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

[dvczerfs]

I'm getting really excited in less than 48 hours will be on the road. I better start packing

PACKING!!! pam, im packed and most of the van is loaded and gassed up and we are leaving june 17th!!!!!

 

[dvczerfs]

you forgot you dont get stripped searched when you drive. its funny the other couple who followed us down for the last five years, decided last decmeber, they wanted to fly.they said, driving is ok but it takes so much time. we left nazareth pa at 3am and i walked into the front desk at okw at 7:15pm. no lines, no hearing, im sorry, your rooms not ready. now, i had most of there bags in my van so they didnt check any bags at the airport. they were flying down the following day. they were up at 3am, left the house at 4am. drove to allentown. changed flights in dc. flew into orlando and took magical express into okw. they arrived at all most 3pm. there room wasnt ready till 4:30. (that was after talking to the front desk manager) so the way i see it, (remember i love to drive) it took us 3 hours longer than it took them. i spent 20.00 in sandwiches and about 150.00 in gas. we all had naps in the van on the way down and had fun doing it. it took them longer to get home then it did us, there connecting flight got cancelled and had to wait 4 hours in the airport at 10pm for another flight. for some reason, they asked if they could follow us down in june.

Yep, it's not just time, it's family and stuff and comfort. We can bring whatever we want, stop and walk around whenever we want, talk to each other and just generally hang out. Life is pretty complicated and we always seem to be in a hurry in our everyday life. To know that we'll be in the van together for 16-17 hours with only ONE thing - driving - makes us relax and really talk to each other. It's good for a healthy family relationship.

i found your fav. flying story sharon.

 

[Reese]

Help!!! We've driven several times down the I-75 but I have had plenty of notice and planning time. We are driving straight through and I don't even have time to get t trip-tic from CAA as we are leaving Friday after the memorial service for my MIL. Just booked yesterday and now I'm panicking.
Can anyone that has done the drive recently tell me how gas prices are along the route. I just read back a little and found that there is a lot of delays with road work in Georgia so I'm about to head over to that thread to check but it out.
Mostly I just need to calm down and get my head ready for the 24 hr car ride with 7 of the kids.
And I also need to know that I can do this drive without my Along Interstate 75 book in case it doesn't get back to the library in time (I tried to buy one from CAA but they don't have any).
Also I can't get the gas calculators to work for me since they don't have my make and I have no idea how many miles I get to the gallon, I just now my tank holds 33 gallons and the load and speed really make a difference on my mileage (it varies between 300-450) so I'm just wondering what prices are like.
Thanks.

 

[BC1836]

Thanks for the great info! I found the other thread about the road-paving in GA & I'm hoping we'll miss it. It appears to be taking place overnight only from 7 pm - 7 am & on our way home, we likely won't hit that area until at least 7:30 am. I'll be on the lookout for the radar site, too - thanks much!!

We confronted the GA paving experience during the day!

All the best.

 

[Reese]

WE don't have GPS

I'm totally on the trip tik. But since our friend's GPS once had them making a right hand turn into a cornfield to get to their final destination I would consider Trip Tik with the GPS back up as someone suggested.

I call our GPS my Dh's girlfriend. When he's asleep in the middle of the night while I'm the only one awake (so I can't ask anyone to look at my trip-tic ) she tells me to turn off the highway every time. The one time I ended up on a dirt road to narrow for my to even turn around. So now I check my directions make sure there is nothing funny and turn DH's girlfriend off.

 

[klmrph]

If we hit Atlanta around 6am on a Saturday morning are we going to run into back-ups due to the paving? Would it be better to hit Atlanta at 7am?

 

[GoofyTraci]

PACKING!!! pam, im packed and most of the van is loaded and gassed up and we are leaving june 17th!!!!!

this sooo made me laugh...So we r leaving june 2 and man I guess I am behind schedule according to you. Anyway thanks for the laugh.

 

[BC1836]

If we hit Atlanta around 6am on a Saturday morning are we going to run into back-ups due to the paving? Would it be better to hit Atlanta at 7am?

Our comments about Georgia road paving projects only involved I-95; we are unaware of what's going on elsewhere on the great state of Georgia's roads.

All the best.

 

[capt445]

We are leaving Friday around 6pm and driving straight through coming from NW Indiana, all the map programs seem to take us I65 South to I24 East to I75 South, is this the best route?

We drive down every year, some times twice, from NE Indiana (Fort Wayne.) This is the way we go 90% of the time.

The last time was in Oct. and left home at 6:10PM and arrived at 11:15AM. This included 7 stops for bathroom breaks and/or gasoline.

If you leave around 6ish you will hit Atlanta between 4 and 5AM and be able to cruise straight through with very little traffic.

Good travels.

 

[arizonacolbys]

We confronted the GA paving experience during the day!

All the best.

Thanks for the info - was this going Northbound only? How bad of a back-up/delay did you deal with? There is a different way we can return home to avoid 95 thru GA, but it's about 100 miles out of the way. Just trying to decide if it's worth it to avoid a 2 hour delay...or if it's not that bad - thanks!

 

[sharadoc]

I'm getting really excited in less than 48 hours will be on the road. I better start packing

PACKING!!! pam, im packed and most of the van is loaded and gassed up and we are leaving june 17th!!!!!

Hey Pam - you better get going!!!! I'm so excited for you, leaving in 2 days. Let us know how the drive goes, especially Georgia!

Dave, we're behind you but actually I'll be shutting down now and going upstairs to pack. We're 7 weeks out from today!!!

Phillies don't play until tonight, so we have until 8:00,

 

[pamkev]

Hey Pam - you better get going!!!! I'm so excited for you, leaving in 2 days. Let us know how the drive goes, especially Georgia!

Dave, we're behind you but actually I'll be shutting down now and going upstairs to pack. We're 7 weeks out from today!!!

Phillies don't play until tonight, so we have until 8:00,

We are done packing and I'm ready to go now. We won't have a computer with us so won't be able to post until we get back so will check in then.

I want to thank all of you veterans of driving on this board you have been a great deal of help

 

[BC1836]

We secured our tix for MNSSHP, so it looks like another October drive.

All the best.



P.S. "USA! USA! USA!"

 

[Cin]

Hi. Just wanted to mention that this thread and it's posters are committed to driving, so that debate won't fly here

LOL, yeah so's my DH. (committed to driving) It was HIS idea to drive. I'm the reluctant passenger, or actually "the real driver" as he tends to get sleepy an hour out and has me take the wheel and he sleeps for hours. I'm slowly getting into the idea of driving and the whole road trip experience I was just dragging my feet, didn't mean to upset the apple cart. LOL. It's been a few days and I've accepted the facts now so I'm good. And I've started to find excitement in being on the road. I still don't sit still well after about 45 minutes but heck I can stop every hour for a break if I want (when I'm driving that is).

 

[dvczerfs]

We secured our tix for MNSSHP, so it looks like another October drive.

All the best.



P.S. "USA! USA! USA!"

were are passing this year on the party but my dw and i are eating breakfast in the castle. we are going to be the only people in there without kids.

 

[justakrazymom]

We are coming from W.mass.. we typically do the straight down 95 route when we go to Savanah GA.. plans were to do the same to WDW.. I don't like the tolls pre- mason/dixon line though. Is there a route that wouldn't add much time to the trip but omits many of the tolls??

 

[dvczerfs]

We are coming from W.mass.. we typically do the straight down 95 route when we go to Savanah GA.. plans were to do the same to WDW.. I don't like the tolls pre- mason/dixon line though. Is there a route that wouldn't add much time to the trip but omits many of the tolls??

how close is i80 to you? if you come across i80 in pa,(pocono mtns) there are a few ways you can go. all major interstates.

 

[justakrazymom]

we are right on the NY/MA border near Albany.. I never do the driving so I am clueless about where any interstates are except i95 and i 90..lol

 

[BC1836]

were are passing this year on the party but my dw and i are eating breakfast in the castle. we are going to be the only people in there without kids.

Cool. So, you will be there in October, too?

All the best.

 

[dkoerner27]

We are driving for the first time this December. Leaving from stroudsburg, pa. Is it easier to drive straight through or to stop somewhere in between? I want to drive straight through but my girlfriend does not. And what would the best route be to take? I want to leave at 6pm on the 29th and drive through the night.