p. It scares me to think of leaving Chicago at 3ish on a Friday in June. We are strongly leaning toward pulling him, he's already missing the last 2.5 days of school so what's one more.

I know I'm jumping on this late and I am an ardent supporter of pulling kids out of school. Ours, in 2nd and 5th grades will be missing 6 or 7 (depending on when we decide to come back) days for our next trip.

That being said. Another thing we've done is find out what time the kids have to be there until for the school to get their state aid for the day and picked them up then.

 

[Laurabearz]

Anyone have anything thoughts about Tifton Ga as a place to crash for the night... The Plan is to leave Chicago around 5 am, so we are looking to drive 16-17 hours...

We dont want to stop in Macon (saw the movie at a very impressionable age) Ashburn good? Not sure we would want to push on to Adel or Valdosta unless everything sucks. Tifton seems to be the right spot...

Cheaper the better because we are arriving late and heading out early, just clean.

Thoughts?

Thanks!

 

[wdwfamilyinIL]

I have to ask, what movie are you talking about?

 

[pamkev]

Okay it looks like we are gonna have a extra day in Disney We will be picking up DGD up from school between 11 and 12 on a Tues and heading out from the Harrisburg PA area driving as far as we can go hoping to make it NC. DH works the 3-11 shift so he is used to be up late so maybe a little further like into SC, do you think that is possible. We are hoping to be in Disney by at least 4 pm Wed. The next choice we have to make is staying at the POP for a room only get up early check into POFQ at 7 am next morning leave our stuff and head out to a park or staying off property and doing the same. So what do you veteran drivers think