Realistic commute time from front royal to falls church early am??

[themommy]

Will your wife be working three consecutive days each week? If so, would she consider staying in a hotel for those two overnights each week, thus doing the whole round-trip drive only once a week? Seems like that would be much better for her mental health.

[6.7traveler]

She will be working at inova fairfax hospital. When you say it becomes hov only at 630 what does that mean. We are both clueless about commuting as we have never lived in a metropolitan area before. We might be stuck in stafford however because the campground in front royal only has 30 amp hookups and ours is 50 amp. What would be the best options from Stafford?

[michgc]

Originally Posted by 6.7traveler

She will be working at inova fairfax hospital. When you say it becomes hov only at 630 what does that mean. We are both clueless about commuting as we have never lived in a metropolitan area before. We might be stuck in stafford however because the campground in front royal only has 30 amp hookups and ours is 50 amp. What would be the best options from Stafford?

Inova Fairfax is outside the beltway so you don't really have to worry about the "HOV only" at 6:30 AM inside the Beltway. Basically, it means High Occupancy Vehicles (at least two people in the car) are the only cars allowed inside the Beltway on I-66 heading toward the city from 6:30 AM until 9:00 AM.

The HOV at 5:30 AM outside the beltway is for one dedicated lane only. In other words, there are 3 lanes that are for solo drivers (or more), while the 4th lane is dedicated to only drivers who have two or more people in the car. The HOV lane is designated by a diamond and it will say "HOV Only from 6:30 AM until 9:30 AM" or something similar. Your wife would just need to know not to drive in that lane when she is by herself. The same thing is true heading out of the city in the afternoon.

From Stafford, there is a whole middle section of I-95 that is dedicated to HOV drivers (It's HOV-3 which means there must be 3 people in the car). The lanes are in the middle and change direction from morning rush hour to evening rush hour. Again, your wife would have to know not drive in those lanes.

Clear as mud?

ETA: If you've never lived in a metropolitan city before, you've picked a doozie one to learn the ropes!

[michgc]

Hmm...I was just thinking about campgrounds. Have you looked into Lake Fairfax or Burke Lake? They are county campgrounds and the maximum time at them is 28 days after Labor Day. I'm not sure if they could accompany your size RV, but it looks like they have 50 AMPs. I imagine you could go to one, go to the other and then go back to the first one. You would be much, much closer to Inova Fairfax from either of these campgrounds. Here is the link:

Camp Grounds*- Fairfax County, Virginia

Another consortium of parks is the Northern Virginia Park Authority. They have two campgrounds that would be closer to Inova Fairfax - Bull Run or Pohick Bay. Again, I'm not sure if it would cover your size RV, but it's worth a look.

Reservations

[6.7traveler]

Michgc thank you so much i called pohick bay and will be staying there for two weeks and then moving over to bull run for 2 weeks . I can not thank you enough for those recommendations because before that we were going to stay in stafford. What should i expect for a commute from either one of those places? It looks alot closer than either stafford or front royal

[michgc]

Originally Posted by 6.7traveler

Michgc thank you so much i called pohick bay and will be staying there for two weeks and then moving over to bull run for 2 weeks . I can not thank you enough for those recommendations because before that we were going to stay in stafford. What should i expect for a commute from either one of those places? It looks alot closer than either stafford or front royal

Oh, good! I'm so glad I could help you. We have a pop-up camper, and I was a Girl Scout leader, so we have camped at each of those places. I don't know why I didn't think of them earlier when you asked.

I don't know about rush hour commuting time as I've never done either of those routes. I actually lived fairly close to Fairfax Hospital (we've since moved away). I would probably allow an hour from either place, although other people who live near those parks could probably chime in with better estimates.

Yes, both parks are much better commutes than either Stafford or Front Royal. When you get to NoVA and see how crazy traffic is, you'll realize why people pay a premium to live close to their jobs. Good luck!