Road trip pitstop Q?

[j_vawter]

In September we will be road tripping to Disney.
My family DH, 3 kiddos (9,7, & not quite 2) and my in-laws in a mini van
We plan to be leaving Houston at about 2 am, hit baton rouge area for breakfast with an old friend, stay the night in Tallahassee Saturday night and then drive the rest of the way into Disney Sunday.
My question is where should we stop for lunch? My FIL is a diabetic so lunch needs to be "on-time" 12-1ish and I'd like to eat some place that has a playground so the kids can get some energy out. I can't seem to find a chick Fila between Pensacola ( which seems too close to breakfast) and Tallahassee (which would be too late)
We don't eat crap...no McD's at all!!
HELP!!

 

[tobikaye]

Pack your lunch or stop and pick up something before stopping at a rest area. At the rest area, have some things the kids can do outside of the car. Bubbles, Frisbee, jump rope, etc...

Last October, my family were in 3 cars going to Siesta Keys, with 2 of us staying some what close. The car that was ahead by 30 minutes stopped at a Subway just before the Florida welcome center and we had hot sandwiches with chips, cookies and drinks we already had in the cars.

We have also stopped at parks we knew about that were not far off the highways.

 

[ebradley23]

I am in the car now on a road trip home from FL. I made wraps for us this whole trip. We eat them in the car. That way we can make our pit stops fun places (we're going to the St Augustine light house today) instead of food focused. Wraps (wrapped in Saran Wrap) tend to keep better than sandwiches. I've also packed the biggest snack bag in the world full of smart pop, kettle corn, brownie brittle and beef jerky to keep our trip somewhat healthy. I made sure to individually portion out the snacks to keep us from mindlessly sticking our hands in a giant bag of popcorn.

 

[DVC4US]

My first question is your timing. It's about 4 hours from Baton Rouge to Pensacola and about 3 hours from Pensacola to Tallahassee. Not sure what time you are planning on stopping but if you want to eat around 12-1ish and eat somewhere in between Pensacola & Tallahassee that will put you in Tallahassee very early. If you eat breakfast somewhere between 8 & 9 then you would hit the Pensacola area around 12-1. Also keep in mind you will change from Central time to Eastern time between Pensacola & Tallahassee.

Above posts are a good idea - we've done this before where we either packed something or pick something up and stopped at a rest area.

There isn't a Chickfila between Pensacola & Tallahassee and unfortunately there are not a lot of options either. Your 3 biggest off ramps are: exit 56 which is Crestview and has a Cracker Barrel, Hooters, and some fast food places; exit 85 which is Defuniak Springs which mostly has fast food; and exit 142 which is probably the best and it has a Ruby Tuesday's; Pofolks; Sonnys BBQ, Arby's, and several other fast food places. It also has a Pilot that usually has pretty cheap gas. There might be some other options once you cross the bridge from Pensacola but I'm not familiar with that area.

 

[j_vawter]

We are leaving Houston/Galveston area around 2 am
Stopping in denham springs (just past Baton Rouge) for breakfast I'm thinking we will get there 7-7:30 and eat with a friend then be ready to leave 8:30-9
According g to google maps it's only 2.5 hours from denham to Pensacola which made it too early for lunch
But you're saying its 4 hours
Is that with traffic? Because that would be perfect
We could stop at a chickfila in Pensacola for lunch and the kids could play for an hour or so

 

[DVC4US]

I haven't made that drive recently so not talking from experience. I just did a quick Goggle Maps search from Baton Rouge to Pensacola and it says 3 h 45 min - Denham Springs to Pensacola says 3 h 34 m.

Like I said above there isn't a whole heck of a lot between Pensacola and Tallahassee and definitely no Chickfila.