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HELP!! This is our first time driving to Florida. We are going to Fort Myers for a baseball trip. (me, my husband and 4 kids!!)
All I keep hearing is the hassel of traffic and construction on I-95. But yet that is the only route map quest gives me.
We do not want to stop and stay anywhere on the way, just one continuous drive (well bathroom and eating stops of course).
Any suggestions of alternate routes?? But something that will not take us that much longer to get there??
Better yet, we are leaving on July 4th, because the tournament starts on the 6th!!
ANY SUGGESTIONS??
One continuous drive? I hope you are planning on switching drivers out and all that because including stops and traffic you are probably looking at being the road for up to 30 hours straight. When I lived in Alabama we had a lot of traffic passing through to Florida for vacation and many people were doing those types of marathon driving trips to get there. Unfortunately every year we had quite a few fatalities from people falling asleep at the wheel.
To me I would bank on it being a proper 2 day drive. IMHO I can't see it being worth risking yourself and your kids to save a couple of bucks or hours from not staying in a hotel one night. Not to mention all the cranky kids.
Some parts of I-95 are not bad but going through some of the metro areas like DC can be tedious.
The only other alternative is take I-81 from Scranton, PA and then I-75 down to Florida. A little more in mileage, but you avoid a lot of heavily populated areas that way compared to i-95.
Listen to Wanneroo. We have made the drive up to NJ from Atlanta 4 x's this year. We did the 95 trip once, and it was the worst. Way more traffic than I-81, not to mention lots of tolls. We last made the trip a week ago, and the construction season is just starting up. The delays weren't terrible, but they will add time to you ride. We went from Bergen Cty to Ft Chiswell VA in 10 hours via 80 to 81, with only a stop for coffee. We spend the night there, and drove down to GA the next day, about a 6 hour trip.
Last summer we drove from Atlanta to Clearwater beach, which isn't that far from Ft Myers. With construction delays it took us 10 hours. I-75 in south GA has been under construction forever!
One positive note, last year we actually left NJ on July 4, and the drive was a breeze. We had the interstates almost to ourselves.
For safety and sanity sake, plan on an overnight along the way.
I've done a 25 hour non-stop drive myself shared with 2 other people, and was ready to kick out the windows and jump out of the moving vehicle after 20 hours. But a 30 hour drive, with 4 children, is something only a dedicated masochist would attempt.
I would highly recommend the I-81/I-85/I-75 route (except through Atlanta - take 285 around the city). It's a much easier route. A bit longer, but no tolls, less traffic and much nicer scenery. I did the drive two summers ago by myself, and stopped in Beech Mountain, NC for a few days - a bit off the beaten path but well worth it to stay with family - and the drive was great. I did it in only two legs, but you might want to take three days to get here.
WOW!! you guys are scaring me a little. lol 30 HOURS!!! I was thinking more like 22 or so??
Maybe I will rethink the stopping a little longer. Renting a minivan and is sooooo expensive. So every day thats added on is more money. Its just a little harder when you have to be there a specific time.
Any idea's of what time to leave?? So I would avoid alot of the traffic. Just remember we are leaving on July 4th!!
WOW!! you guys are scaring me a little. lol 30 HOURS!!! I was thinking more like 22 or so??
Maybe I will rethink the stopping a little longer. Renting a minivan and is sooooo expensive. So every day thats added on is more money. Its just a little harder when you have to be there a specific time.
Any idea's of what time to leave?? So I would avoid alot of the traffic. Just remember we are leaving on July 4th!!
Yep, google maps does say 22 hours and around 1200+ miles, but with construction zones, traffic, potty breaks, gas stops, meal stops, I would not be surprised to see the total to come in at 30 hours. I-95 is a very busy artery and I've been on it on July 4 and it's no different than any other day.
I specialize in motor sports and driver training and have around 900,000 miles of driving non commercial vehicles. Even I can only go to 16-18 hours max before I am asleep at the wheel and probably before that starting to not be as sharp. The longest I have ever gone in one sitting was 1300 miles and it was a dumb thing to do.
Interestingly, I work with 2 retired Georgia troopers sometimes and this was a topic of discussion the other day. There is a stretch of I-95 right before the Florida border that has a high # of fatalities of people, many of whom are northerners on marathon drives because they have to get to Florida at any cost.
Scaring you a little, well I don't think so. I think it's just using some common sense and safety and putting family at risk to save a night in a hotel room doesn't really add up.
Have you ever done a long drive of 1200 miles + with 4 kids all in one sitting before?
No never........You know when we start it will probably not happen that way (as far as driving the whole way at one shot). Any suggestions on where to maybe stop right on the highway somewhere, sleep for a little and get back on the road?? In that case what time of day should we leave??
We are picking up our rental on July 3rd, maybe we should just consider leaving then??
Have you checked into the cost of flying? We've gotten great deals flying on a holiday as opposed to the day before or after. With the cost of the rental minivan, gas, meals, etc, it might be cheaper.
There are lots of rest stops you can pull over into during the day. Maybe because of the budget cuts, we noticed several now had signs that they are closed at 7:00 pm. Others are closed from dusk to dawn.
When we take a road trip we always stop at the state welcome centers and pick up the hotel coupon books. There are some great deals in them, as long as they don't have holiday restrictions.
We left NJ last July 4th at about 9:00 am, and hit no traffic all the way down to NC, where we stopped for the night.
I looked into the price of flying (for six people- about $300pp) but then with a rental car when we get there in all it was too much. Figured this might be cheaper but now Im not so sure.
So you think leaving in the morning would be better?? do you think NC would be a good middle point??
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