Been looking ourselves. Good luck... Especially Christmas time and New Years. Most are full that are worth anything.

 

We are burning our way down and back. Leaving PA 8AM Dec 26, planning to stop at Bass Lake in Dillon SC that night. Next day the remaining 500 miles to Titusville. New years day we point the truck back toward PA. No planned stop, I'm going to drive until I can't anymore then we'll stop. My wife has never been on a road trip of this scale, so we'll see how she does!


Would have loved to been further South or Gulf side, but we wanted direct water access for the kayaks. We tried for Fort Desoto, but were out of the country when the 6 month window opened, and fully booked by the time we got back.


We booked 6 months out, Senix you better get on it quick if you want a spot!

 

We stayed in Titusville KOA for the last shuttle launch. Not a bad KOA. Kind of out of the way but it worked for us. Go do the kennedy space tour.

 

Ferguson - is there any way possible you can extend that trip? Two full days to get there, 3 days there, one of which will be R&R () then back another 1000 or so miles and from S.E. PA, you are probably running one of the USA's longest parking lots, I-95.

I echo the recommendation to see the Space Center as well but it is a full day's tour.

 

You take I 81 then drop down into the Carolinas via I think I77 then to I26 and pick up I95 just north of Savannah.


That is the best route.

 

......unless he doesn't leave from anywhere near I-81 which might have really nasty traffic between I-78 near Harrisburg and the VA border, especially in MD, near Hagerstown and those 'wonderful' shopping malls and idiotic drivers and the day after Xmas sale shoppers. That's the general way I would go though ( I-87 to I-84 and then to I-81, etc) from my area

 

I avoid I95 like the plague..

 

Dave,

I figure we get 4 full days down there. We will get there Sunday afternoon, and then be leaving Friday morning. I'd love to go longer, but the wife would not agree to not being at home for Christmas, and we want a down day at home before we go back to work. I figure we get the difficult sections of 95 done day one and get into SC. It's been a while since I ran all the way down 95, but once in SC I don't really remember any headaches other than maybe Jacksonville.


I'm not against running 81, it's only about 20 minutes from home to get to 78. I'm very familiar with that route, we just came back from Crozet, VA last month, and I've done the drive to Charlotte 3 times for work related training. I usually don't have traffic issues in Harrisburg, normally have issues in Carlisle. When we went to VA we left at 6 AM on a Friday and drove straight through all of it with the cruise set at 65.


The biggest factor is the weather if taking that route. The first time I drove to Charlotte, I got to see what happens on 77 from Fancy Gap to the NC state line in bad weather..............Cars, trucks, smashed and scattered all over the road and in the ditches. If the weather is even questionable I'll deal with 95.

 

Charlotte at rush hour is a bottleneck bear. I don't care how many lanes they have added or continue to add. The rest of that run is not much. Jacksonville bad at rush hour, but otherwise not so much. Never had too much trouble on 77 other than heavily trafficked.


Steve

 

Go for it then -

I know that 500 plus mile days was not much fun on our recent trip. We did, I believe, three days out of 34 like that, all of which were on more sparsely populated areas and higher speed interstates then the Eastern corridor and have to say that I was B-E-A-T to a frazzle - but I'm not a youngun any longer either (except in my mind)

 

I once drove 1,200 miles, alone, straight coming home from Iowa and am not sure how I did it. Now 400 miles is about all I want to do in a day and if it is not necessary, we cover even less than that. I suspect, like others in the forum, it's like "what's the point?). When we covered the big miles, we felt like death-warmed-over for a couple of days afterwards.


Last winter wandering around Florida, we did less than 50 miles one day and under 200 a couple of others and it was grand!


Steve

 

Our usual plan is to drive 3-400 miles hauling the trailer though occasionally it's further --- and as often as not, I (or Mapquest) miscalculated

I do recall way too many marathon drives 'way back when' but as you said - why now days as we are both retired though my wife does work part time for our town.

 

At 31, the luxury of taking my time just isn't there right now, so for the long distance trips it's just gotta be the marathon drive. Though my wife is a teacher so can get away for more time in the summer. But during the school year we are really limited to 4 day weekends, or using the holidays, to get away. Summer is my busy time, but I don't live to work, so if there's something fun to do, I'm gone!

 

I drive about 8 hours and pull it in.


Drove 1700 once. Left here at 9 pm and had dinner in Torrington Wyo the next day.


In......January no less.


Only because I had to.

 

If anyone is coming down I-77 through Charlotte, i would suggest getting off on I-485, inner loop which will go around the city and you will avoid much of the traffic. 485 dumps you back on I-77 south of the city. It's only 3 miles longer, a lot less traffic, and 4 lanes.