NE to SW Florida drive (Jacksonville, Hudson: prices, garden, move)

[snoop424]

Trust me.... I love the train, I paid 875.00 for two of us and our truck. The truck was full with stuff did not have to go through check points or pay for luggage. Got to have a couple of drinks after dinner and slept until 6:30 PM. Got up, had breakfast and disembarked got my truck. No traffic, no headaches and no tolls. I recommend it to anyone.

[RoadVettes]

Only problem with the train is that you still have to drive the worst part of the trip...Northeast to VA.
Avoid D.C. area between 3-7pm at all cost!

[Cuzzant]

Originally Posted by RoadVettes

Only problem with the train is that you still have to drive the worst part of the trip...Northeast to VA.
Avoid D.C. area between 3-7pm at all cost!

Train leaves around 4 pm, and you must check in before 3pm. Some people drive to Lorton and stay overnight to avoid traffic, bad weather, etc. It does add to the total cost, but may be worth it to some.

[Z8002a]

Everyone is spot on about avoiding DC rush hour traffic which means you want to sneak through 10AM to 2 PM. Baltimore can also be trying.

If you have a smart phone I'd suggest installing & using a GPS/crowd sourcing app called "Waze". Waze is a good GPS but it is coupled to all the other active users and provides real time feedback on current driving speeds as well as indicating locations of police, accidents and slowdowns. (and it is free!)

If you have an Easy Pass you can pay to drive on some of the restricted access roads in Baltimore & DC, which can improve you experience for a few dollars. (you can pick up a toll road as you enter VA from either the eastern or western branch of 495 outer loop and stay on that until south of Woodbridge)

DC news radio station WTOP (107.7 & 103.5 on FM dial) provides traffic updates every 10 minutes.

Richmond will have some construction slowdowns (bridge repairs north of town) but generally these are worse at night. I find it is usually faster to say on 95 vs taking 295 around Richmond especially if it is not rush hour.

Best of luck!

Calvin

[hunterseat]

If you're hitting Delaware anyway, why not take 13 down through DelMarVa? Don't get shocked by the price of crossing the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel but if you've never done it, it's worth the adventure. It's an easy drive and has nice scenery. Beats DC.

[Cynthia130]

I took the train down in July. We left NJ at 830 and got to the train at 1pm. Would do it again for sure. I was very happy with the train ! Except for the family talking at 1am about all their family drama!!

[03bluecoupe]

We recently made 3 trips from the Hudson Valley to Rotonda West. Took 81 to 77 to 26. Then down 95 to 10 and 301 over to 75 the rest of the way. Bypassed NYC, NJ, Baltimore, and DC. Added about an hour and a half to the trip but do me it was worth it to avoid the aggravation. Still hit delays on 26 but overall not too bad.

[jean_ji]

We take the 81 route down and find it isn't that much more time when factoring in stops. Besides the congestion on 95, you can kiss a a bigger chunk of time away if you have to use any of the rest stops anywhere near the metro areas. There are no quick in and outs.

[Lizbethnewbe]

I also live in northern Bergen County and have traveled to Sarasota by car twice on the past year. We have found that the heaviest traffic is in the Baltimore /DC area so getting through there before 10 on a weekend is ideal. Never travel during the week as traffic can start before 6 am in this area. We generally leave as early as possible,6 am at the latest, and have managed to avoid most traffic. Be careful in the DC area for alternate routes around the city. It's easy to get on the wrong loop.

There are traffic problems elsewhere along the route, but this is the worst. We don't like driving at night but try to make the longest leg the first day so you can arrive early on the next day.

Good luck!

[pltrgyst]

Originally Posted by Nancy in Nokomis

Whatever you do - DO NOT BE IN THE DC AREA AT RUSH HOUR - which starts at 2 PM and ends around 7 PM - you will be sorry!

Make that 3:30 to 7pm. And it's bad in the morning until 9 am.

-- Larry (30-year DC beltway veteran)