New Englanders - what does your typical drive down look like?

[stky6]

tasty hashbrowns!

Hashbrowns chunked...mmmmmmmmmmmmmm

 

[lawnspecialties]

coming from ri- we did 84-81-77-26-95 going down. on the way back, we did the same route went up 87 to 90 down 146 (we're from the northern part). if was a great route- very scenic and NO south of the border signs!

Pedro saaayz: Chili today, hot tamale!

 

[Mac and Us]

We drive from central NH and have driven several routes. The route we like is:

I91, I90 (Mass pike), I87, I287, NJ Turnpike to route 301 (runs parallel to 95 only on the other side of of bay away from all the DC mess, then catch I95 in Ruther Glen VA

We leave NH at noon on a Friday and arrive at Ft. Wilderness at around 10pm on Saturday. We get to the NJ Turnpike Friday night around 7pm stop for dinner/fuel and by then we've missed the brunt of the traffic. Saturday isn't bad as we hit the Annapolis area early Saturday morning and miss Richmond traffic by taking the bypass. We usually go through Jacksonville Saturday evening around 8 pm so that isn't bad either.

As for stops we usually stop at the Maryland Welcome Center on RT 301 Friday night for 4-5hours sleep. We take off as soon as we wake up and make a breakfast/shower stop late morning at the NC rest area. Other than that we only stop for diesel and short lunch/dinner breaks (we usually get fuel during these trips). Our drive time is roughly 27 hrs at 60 MPH. Total trip time is roughly 34 hours.

We have a 6 yr old who has done this trip 6 times since April 2005. She does very well as long as you keep her occupied with: coloring books, puzzles, DVD's, crafts (non messy ones like the peel and stick foam crafts), etc. As another poster said ..... buy inexpensive things that are new like stickers books/crafts and things they don't have at home. I buy these things as I see them and tuck them away in a box for our next Disney trip.

She's getting old enough now that she's happy just watching out the window for interesting things to point out.

 

[kmccain]

We just returned home last night from a week at the beach

The truckers were hollering on the cb that 95 was backed up all the way to Washington so we jumped off and came up 17. It wasn't too bad!

We came down 15 but DH prefers 83 because he likes to move and hates traffic lights. They kill his time and his mileage.

17 certainly gets you around all that traffic!

Hope this helps

 

[disney4dan]

We've driven to FL several times, gone different ways depending on weather and what time we are in certain areas. All have pluses and minuses.

We just came back from a 2 week trip, took I-91 south to I-84 west. Picked up I-81 in Scranton, then crossed over on Rte 17 in Northern VA to I-95. We left at 4:30am from north central MA and made it to Fredericksburg VA KOA for the first night. We were towing a 29 foot travel trailer and I am the only driver in the family who will tow that. The 8 yo and 9 yo had all kinds of DVDs, their own DVD player, pillows, blankets, books you name it. Still found that the only way they could entertain each other on this trip was to bicker and fight - first time in several road trips that this became such a problem.

From there, we went to Hunting Island State Park in South Carolina for two nights of camping right on the beach (had oak and palmetto trees at the site, lots of deer in the campground). Then back to I-95 and on to the Fort, arriving on Tuesday. The extra stops made this trip more memorable and enjoyable.

There is a big stretch of construction on I-81 in Pennsylvania between Scranton and Harrisburg. Down to one lane for miles. On the way south the traffic kept moving (Saturday), but we noticed a huge traffic jam for miles on the north bound side. Sure enough, same traffic jam on the northbound side two weeks later. We jumped off at mile 104 and took Rte 501 over to Rte 78 in order to take 78 to 287 in NJ, then 87 to 84. Rte 78 is also under construction with the traffic moving fairly well. The sections of concrete road that were not fixed yet on 78 were so bad and the timing was just right that the truck and trailer started to "porpoise" or get bouncing in a wave like pattern to the point where I was concerned that the hitch would strike the road (broke a piece of my Equalizer eventually). Also, we took a trip to NJ earlier this summer without the camper and took the Tappanzee bridge; there is still a lot of construction around the approach to the bridge and it was bad enough that we decided to avoid the area while towing. I find Rte 84 to be easier, less congestion and not much extra distance. Gas/fuel up in Port Jervis where the stations are huge and easy to maneuver; price is cheap. Not many gas stations on 287, none that I could see close to the highway.

Found a great campground with very large pull through sites, full connections right off exit 53 in Walterboro, SC. Name of the place is the New Green Acres RV park. Close enough to see the highway, so you will hear the noise, but not as bad as a truck stop. Has a pool, store, etc. and the full hook-up site was $26/night. Most of the business is from people who stop on the way to Florida. Lots of large shade trees, easy to stay connected for an overnight and yet still be level and comfortable in the trailer for sleeping. Very easy to maneuver and the place was about 1/3 full when we arrived for first stop on the way home.

 

[MadFF]

The sections of concrete road that were not fixed yet on 78 were so bad and the timing was just right that the truck and trailer started to "porpoise" or get bouncing in a wave like pattern to the point where I was concerned that the hitch would strike the road (broke a piece of my Equalizer eventually).

Yep! We ran into that part of rte 78 on our way to Gettysburg earlier this summer. I was warned by a few on the Open Roads Forum about that stretch of road. I slowed down to about 40mph... I wasn't really blocking traffice, everyone else had slowed down. I did notice that most of the truckers kept to the left lane, at least on the southbound side that seemed to be a little smoother.

After that experience, I would highly recommend avoiding rte 78 if at all possible.