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

[C&G'sMama]

Exciting! Will you get to Disney tonight, or one more stop? I think Fredericksburg is about 12 hours away from WDW!

Safe trip!

We plan on stopping at around 7:30/ tonight. We have ressies at Chef Mickeys at 5:00 tomorrow and MK is oYOupen 'til 3am so we oihope to have time to get settled before dinner.

 

[dvczerfs]

I had to share our recent trip home from WDW as I learned a few tips for our long distance drives. We drove down 24 hours straight with my husband and I taking turns driving. Uneventful trip, minus the views off 95 of tornado damage Mid trip my husband flew home as planned and a few days later I drove home alone with the kids ages 5 & 9. We live in northern new england and my plan was up 95 to DC and then shoot up into PA around to 84 through CT. The weather was perfect, the kids fabulous. The first day I managed 10 hours with no problems. The kids and I actually had a fun time. Then we spent a very looooong night in a hotel room with a bar on one side and a train crossing on the other You cannot say "whoohooo" near my kids or they laugh insanely about the crazy drunk man we heard half the night. Maybe it was not a bar but the people were trashed and LOUD. No sleep that night. The next day by noon we were in Gettysburg and I was sick. Like really sick with a high fever. The only reason I kept going was that I could stop in PA with two kids in a hotel in a strange place or push on to the CT boarder and crash at my moms. The last 3 hours were the worst. My oldest sat in the back reading off the GPS every minute. "one hour and fifty two minutes to grandmas"...."one hour and fifty one minutes to grandmas". I was popping advil and anything cold on my throat. I do not think I have ever been so happy to see the Welcome to CT sign in my life We finally reached my moms and I passed out. She and the kids had 2 days of grandma time while I was diagnosed with antibiotic resistant strep throat and pink eye I was so glad I pressed on. Though had she not been that close I would have stopped earlier in the day and probably had a fun time with the boys trying to locate a walk in clinic. Once I was better we packed up and continued the last 4 hours home.

What an ending to a trip. It certainly made me think a little more about what I need to have on hand "just in case". Granted I could have found a drugstore but in rural PA it was much easier to pull advil out of the back of the car. I am thinking through a more stocked medical pack for the car. Things like advil, childrens tylenol and pepto bismol are normal for us. But I am going to expand on my medical bag next time. Also more of things. Usually I have a tiny baggie of advil but for some unknown reason I had one of those 500 pill containers. So glad I did.

This was the first trip the kids had control over the snacks and it worked out very well. I had packed more then we needed but it gave them lots of choices. I also never limited it. My 5 yr old loved being in control of it and me having to ask him for things. I had made it clear from the start that with just me I needed more help and they really stepped up and did their part. I think the responsibility made a big difference. Granted my 5 yr old had his moments but nothing out of the norm.

A friend also gave me a kids scavenger hunt card game. I need to buy her dinner. It is a deck of cards with things to find on each card like " a dog in a car" or "a red truck". Stuff you see on the highway. In front of the car with me I had a surprise goodie bag of little toys and candies. I would give each child 5-7 cards and the first one to find all their items won. I would hand the winner two prizes, they kept their first choice and the looser got the other item. My boys were begging to play.

I also crossed a certain exit in NC off our list of places to stay overnight.

glad you made it!! its funny telling your story how the kids helped out. when i was 10 or so, we didnt have self service gas stations her in pa, when we went to florida, my dad would let me pump the gas.( with his help) back then, the gas cap was behind the rear lic. plate but it gave me something to look forward to. we have a "drug" bag, cooler with food and drinks and blankets. even for this june trip we are taking blankets and and bedroom pillows. we have to glove compartments in our mini van and we also carry spare fuses for the van, duct tape (its a man thing ) and some small tools and batteries for flash lights. we carry 3 flashlights with us. another good thing to do is bring a roll of paper towel and windex in the car. ill stop to clean the bugs off the windshield evey so often. one year a semi blew oil all over the windshield and its a good thing i had that stuff.

 

[mjtm610]

I can't believe I just found this thread!
We leave for our road trip down to WDW in 18 days!
We have made this trip twice a year since 1973. Boy are we old!!!
We do the trip in 2 days. Sleep over in Valdosta, usually.
We don't do the "drive through the night" any more. We had 2 bad experiences with that, won't do that again.
As soon as I get my first Chick-fil-A I'm a happy camper.
We usually stop for Varsity hotdogs in Atlanta.....no matter what time of day!
This trip we'll be in the Magic for 20 days!!!
Can't wait for the sunshine!

 

[C&G'sMama]

We just went by the camers in Ridgeland SC. As others have posted there were 2 cameras nunder the bridge an RV and an officer in a car.
Today is much better just hit 500 miles on the day for a total of 966. We're closing in.

 

[BC1836]

I can't believe I just found this thread!
We leave for our road trip down to WDW in 18 days!
We have made this trip twice a year since 1973. Boy are we old!!!
We do the trip in 2 days. Sleep over in Valdosta, usually.
We don't do the "drive through the night" any more. We had 2 bad experiences with that, won't do that again.
As soon as I get my first Chick-fil-A I'm a happy camper.
We usually stop for Varsity hotdogs in Atlanta.....no matter what time of day!
This trip we'll be in the Magic for 20 days!!!
Can't wait for the sunshine!

Welcome to the For 2,000+ mile round-trip drivers only thread!

Question: Exactly how many long-distance drives have you done since '73?
It's an important question since this thread has a number of driving records that are periodically updated.

All the best.

 

[C&G'sMama]

We landed in Jacksonville at 8:30. we we going to stop in GA around 7:30 but DP decided she was okay to keep driving. So here we are. The kids have gone swimming, I'm planning on getting up before the rest in the morning to get the car re-organized. We will probably let the kids swim again before we leave and try to be out of here by 10:00 and plan to be pulling into the ASMovies lot around 12:30 or 1:00

To Lucyem - what a trip. We too usually try to have various meds with us. Glad you made it to your moms.

Good Night All!!! Tomorrow it's Disney World!!!

 

[PrincessMom4]

Oh Man I love these trip reports. Getting ready for our upcomng trip.

 

[C&G'sMama]

It's 10:45 & we've been on the road 20 mins. The kids went swimming at 8am, we grabbed breakfast and lef t the hotel at 10:00. We found a Target to pick up some stuff and here we are. 1,162 miles down about 110 to go.

 

[PrincessMom4]

It's 10:45 & we've been on the road 20 mins. The kids went swimming at 8am, we grabbed breakfast and lef t the hotel at 10:00. We found a Target to pick up some stuff and here we are. 1,162 miles down about 110 to go.

Enjoy and have a wonderful, magical trip.

 

[SondraC]

It's 10:45 & we've been on the road 20 mins. The kids went swimming at 8am, we grabbed breakfast and lef t the hotel at 10:00. We found a Target to pick up some stuff and here we are. 1,162 miles down about 110 to go.

Whoo hoo! That's great!

 

[justakrazymom]

So now we are thinking about avoiding 95 as much as we can.. coming from extreme w.mass ( near Albany NY).. what is the mileage/ way to go about taking 88?

 

[dvczerfs]

So now we are thinking about avoiding 95 as much as we can.. coming from extreme w.mass ( near Albany NY).. what is the mileage/ way to go about taking 88?

how far are you from i80 or i81? i had a buddy that lived in cambridge mass. years ago. when i went to visit him, i recall getting on i80 up in the poconos.(after that i fell asleep)

 

[justakrazymom]

honestly not sure.. ttying to figure this all out..lol.. we can get on i 90 easy..

 

[pwdebbie]

I can't believe I just found this thread!
We leave for our road trip down to WDW in 18 days!
We have made this trip twice a year since 1973. Boy are we old!!!
We do the trip in 2 days. Sleep over in Valdosta, usually.
We don't do the "drive through the night" any more. We had 2 bad experiences with that, won't do that again.
As soon as I get my first Chick-fil-A I'm a happy camper.
We usually stop for Varsity hotdogs in Atlanta.....no matter what time of day!
This trip we'll be in the Magic for 20 days!!!
Can't wait for the sunshine!

20 days! Wow, you're living my dream! I'm happy we get to do a 10-day park ticket (can only be gone 13 days at the most because of dh's job). I've wished we could stay longer. I figure you've got nearly 60 drives under your belt. I've got three.

 

[dvczerfs]

honestly not sure.. ttying to figure this all out..lol.. we can get on i 90 easy..

ok, let me check it out on an atlas how i can get you down from i90 to i81 or i80. those are the two majors to get you away from the "coast",i95. ill post it here and ill send you a pm also. i can also talk to one of our drivers at work that go up that way. truck drivers are one of the best way to nav. alot of the time.

 

[mekia2001]

We leave in 11 days and 23 hours!! It's finally getting closer.

We are taking 77s from Cleveland straight to Florida. We are leaving at 10pm on a friday night so we won't be seeing much until daylight. Can anyone offer insight on places to take breaks. Our 2 DD's will sleep the first half hopefully. We won't be staying overnight anywhere we just want to stop and maybe take some stretch breaks along the way.

Has anyone taken this route before? What type of driving conditions will we face? We will be driving on the weekend so I hope this helps us avoid traffic delays but I am not sure. Also where are the best places to stop and let the kids run around or even stop and do some shopping.

We aren't on a time schedule because we had originally planned not to be in Florida until Sunday evening but work schedules changed and now we have a whole extra day!

 

[dvczerfs]

17 more days to go!!!!! MM1 was washed inside and out on sunday and gas tank was filled!! hes ready for battle!!!

AND THIS YEAR, WE HAVE A NEW PASSENGER!!!!

 

[pwdebbie]

dvczerfs -- No Lime Green Mickey Head in a window? You aren't ready for the road until you put a LGMH in there somewhere so other DISsers can spot you on the road.

 

[BC1836]

Those can't be photos from the real dvczerfs because the vehicle's antenna is missing a Mickey ornament! Dvczerfs wouldn't never let his vehicle look so barren.

All the best.

 

[dvczerfs]

Those can't be photos from the real dvczerfs because the vehicle's antenna is missing a Mickey ornament! Dvczerfs wouldn't never let his vehicle look so barren.

All the best.

theres a blue mm hat on the top of the antenna!!! i managed to cut it off on the pics. one of the disdads is down for star wars weekend and is sending me a 2011 grad mm topper!!! ill put that one on before we leave.