Drive from Boston to Ocala

[Jimrob1]

Originally Posted by Lillie767

Take I-90 to I-84. (Sturbridge)
I-84 to I-81 (Scranton)
I-81 to I-77 (Ft. Chiswell, VA)
I-77 to I-26 (Columbia SC)
I-26 to I-95 (near Santee SC)
I-95 to I-10 (Jacksonville FL)
I-10 to US 310 South to Ocala

This indirect routing is only 2 hours longer (21 hrs vs. 19 hrs) than taking I-95 all the way from Boston to Jacksonville FL.

I have driven this route from CT many times. I-81 is beautiful as it goes along the Shenandoah river valley and looks up to the Blue Ridge Mountains. The drive from I-77 from VA down into NC is as stunning and it is very down: use low gear.

I-81 is also a better road bed than I-95, which goes through every major city along the east coast. I-81 generally has fewer trucks than I-95.

Oh, did I mention that I-95 has a gazillion tolls, and not cheap 25 cent tolls - each toll is a few dollars. Really adds up. This alternate has NO Tolls once you cross the Hudson River.

Two hours more and a more picturesque, quieter ride. That's a trade off I have willingly made many times.

This is the route I take but I feel like I am going way out of the way. That and I-81 especially thru Virginia is loaded with trucks and only 2 lanes. I can barely ever see the views, because I'm boxed in by convoys of trucks. It's a winding up and down highway. Still I would take this route over 95 any day.

[Pike320]

Originally Posted by Dd714

There's this thing called Google Maps....
surprised I need to explain it but it will give you quickest route respective of traffic, construction, time of day, and even give alternative routes in terms of accidents, etc....all on the fly. I guess it still cannot consider the "safest" route.

Google maps, Apple Maps, and GPS devices with traffic will all try to route you optimally. What they don’t tell you are things like they are saving you 2 minutes by plunging you into a traffic jam. Around NYC to DC, you have to apply smarts and experience that the automated devices cannot supply.

If you slavishly follow Google Maps around NYC, you are in for some painful experiences.

[luvmyhoss]

Originally Posted by bigbear99

Not nearly all the time, and sometimes the routings are a bit bizarre. It is good for traffic though, and has successfully routed me around problems many a time.

For example, I drive from SW New Hampshire to Boston regularly. Google maps likes to put me through Nashua NH, where I'm forced to run a gauntlet of 18 traffic lights, where most of them seem synchronized to stop me at every one. It's a thoroughly unpleasant experience. The alternative is to go south to MA route 2, a much more pleasant routing that usually takes less time too. Even when I select my preferred route, google maps often tries to guide me back to its preferred route. I ignore those directions, and eventually it settles on the route I like.

Google maps does this to me, too

[luvmyhoss]

Originally Posted by hertfordshire

You're pretty much looking at I-95. The traffic is unavoidable, especially the last week of December. Other routes may have less traffic, but they're so far out of the way that you end up with a longer trip. So you have to decide which is more important: fastest OR least traffic. You can't have both.

My advice would be to try to get from NYC to Richmond, VA during off peak hours. And by off peak, I mean the middle of the night.

I pick least traffic. Night driving isn’t possible

[luvmyhoss]

Thanks everyone for your help!

We are coming back now. Praying to miss all the weather