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

[IndyDisney]

Hey all -

Getting ready for our trip down 81/77/26/95/4 to get to WDW and I have a question. We're leaving next Thursday afternoon and I'm trying to get south of Charlotte on 77 (about 9.5 hours) and looking to stop in Rock Hill, SC. Anyone know of any decent hotels in the area?

Cheers,
Indy

 

[dvczerfs]

Hey all -

Getting ready for our trip down 81/77/26/95/4 to get to WDW and I have a question. We're leaving next Thursday afternoon and I'm trying to get south of Charlotte on 77 (about 9.5 hours) and looking to stop in Rock Hill, SC. Anyone know of any decent hotels in the area?

Cheers,
Indy

cant help you buddy, we drove straight through and on the way down, i stopped in virginia for a snooze.

 

[Goofygirl17]

Hey all -

Getting ready for our trip down 81/77/26/95/4 to get to WDW and I have a question. We're leaving next Thursday afternoon and I'm trying to get south of Charlotte on 77 (about 9.5 hours) and looking to stop in Rock Hill, SC. Anyone know of any decent hotels in the area?

Cheers,
Indy

somewhere there's a thread with hotels listed and prices. I'll try to find it. Oops, I think it's only for 95. http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2465424

 

[HeatherC]

Still in Charlotte, but on the southern edge...where you are pretty much past most of the traffic is a Residence Inn on Tyvola Ave. We stayed in a 2 bedroom suite there last year and it was great.

Also check tripadvisor for Rock Hill recommendations.

Have fun!

 

[Pembo]

Looks like some DC area experts here...We are driving from Charleston, SC to Fredericksburg, VA to see friends, then to Tysons Corner (American Girl store), staying somewhere and heading home to Ohio the next day.

Our plan was to drive from Charleston to the Richmond area on a Sunday and stay overnight before heading to Fredericksburg Monday am. This is all I95 driving and now I'm concerned about traffic. Should we go all the way to Fburg on Sunday?

And from Fburg to Tysons, I read somewhere we should take the 17 to 66 instead of 95?

Any help you can give would be great...

 

[blondietink]

Hey all -

Getting ready for our trip down 81/77/26/95/4 to get to WDW and I have a question. We're leaving next Thursday afternoon and I'm trying to get south of Charlotte on 77 (about 9.5 hours) and looking to stop in Rock Hill, SC. Anyone know of any decent hotels in the area?

Cheers,
Indy

We have never stayed in Rock Hill, SC, but we always stop for gas there. It is usually one of the cheapest places to buy gas on the drive. Often it is the cheapest of all. Last time it was cheaper than Brunswick, Ga and Florence, SC. (sometimes we drive 95 around DC one direction). The other cheap place along the drive is Wytheville, VA.

 

[sharadoc]

ill pm you the directions. are you ok coming up the northeast extension of the turnpike?

Sure, that's no problem. I think Google would send me up 663 to hit it.

 

[dvczerfs]

Looks like some DC area experts here...We are driving from Charleston, SC to Fredericksburg, VA to see friends, then to Tysons Corner (American Girl store), staying somewhere and heading home to Ohio the next day.

Our plan was to drive from Charleston to the Richmond area on a Sunday and stay overnight before heading to Fredericksburg Monday am. This is all I95 driving and now I'm concerned about traffic. Should we go all the way to Fburg on Sunday?

And from Fburg to Tysons, I read somewhere we should take the 17 to 66 instead of 95?

Any help you can give would be great...

if your doing this in the summer, i would try to get to richmond friday. wake up early, i mean hit the road around 4am, and get to fredricksburg. if you cant hit richmond friday night, get as far as you can. friday night and sat. morning on i95 in the summer is alot of shore traffic. if you can use 17 to 66 i would. 17 is a nice 4 lane road but pending on the time of day, that can get crowded also. 17 will take you through towns, warrenton, opal etc.. there are lights but it is 55 mph.either way, on a friday night, sat. morning in the summer, you may hit traffic.

 

[dvczerfs]

Sure, that's no problem. I think Google would send me up 663 to hit it.

ok, thats the quakertown exchange. get on there and go north toward allentown. get off at the lehigh valley exit.(next exit after quakertown.) when you get off and pay the toll, stay to the right. take rt22 east towars easton. see if any of this makes sence to you. if it oes, ill pm you the rest.

 

[IndyDisney]

We have never stayed in Rock Hill, SC, but we always stop for gas there. It is usually one of the cheapest places to buy gas on the drive. Often it is the cheapest of all. Last time it was cheaper than Brunswick, Ga and Florence, SC. (sometimes we drive 95 around DC one direction). The other cheap place along the drive is Wytheville, VA.

We've stopped in Rock Hill for breakfast the last two years on the way to Hilton Head and to gas up. I've stayed at the Wingate there before on business, too, so that exit (whatever it may be) is my travel goal for the first day.

Cheers,
Indy

 

[BC1836]

Despite slow-falling gas prices, the prices are stabilizing once again around the mid-$3.00 range...up .75 from a year ago. Price of crude is still near $100 a barrel.

All the best.

 

[DebT1964]

Hello,
We will be driving for the first time in August. We travel every year to Myrtle Beach from Rochester, NY and take 15/81/66/17/95. My husband wants to follow the same route since he is the one driving and he is very familiar with it (well at least until the exit for MB). Our plan is to leave Rochester around 4 PM on Tues, August 23 and drive to Winchester, VA to stay overnight. On Wed, August 24 we'll drive from Winchester to Jacksonville and then on Thurs 8/24 we'll drive from Jacksonville to Orlando. I'm thinking we'll be ok with traffic on the way down since we're not travelling on the weekend, but on the trip home we will leave Friday Sept 2, probably stop around Petersburg, VA, and finish the trip on Sat Sept 3. I"m concerned about hitting all of the shore traffic this weekend, since it's Labor Day, but because we're traveling north, do you think it won't be as bad? I'm trying to look forward to the drive, I get major anxiety traveling on highways, so road trips for me aren't the most pleasant thing...but since there's 5 of us it's way cheaper than flying and renting a car.

Thanks for any advice!

 

[IndyDisney]

Hello,
We will be driving for the first time in August. We travel every year to Myrtle Beach from Rochester, NY and take 15/81/66/17/95. My husband wants to follow the same route since he is the one driving and he is very familiar with it (well at least until the exit for MB). Our plan is to leave Rochester around 4 PM on Tues, August 23 and drive to Winchester, VA to stay overnight. On Wed, August 24 we'll drive from Winchester to Jacksonville and then on Thurs 8/24 we'll drive from Jacksonville to Orlando. I'm thinking we'll be ok with traffic on the way down since we're not travelling on the weekend, but on the trip home we will leave Friday Sept 2, probably stop around Petersburg, VA, and finish the trip on Sat Sept 3. I"m concerned about hitting all of the shore traffic this weekend, since it's Labor Day, but because we're traveling north, do you think it won't be as bad? I'm trying to look forward to the drive, I get major anxiety traveling on highways, so road trips for me aren't the most pleasant thing...but since there's 5 of us it's way cheaper than flying and renting a car.

Thanks for any advice!

Your route looks fine. As for traffic, I can't speak to that, but if you're worried about it, take 95 north to I26 and come back north up I77 through Charlotte to I81. It shouldn't add too much time to your route and will keep you away from the shore.

Cheers,
Indy

 

[Marc A.]

Hello all
We will be driving down for the first time in August from the nw burbs of Chicago. It will be my DW and 2 kids, 7 and 5 and I. Planning on leaving around 7pm and driving straight thru.
I will drive first until I get tired and then switch with my DW who will be
sleeping already in the van. I will try to then get a nap (which will be hard since I never really sleep in cars) and switch again in a few hours.
I used to drive straight thru alone back and forth to Syracuse when I was in college with little problem so with switiching off it shouldnt be that bad.

A few questions:
1. Should we invest in one of those windshield sun blockers for the van?
2. Where do you get them and roughly what do they cost?
3. What time does Atlanta traffic really start to kick in in the am? I know we will hit some traffic but hopefully we can stick to the HOV lanes?

Thanks all....great thread

 

[Fwd Facing Tentacles]

Hey all -

Getting ready for our trip down 81/77/26/95/4 to get to WDW and I have a question. We're leaving next Thursday afternoon and I'm trying to get south of Charlotte on 77 (about 9.5 hours) and looking to stop in Rock Hill, SC. Anyone know of any decent hotels in the area?

Cheers,
Indy

We always stop for dinner at the Olive Garden in Rock Hill, exit 79. Then we drive about 45 minutes further and stay at the Holiday Inn Express in Blythewood, exit 27. I can recommend both. Staying here gets you past all the Charlotte area commuter traffic. The next morning we're on the road by 7 and get to WDW around 2.

 

[BC1836]

We always stop for dinner at the Olive Garden in Rock Hill, exit 79. Then we drive about 45 minutes further and stay at the Holiday Inn Express in Blythewood, exit 27. I can recommend both. Staying here gets you past all the Charlotte area commuter traffic. The next morning we're on the road by 7 and get to WDW around 2.

Listen to Fwd Facing Tentacles: veteran 2,000+ mile round-trip drivers who have also driven across country, from "sea to shining sea."

All the best.

 

[Marc A.]

I was just playing with aaa triptik and compared our route on mapquest and I saw that aaa tells us to go 285 around Atlanta instead of going thru Atlanta on 75 (mapquest).
Midwest drivers....which would you advise going thru Atlanta???
drivers in general do you prefer following triptik or mapquest????

thanks

 

[IndyDisney]

We always stop for dinner at the Olive Garden in Rock Hill, exit 79. Then we drive about 45 minutes further and stay at the Holiday Inn Express in Blythewood, exit 27. I can recommend both. Staying here gets you past all the Charlotte area commuter traffic. The next morning we're on the road by 7 and get to WDW around 2.

We stayed at the Comfort Inn Blythewood on our return trip last time and ate pizza from this little joint down the street. Greasy and delicious. The reason I chose Rock Hill as a good destination point is to avoid both Charlotte and Columbia commuter traffic the following morning. We're probably going to be getting in after midnight and I'd like to be on the road again by 8, which puts us outside of Columbia sometime after 9AM. Is it a possibility to hit traffic outside of Columbia if we were to stay in Blythewood and leave around 8AM?

Cheers,
Indy

 

[sharadoc]

Hey all - wanted to pass along a quick tip for those of you with internet access on the road. beatthetraffic.com has all the major metro areas and you can get instant traffic maps.

I'm sure there's others but that's the one we found and it worked pretty well.

 

[MIChessGuy]

I was just playing with aaa triptik and compared our route on mapquest and I saw that aaa tells us to go 285 around Atlanta instead of going thru Atlanta on 75 (mapquest).
Midwest drivers....which would you advise going thru Atlanta???
drivers in general do you prefer following triptik or mapquest????

thanks

I have made the trip down from Michigan many times and have never used the I-285 Atlanta Bypass. If I were driving on a weekday, it might be something I would consider. But there does not appear to be much benefit on a Saturday night, which is usually when I reach metropolitan Atlanta.