Some quick toughts after our 2,300 mile round trip drive last week.

[DSLRuser]

We drove from st. louis friday night 5-27. We left at 5:30 central time, and I by habbit, set the car clock to 6:30 eastern time right away.

Me, wife, daughters 4 and 10 all in a 2006 Volvo S60R. Mid sized 4 door sports car.

I drove first leg.

Drove 44 through down town stl to 64 east, then 57 south. 24 east. made our first stop around 10;00pm in a little town north of Nashville. Kids wanted McDonald's, This had to be the worst McDonald's I have ever eaten in. It was filthy, the lines were long, the food tasted bad. no napkins, no straws, no ketchup. No bbq sauce for the nuggets. it was BAD!

I went to the gas sation next door and he even said, yeah dont go there. We got gas, i had got 2 12 oz cans of red bull, and drove off on leg 2.

I didnt stop for gas again until Valdosta GA around 4:00am. My car was getting almost 28 MPG with the cruze set at 68mph. Traffic was actually very light so i was able to maintain a constent speed. I hit Atlanta around 2:00am. My wife and kids were sound asleep, so I filled up, got 2 more red bulls and started leg #3.

The kids woke up around 6:00am or so when we hit the Florida line. We decided to stop in Ocala Florida at the cracker barrel and had breakfast. I filled up again, even though I still had a half a tank, and i drove leg 4.

Arrived at the POFQ around 11:00am. So yes kids, i drove all 17 hours by myself. i just never felt tired. I love my car.

The car was parked the rest of the time except for a drive to the beach on tuesday and to switch resorts to the beach club.

We left the beach club saturday junne 4 around 4:00pm eastern. I set the cars clock back to central 3:00pm and drove. I filled up at the hess outside the boardwalk, and drove to about valdosta GA. We stopped and ate at a wendys, and gassed up.

I drove leg #2 to almost chatanooga. It was around 10:00pm and my wife finally got a chance to drive. We gassed up and she drove to the just east of Nashville.

I took over for her at around 2:30 am. Had 2 red bulls and drove till we reached home at 6:00am. I did detour off the route and drove about 40 miles west on some secondary rodes to hit 55 north instead of 57.

They were dong construction on 57. thats the only road construction delays we saw this trip. All the work they have been doing in GA looks to finally be completed.

I love my car. We got a little over 27 MPG fr the entire 2300 mile trip. My wifes suv a mazda cx7 only got 17 mpg last year. And it made me very tired.

 

[Christine9125]

I must say how impressed I am. We have drove from Cincinnati several times and it is about 13-15 hours, I can say, I could not do it all by myself without staying overnight somewhere.

 

[DSLRuser]

most of it is because I am too cheap to get a hotel for 8 hours. And I am a hotel snob, so a $49 super 8 couldn't cut it. So we just power through it.

The day we arrived, i took a 2 hour nap by the pool while the kids played and I was good to go.

Same when we all got home. We climbed in bed and slept till about noon.

 

[ssawka]

This post reminds me why we always fly. I don't care how much airfare goes up. For us, a two hour flight will always win over 16 hours of driving. But then again, there is only three of us.

 

[cemeb4dk]

Good Job, I drive from the western burbs of CHicago, in a straight shot with me doing all the driving. I hate wasting time and money on the hotel also. So we just go straight thru. I always play mental games with myself as trying to get to a certain mile marker by a certain time, trying to keep a 60 mph average with the stops, and so on. Nice job on the 28mpg also.

 

[londonderrydisneyfan]

How long did it take you to recover from the drive? We always fly, but with prices going up we're starting to look at driving as an option. I would also try to drive straight thru and was wondering how much of an impact that would have for the first few days of the vacation.

Thanks for the review.

 

[cemeb4dk]

for myself if we get there during the daytime I can still hit the parks But I sleep well that night. The last few times, we have planned our arrival to get there about 7pm so we just grab a hotel just outside of downtown disney and sleep. Then the next morning we are well rested and check into our hotel and hit the parks.

 

[tlenzendorf]

I wonder if that is the same McDonald's we ate when we drove in 2004. A little town just outside Nashville. Did it have a 2 story Play Place? There was NO soap or towels in the restroom! It looked like there hadn't been any in awhile, either, and of course we didn't use the restroom til after we ate

 

[MOmousefan]

We stopped at a McD in Joelton, TN which is north of Nashville in 2005. I remember it because it is the worst McD I have ever been in.