Driving NY to Venice, Good Town to Stop Halfway? (Tampa: where to stay, relocation company)

[jean-ji]

Looking at a map and Google maps, Florence, SC on I95 is more than halfway for us to stop overnight. Rocky Mount, NC seemed not quite far enough. We will probably be fresher and able to drive longer the first day, so are opting for the longer first day.
We've only flown and never driven to FL so we are open to opinions.
Does anyone here do a similar drive and where do you stop?

[Avalon08]

Originally Posted by jean-ji

Looking at a map and Google maps, Florence, SC on I95 is more than halfway for us to stop overnight. Rocky Mount, NC seemed not quite far enough. We will probably be fresher and able to drive longer the first day, so are opting for the longer first day.
We've only flown and never driven to FL so we are open to opinions.
Does anyone here do a similar drive and where do you stop?

Some of those exits off 95 are in kind of remote areas with not many restaurants around, so be careful. I stayed over in a Hampton Inn on one of the smaller exits, figuring they're always nice, right? No, this was not like any other Hampton I'd ever been in. It was a converted motel with an outside entrance that I was NOT happy about (security-wise). There wasn't much around in the way of food, either -- not even fast-food restaurants.

I usually stay at one of the hotels on the Fayetteville exit (I forget the number....maybe 49?). There are tons of hotels and restaurants at that exit. Last time I drove down, I pushed myself to go further and stopped at the Savannah exit, where there are also lots of nice hotels and restaurants. That might be too much for you guys, coming from NY, though....it was a long drive for me, coming from Philly. So it seems like Fayetteville is too close but Savannah is too far, but I don't like staying at any of the exits in between.

[NYtoOsprey]

i've stayed in Fayetteville also. That was coming from Long Island to Tampa and Sarasota. I found the whole general area in the half-way zone to be pretty sketchy but we've never had a problem.

[jean-ji]

Thanks for the info, I'll look to see what's in the immediate area, as far as restaurants. I hadn't thought about what is in the area of the room. We are traveling with pets, so I'm adding in extra time with the estimates. I'll may rethink how soon we want to stop. We are using Marriott Rewards, so need to keep with their line of motels.

UPack delivered our container at 7am this morning as promised, which was nice. Now to start loading it up with the essentials and then non essentials, if there is room, which it looks like there will be. It's been hard to decide what goes and stays, since we will be living in both places.

A friend of ours who works with a relocation company, told us a PODS unit would be too big for our needs and recommended the UPack one. I was worried about the size difference, but it looks like she knows her line of work well. It takes 4 working days for the container to arrive in FL and we call them to bring it to us from the distribution center in Bradenton. It should be there on Monday and we can track it online too. Our son, daughter-in-law and grandkids live 1.5 miles away, so we have them as back up if there are delays.

Okay, back to my lists and phone calls. The countdown is on!

[NYtoOsprey]

we stayed in a Holiday Inn with our dog somewhere in that half-way area. It was OK for the 1 night. There weren't alot of choices of where to stay with pets.

[Avalon08]

That's where I stayed too -- Holiday Inn off the I-95 exit in Fayetteville -- they accept pets and I found the hotel very nice; also loved the fact that it has a restaurant with room service. (But get there before 10 PM.) When I drove to Savannah, I stayed at the Wingate and, other than a reservation snafu, the hotel was actually very beautiful and the rate was reasonable.

[LandsharkJB]

Its funny the OP mentioned Florence, I'm making the drive for the first time in October and found that city too just by searching google maps. Seems like there's a decent selection of hotels, and the "Magnolia Mall" is right down the road and looks like a decent place to stretch the legs.

[jean-ji]

We've decided to stay overnight in Florence for the trip. Now the actual route is the focus. Do we want to leave at 3am and get by DC using I95 or get up later and going 81/77 to avoid DC? We were stuck in DC weekend traffic coming back from Palm Isle, SC two years ago and don't want to repeat that again. We foolishly thought there wouldn't be much traffic since it was the weekend.

[DanBev]

We just returned to FL from CT,I said I wouldn't drive DC but did,nightmare,took 5 hours from Baltimore to Richmond.
Our normal route is I 84 to 684 287/87 to 78- I 81 to Staunton I 64 to 278 Richmond onto 95 south.This was not a bad drive,adds a hundred miles.
The toll lanes favor EZ Pass and you have to be careful approaching cash lanes,not many.

[MissLizzie85]

jean-ji- When I've made the drive, I've left a little bit later (usually leaving New York at the end of rush hour) to avoid hitting rush hour traffic between Delaware and DC. Leaving a little later also lets you get past the rush hour traffic in Richmond, which is an absolute nightmare.