Looking for advice on driving/where to stay.

[heathandhail]

Hi!

We are making the trek in just over 50 days!

I believe we are taking the 81-66-17-95-4 route, and were thinking maybe of leaving Canada after work the first night and driving to Syracuse and staying. (originally we were going to leave early morning and drive all the way to Savannah on the 1st day).

Then we would drive all day the next day and stop maybe around Savannah to stay overnight again.

Does this sound like a solid plan? I was thinking maybe we could stop in Cortland as that would get us out of Syracuse for the next morning's departure. I've never been to Cortland, has anyone else?

Looking for thoughts and advice on where to stop and what hotels to stay at! Can we get a decent room for under $80?

Thank you so much !!

 

[bankr63]

So sounds like you are leaving from Eastern Ontario. We have driven that route as far as Myrtle Beach, but if we leave in the early evening we try for Wilkes Barre PA before stopping. If I was only going as far as Syracuse, I would probably just stay home and enjoy one more evening my own bed then make an early start in the morning. It's not worth the cost of a hotel to me to get a 3hr head start.

If you go as far as WB area - the HI Express at 81 and 309 was nice and reasonable rate, but closer to $100 than to $80. Most of our hotels on the way down seem to run closer to $100, but we check the diamond ratings on CAA before we stop, and like nicer hotel chains. The Hampton Inn at Hazelton was also fairly nice and was the only one that had walk-in rate rooms available on our last trip.

I would keep your route options open too. Watch the weather closely and you may find that the 81-77-26-95 works better. It keeps you inland much farther south if there is any coastal weather, and there are very few large cities along the route, but it is all interstate. The 2 lane stretch of 17 can be a bit slow on your route.

We opt for the "drive 'til you drop" approach. We don't plan our stops in advance, and pick up the hotel coupon books at the state welcome centres starting later in the afternoon. We compare the coupons there against the CAA guide and pick hotels that rate well and give a CAA discount in case the drop in rate is not available.

have fun on your drive down!

 

[heathandhail]

So sounds like you are leaving from Eastern Ontario. We have driven that route as far as Myrtle Beach, but if we leave in the early evening we try for Wilkes Barre PA before stopping. If I was only going as far as Syracuse, I would probably just stay home and enjoy one more evening my own bed then make an early start in the morning. It's not worth the cost of a hotel to me to get a 3hr head start.

If you go as far as WB area - the HI Express at 81 and 309 was nice and reasonable rate, but closer to $100 than to $80. Most of our hotels on the way down seem to run closer to $100, but we check the diamond ratings on CAA before we stop, and like nicer hotel chains. The Hampton Inn at Hazelton was also fairly nice and was the only one that had walk-in rate rooms available on our last trip.

I would keep your route options open too. Watch the weather closely and you may find that the 81-77-26-95 works better. It keeps you inland much farther south if there is any coastal weather, and there are very few large cities along the route, but it is all interstate. The 2 lane stretch of 17 can be a bit slow on your route.

We opt for the "drive 'til you drop" approach. We don't plan our stops in advance, and pick up the hotel coupon books at the state welcome centres starting later in the afternoon. We compare the coupons there against the CAA guide and pick hotels that rate well and give a CAA discount in case the drop in rate is not available.

have fun on your drive down!

Thanks again! You are always a wealth of information!!

 

[minnie mum]

I agree with bankr63 about the alternate route. We'll be leaving around the same dates, and will be watching the weather closely in the preceding days. If necessary, we'll leave a day early to avoid a storm. There is a website where you can track the forecasts along the interstates. We prefer to stay on the inland route if the weather is good, staying around Harrisburg and then in Orangeburg or Savannah on the second day. But we reserve our hotels in advance, since we use loyalty points to stay free for our enroute nights.