Question about night time driving on I-95 (from NJ)

[yaya74]

Please accept my apology if this has been asked before.

When driving at night time on I-95,
1. are all gas stations/service stations open 24 hours?
2. how did you stay awake?
3. are there any wild animals (like deers) crossing I-95??

DH wants to drive to WDW from North NJ in one shot. We plan to leave NJ around 7pm, then our kids (8 and 4) will sleep in the car and we won't need to stop as often. DH and I will take turns to drive. We have driven long distance before (CO to NJ in 5 days). But we have never driven at night..

 

[OKW Lover]

I can only respond to one of your questions - gas stations. Not all of them will be open 24 hours, but there are a lot that are. You shouldn't have a problem finding an open gas station at 3:00 AM.

 

[Dis703]

Yes, there are various spots that are deer crossings. I can't say where or how often you'd really see them but I recall the signs. Gas stations are pretty easy to find even 24 hours, particularly at rest stops but even then they are common at many exits.

I'll be honest driving at night is hard for me. And if you've never done it, I'd make a backup plan just in case. We drove a couple years ago with a plan to stop in the middle of the night assuming our kids would sleep halfway but it didn't turn out that way. Despite easily sleeping in the car for shorter trips it wasn't happening for the drive to FL.

I can't do it while everyone else is sleeping either. I need someone to talk to me and keep me more alert. They tell you to crack the window and keep the temperature cooler. Listen to upbeat music and sing along. And to move your eyes around. Like don't just stare straight ahead, look to the right then the left and just keep moving your eyes so you don't zone out and put yourself to sleep. I've never fallen asleep at the wheel but I definitely get to a point where it's no longer safe for me to keep driving. DH does better at it.

If you get overly tired plan on a short break. Head to a rest stop or someplace you can close your eyes for an hour if need be and see if that helps.

Good luck!

 

[StirlingSilver83]

I got to be honest, we usually drive down to Disney from NJ every year and we have never done it in 1 shot. My kids are now 2 and 9, but we have been doing this since the baby was 8 months and my older son was 7. The kids actually enjoy the road trip, especially my older son, because he thinks its cool to drive through the different states even though we are just on 95, lol, we always stop in at each state's welcome center and my older son can't get over the difference between states, lol. He loves the Georgia welcome center because of the accents on the people that work there, LOL. Anyways we usually start early AM around 5AM and drive to Florence, SC, takes usually 10-12 hours depending on how many stops we make and the flow of traffic. There are a bunch of reasonably priced hotels right off 95 that we stop at over night. Then we get up early the next morning usually 6AM and drive the rest of the way. We are usually in Disney a little after lunch, again depending on the flow of traffic and how many times we stop, lol. I know we have seen a bunch of 24 hour gas stations...we usually fill up 2 times between NJ and SC and then again about twice between SC and FL. I don't know how the wildlife at nighttime is bc we have never done the trip at night, but when you get down to the carolinas 95 turns into a pretty rural highway so I would be careful with deer crossings and what not. Have a safe trip down! Driving down is 1 of my favorite parts of our trip...driving home, not so much though, LOL

 

[Capt_BJ]

- in a pinch, now a days, even "closed" gas stations have pumps that work with pay at the pump .... this bailed me out in 'bama a while back when I was SURE there would be another gas station just down the road ..... I was on fumes when I found a closed station, with pay at the pump!

- AUTOTRAIN!!!!!!

 

[yaya74]

-
- AUTOTRAIN!!!!!!

Cant_BJ, funny that you mention Autotrain. We drive because it cost a lot less than flying. I don't see taking Autotrain as a money-saving option for us. It would cost any where from $1500 to $2000 to take the train for our family of 4. That's the same cost as flying, probably less if I fly with Southwest.

 

[StirlingSilver83]

Cant_BJ, funny that you mention Autotrain. We drive because it cost a lot less than flying. I don't see taking Autotrain as a money-saving option for us. It would cost any where from $1500 to $2000 to take the train for our family of 4. That's the same cost as flying, probably less if I fly with Southwest.

Same here! We drive Bc it's cheaper than flying...I have looked into auto train and its horribly expensive! Honestly who the heck would pay that! If I was going to pay 2k for transportation I would just pay it to fly and be there in 2 hours instead of paying that much money for an all night train ride...it just makes no sense to me lol

 

[nono]

There's lot of folks doing the same thing. Don't be surprised to see picnics happening at rest stops at 3 a.m.! I get a couple new comedy "albums"/humorous audiobooks and laugh my head off. Only problem last trip is that last trip, the book was so funny that my husband's laughing woke me during my snooze time (20-30 minutes on my off 2.5 hrs).

I've seen way more deer crossing on the GSP than on I95 South, but that's not saying you won't see them. It's saying your NJ deer avoiding reflexes will probably be good enough.