"For 2,000+ Mile Round-Trip Drivers Only!" (Part V)

[BC1836]

We arrived home from round-trip drive #38 yesterday afternoon. Here are our I-95 travel details:

Departed Jersey Shore on August 6, 2015 at 5:45 a.m. (low temp. in the Pine Barrens: 53-degrees)
DE Memorial Bridge: 7:23 a.m.
MD: 7:38 a.m. (no heavy traffic)
VA: 9:30 (no heavy traffic)
NC: 12:30 p.m. (smooth sailin')
SC: 3:28 p.m. (had to play it safe and exited due to heavy thunderstorm rains)
GA: 6:57 p.m. (smooth sailin')
FL: 8:44 p.m. (stayed overnight in Yulee; 879 miles of driving)

On August 7, a brief stop to visit friends in Port Orange, and then onto WDW via I-4 (one small slowdown at Orlando). We arrived at the Contemporary at 9:45 a.m.

On August 12, we arrived at the Grand Floridian and parked. For the first time, we never drove in WDW.

The trip home began on August 15, 2015 at 8:30 a.m.

No traffic problems from Lake Buena Vista to Thornburg, VA, where we made our overnight stay (an 803-mile trek).

On August 16, 2015, we departed VA for home.

No traffic problems until an accident slowed everything down for a couple of miles in northern VA. Another stop-and-go slowdown in Delaware approaching to exit for the DE Memorial Bridge.

Gas prices varied greatly, from $2.23 at Disney Speedway (bye bye Hess) to $2.79 (exit 150 in NC).

We plan to resume that drive in October.

All the best!

 

[crzy4dsny]

We are leaving around 530-6 am hopefully we get to dc after rush hour. Last time we drove we got stuck in awful Richmond traffic. Thanks!

I would strongly advise against that. Leave as early as humanly possible. 2:00am is prime.

 

[disneysteve]

I just made the second part of our reservations for our next journey in November. We'll be leaving NJ on November 3rd, arriving in Orlando on the 4th. We'll be attending a convention at the Marriott World Center from the 4th-8th. Then we will head over to Orbit One Vacation Villas for 7 nights before leaving for home on the 15th (possibly late afternoon on the 14th).

Time to get a counter going in my sig.

 

[nono]

I would strongly advise against that. Leave as early as humanly possible. 2:00am is prime.

I agree because it is a Friday in the summer. Also, some colleges are starting to have kids return that day.

 

[buzzmom12]

Thanks. Leaving in the middle of the night isnt an option. Just was wondering if anyone uses alternative routes vs 95.

 

[disneysteve]

Last time we drove we got stuck in awful Richmond traffic.

There is a bypass (295) around Richmond rather than staying on 95 through the city.

 

[dsnymomof4]

Hi all. Here now. Left central NJ around 12:30pm Sunday (plan was to leave at 6am, but last minute car trouble deferred our start time.) Hit LOTS of traffic from right after Del Mem Bridge, throughout Maryland and beginning Virginia. And from the looks of it, people heading the other way had just as much traffic - in fact a lot of times they weren't even moving at all. We've driven down many times and have always done 95 all the way and back, but I'm seriously considering an alternate route home, since we'll be traveling next Sunday around the same time.

 

[OKW Lover]

There is a bypass (295) around Richmond rather than staying on 95 through the city.

Highly recommended. There is hardly any traffic on that bypass so it really won't take any more time despite being longer.

 

[disneysteve]

Hit LOTS of traffic from right after Del Mem Bridge, throughout Maryland and beginning Virginia. And from the looks of it, people heading the other way had just as much traffic - in fact a lot of times they weren't even moving at all. We've driven down many times and have always done 95 all the way and back, but I'm seriously considering an alternate route home, since we'll be traveling next Sunday around the same time.

I was returning from Richmond in April coming from the DIS meet and encountered this. Traffic was basically bumper to bumper from Richmond all the way to NJ. It was awful. I think it ended up taking me 7-1/2 hours to get home (should be a 5 hour trip). I got off 95 3 different times and drove on 1 hoping to pass whatever was causing the delay but every time I got back on 95 it was just as bad. I ended up having to take 495 into Philly and cross over to Jersey from there.

 

[theyoungs07]

Hi everyone! Fabulous thread, thanks for all the contributions here. Our traveling party includes 2 elementary-aged kids, 2 teens, and 2 adults.

We'll be traveling from central Iowa just before Labor Day weekend. In fact, I moved our dates by one day so we could avoid Atlanta on the Friday of Labor Day weekend. We'll travel through on Thursday instead. However, I'm having trouble figuring out good timing for our journey. We will go through St. Louis, Nashville, Chattanooga, and Atlanta along the way. The current plan has us leaving at noon on Wednesday (it would be a challenge to leave earlier due to a scheduling conflict) and driving to Oak Grove, KY (near Ft. Campbell). That's about 9 hours of driving, not including stops, so it'll be pretty late by the time we arrive at our hotel.

The next day we'll still have 11 1/2 hours of driving left (not including stops). It's difficult to figure out how to get to Atlanta at a good time. It's 4 1/2 hours from Oak Grove to Marietta, GA. If you add at least 30 minutes for a stop plus another 30 for a stop at Marietta (I don't want anyone to need a bathroom suddenly in the middle of downtown Atlanta!), we'll be going through downtown from 2:30-3:30 or so. I sure wish we could get that moved up another hour or so. What do you think? We really don't do traffic. Like, at all. My deepest wish is that we could drive through at about 2:00 in the morning! lol

Are there other hotspots we should be aware of? We'll likely hit St. Louis at 5 pm on Wednesday but we'll be going INTO downtown then rather than out of it so I'm hoping it won't be so bad. I think Nashville and Chattanooga will be on Thursday morning, after the morning rush so hopefully they'll be okay.

One last thing, for those of you who have done the "drive straight through" thing, what do you do about bathroom stops and such? Is there a website that can help me find reliable places that are open 24 hours along our route?

Thank you so much!

We drive from the Illinois side of the Quad Cities, so maybe an 1-2hr shorter than your drive. I drive with a bunch of kids in the back (8 the last time) so we bleed time with bathroom stops/nursing baby...etc. On our first trip we left the QC area around noon and drove to Murfreesboro TN, probably about an hour and a half beyond where you are planning to stay. We stopped there because we didn't want to drive through the mountains when exhausted. I've found that stretching it later into the night and getting up a little later really helped to avoid Atlanta. If you can get to Murfreesboro, then it is about a 4 hour drive to the south side of Atlanta...don't use Atlanta as your calculation point...you really want to see how long it'd take you to get to the north edge Marietta and the south edge (I used Stockbridge). Even if you drove until midnight/1am you can then sleep until 8/9 and still make it through ATL at a decent time. You know your drivers/sleep patterns so just map a few places to Stockbridge and see how far you think you can comfortably stretch it.

ATL is the big bogey, so I change my plans accordingly to hit it in the middle of the day or middle of the night, like this last trip when we drove through it the first night...but that takes getting going early which you can't do.

I've never had issues with Atlanta, but I hear the horror stories. Once you get there, stay in the diamond lane and don't leave it...no matter what your GPS says...my bil made that mistake once. We don't do traffic either and getting into the far left lane for carpool is great because cars are not supposed to be weaving in and out of it, so you can get there and just get comfortable and watch the craziness next to you without getting involved .

In case you are tempted to try the Birmingham route...I would not suggest it as I actually got stuck in Birmingham traffic and then dodged armadillos on the Highway late at night...not again.

For bathrooms, that is why we stick to the Interstate...tons of places to stop at any hour. If you have a smartphone download IExit...it shows all of your upcoming exits and what is at them along with how far off the highway they are. This is great to find how far the next rest area is, or if there's a gas station, or a Starbucks coming up. It helps me avoid the ever-painful exit to a gas station only to find it's 2 miles through town off the road...grrrrr...

 

[debf]

Quick question, we are leaving WDW tomorrow. We do not want to take 95 all the way home to NY. Is it, 95-26-81. Or is there a better route? End result for us is we need to get to the NY state thruway. Thanks.

 

[Iowamomof4]

We drive from the Illinois side of the Quad Cities, so maybe an 1-2hr shorter than your drive. I drive with a bunch of kids in the back (8 the last time) so we bleed time with bathroom stops/nursing baby...etc. On our first trip we left the QC area around noon and drove to Murfreesboro TN, probably about an hour and a half beyond where you are planning to stay. We stopped there because we didn't want to drive through the mountains when exhausted. I've found that stretching it later into the night and getting up a little later really helped to avoid Atlanta. If you can get to Murfreesboro, then it is about a 4 hour drive to the south side of Atlanta...don't use Atlanta as your calculation point...you really want to see how long it'd take you to get to the north edge Marietta and the south edge (I used Stockbridge). Even if you drove until midnight/1am you can then sleep until 8/9 and still make it through ATL at a decent time. You know your drivers/sleep patterns so just map a few places to Stockbridge and see how far you think you can comfortably stretch it.

ATL is the big bogey, so I change my plans accordingly to hit it in the middle of the day or middle of the night, like this last trip when we drove through it the first night...but that takes getting going early which you can't do.

I've never had issues with Atlanta, but I hear the horror stories. Once you get there, stay in the diamond lane and don't leave it...no matter what your GPS says...my bil made that mistake once. We don't do traffic either and getting into the far left lane for carpool is great because cars are not supposed to be weaving in and out of it, so you can get there and just get comfortable and watch the craziness next to you without getting involved .

In case you are tempted to try the Birmingham route...I would not suggest it as I actually got stuck in Birmingham traffic and then dodged armadillos on the Highway late at night...not again.

For bathrooms, that is why we stick to the Interstate...tons of places to stop at any hour. If you have a smartphone download IExit...it shows all of your upcoming exits and what is at them along with how far off the highway they are. This is great to find how far the next rest area is, or if there's a gas station, or a Starbucks coming up. It helps me avoid the ever-painful exit to a gas station only to find it's 2 miles through town off the road...grrrrr...

Thank you so much for all this great information! We've altered our plans a bit and decided to leave the night before, drive to Hannibal, MO (about 4 hours), and then finish the rest of the drive over the next two days. This way we avoid all the difficulties of trying to get out of the house in the morning. Now the only city we'll be around for rush hour is Nashville. We'll hit that around 4:00 if we don't rush our day and possibly 3:00 if we can leave a bit earlier and make faster stops.

Either way, our goal for day 2 is to get just south of Atlanta. How far south should we aim for? I would prefer to stop around Stockbridge or McDonough for the night as this will be the end of a 12-hour drive (including stops) so I'm trying to avoid the "just a little bit further" thinking. Any thoughts on either of these two locales? Is there another close stop that is preferable?

 

[theyoungs07]

We had planned on Stockbridge or McDonough, or Forsyth but ended up going "a bit further" and had booked a room in Macon earlier in the evening. I think next time we'll stop sooner after ATL...once the adrenaline rush of getting through the city stops, sleepy time really hits. I looked at hotels in all 3 of those previous locations and there were plenty of nice options, just not as much for a family that needs sleeping arrangements for 10 with connecting rooms. We did the "leave the night before" thing once and I realized we won't do that again if we can help it. It meant 2 nights in hotels and just made the trip feel longer...but that was also coupled with our one time going through Birmingham. Everyone's different so you may have better results than we did. Of course since then I've debated doing so every time...it's hard to be on the verge of completely packed and then get sleep that night before.

 

[Iowamomof4]

We had planned on Stockbridge or McDonough, or Forsyth but ended up going "a bit further" and had booked a room in Macon earlier in the evening. I think next time we'll stop sooner after ATL...once the adrenaline rush of getting through the city stops, sleepy time really hits. I looked at hotels in all 3 of those previous locations and there were plenty of nice options, just not as much for a family that needs sleeping arrangements for 10 with connecting rooms. We did the "leave the night before" thing once and I realized we won't do that again if we can help it. It meant 2 nights in hotels and just made the trip feel longer...but that was also coupled with our one time going through Birmingham. Everyone's different so you may have better results than we did. Of course since then I've debated doing so every time...it's hard to be on the verge of completely packed and then get sleep that night before.

This is exactly our concern. Plus, with young-ish kids (6 and 9) there is still some bedding that must come along. Gathering all the bedding and toiletries in the morning along with getting everyone up earlier than they're used to, rushing through breakfast, loading everything in the van, and finally hitting the road (surely 1-2 hours later than we had planned by then!) just doesn't appeal. Hannibal, Mo to McDonough, Ga is about 10 1/2 hours. Of course, we lose an hour with the time change so I need to account for that along the way, but it still makes one LONG day of driving and two shorter days. Seems like a decent trade-off.

 

[dkoerner27]

Quick question, we are leaving WDW tomorrow. We do not want to take 95 all the way home to NY. Is it, 95-26-81. Or is there a better route? End result for us is we need to get to the NY state thruway. Thanks.

Not sure where in ny you're going, we are in the poconos and we use the 81-77-26-95 route. Coming home it's reversed.

 

[rotlex]

Thanks. Leaving in the middle of the night isnt an option. Just was wondering if anyone uses alternative routes vs 95.

We live in PA as well. We NEVER do 95 but rather 81/77/26/95 to I4 as many on here do from this area. It's roughly the same distance, and a much more pleasant drive. Less traffic, more scenery, less stressful. (Especially up in the more northern states). We leave tomorrow night for our next visit, and will be taking that same route again. (the 11th time for us).

 

[LadyBeBop]

Thank you so much for all this great information! We've altered our plans a bit and decided to leave the night before, drive to Hannibal, MO (about 4 hours), and then finish the rest of the drive over the next two days. This way we avoid all the difficulties of trying to get out of the house in the morning. Now the only city we'll be around for rush hour is Nashville. We'll hit that around 4:00 if we don't rush our day and possibly 3:00 if we can leave a bit earlier and make faster stops.

AUGH!!!! Rush hour in Nashville? Just me, but I hate driving through Nashville. With the lane changes, the traffic and such. I hate driving through Nashville even more so than Atlanta. If you can hit Nashville no later than 3:00, do so. Earlier is better.

Either way, our goal for day 2 is to get just south of Atlanta. How far south should we aim for? I would prefer to stop around Stockbridge or McDonough for the night as this will be the end of a 12-hour drive (including stops) so I'm trying to avoid the "just a little bit further" thinking. Any thoughts on either of these two locales? Is there another close stop that is preferable?

We've stayed in McDonough. Nice stop with all the motel chains.

 

[jm106]

We live in NJ, very near to 78 and PA. Going to and from Orlando in end of June we did 78/81/64/288 then 95 from Richmond area and the reverse home. We were very happy and agreed, way easier and no concern about timing as there is on 95.
For some reason, the kids and I went to NC last week and went that way again with no issue but I decided to try going back 95 all the way. The 81 route was 100 miles further but 95 took me over an hour longer. Now of course any way that could change but I experienced the slowing an heavy traffic that seems so typical of 95. It was more stressful for me especially having to do the trip with no other driver(took 12 hours.)

If we go back at the end of the year we will definitely take the 81 route.

 

[lbmiller77]

Thank you so much for all this great information! We've altered our plans a bit and decided to leave the night before, drive to Hannibal, MO (about 4 hours), and then finish the rest of the drive over the next two days. This way we avoid all the difficulties of trying to get out of the house in the morning. Now the only city we'll be around for rush hour is Nashville. We'll hit that around 4:00 if we don't rush our day and possibly 3:00 if we can leave a bit earlier and make faster stops.

Either way, our goal for day 2 is to get just south of Atlanta. How far south should we aim for? I would prefer to stop around Stockbridge or McDonough for the night as this will be the end of a 12-hour drive (including stops) so I'm trying to avoid the "just a little bit further" thinking. Any thoughts on either of these two locales? Is there another close stop that is preferable?

I agree with LadyBeBop, I would avoid rush hour in Nashville. I have had more problems with Nashville than Atlanta. At least Atlanta provides a carpool lane, which helps navigate rush hour at a quicker pace. It is approximately a four hour drive between Nashville and Atlanta. If you get through Nashville at 3, that will get you to Atlanta at the tail end of their rush hour.

 

[Iowamomof4]

I agree with LadyBeBop, I would avoid rush hour in Nashville. I have had more problems with Nashville than Atlanta. At least Atlanta provides a carpool lane, which helps navigate rush hour at a quicker pace. It is approximately a four hour drive between Nashville and Atlanta. If you get through Nashville at 3, that will get you to Atlanta at the tail end of their rush hour.

I assume the time change will also be helpful to us (we'll lose an hour moving from Central to Eastern time between Nashville and Atlanta)?