"For 2,000+ Mile Round-Trip Drivers Only!" (Part V)

[pmdeve]

The exact route you are describing. I take 78-81-77-26-95. I actually stop twice (retired!!!) I wake up and have a 10 minute drive to WDW.

Thank you. This sounds much better. Where do you usually stop?

 

[pwdebbie]

My wife and I are 2 weeks out from our adventure! We are traveling with our 2 dogs and are currently planning to do the bulk of the driving during the overnight hours (assuming our airbnb comes through with the early check-in lol)

Last time we did the majority of the trip on 95-S and encountered awful traffic making it a 20 hour trip.

This time around we're doing the famed 81-77-26-95 route and are hoping for much less than that.

2032 miles round trip! Can't wait!

Great route! You might even get to see some fall colors. I live off of 81 near Chambersburg, PA, and we have a little bit of color now. In two weeks it should be better.

We stay in Orangeburg on the way down and Statesville on the way home. The goal each way is to get beyond Charlotte before stopping for the night. Stay at one of the chains. We tried a mom-and-pop hotel in Orangeburg and it was terrible.

 

[deedeew80]

Is that “inland” route too far west for me over in south Jersey? We always take 95 and hate it, but we don’t know any other way to go. We are literally almost right next to 95. It takes us about 25 minutes down 295 south to get to the Delaware Memorial Bridge, which is when we hop on 95. Technically we could cross over the Walt Whitman or Ben Franklin Bridge to get onto 95 sooner, but we like to avoid the Philadelphia traffic.

 

[Mikey15]

Is that “inland” route too far west for me over in south Jersey? We always take 95 and hate it, but we don’t know any other way to go. We are literally almost right next to 95. It takes us about 25 minutes down 295 south to get to the Delaware Memorial Bridge, which is when we hop on 95. Technically we could cross over the Walt Whitman or Ben Franklin Bridge to get onto 95 sooner, but we like to avoid the Philadelphia traffic.

You could probably almost make a case for a coastal DelMarVa drive and then cut back over from Virginia Beach.
Or if you’re fairly close to 76 (Turnpike) you could head west on that and it’d take you over to 81.

I don’t know which of those three options (including 95) is quickest, but either one of the detours helps you dodge DC and Richmond. Unfortunately I think you would be too far south to want to head up to 78->81 and dodge tolls completely.

 

[dvczerfs]

Is that “inland” route too far west for me over in south Jersey? We always take 95 and hate it, but we don’t know any other way to go. We are literally almost right next to 95. It takes us about 25 minutes down 295 south to get to the Delaware Memorial Bridge, which is when we hop on 95. Technically we could cross over the Walt Whitman or Ben Franklin Bridge to get onto 95 sooner, but we like to avoid the Philadelphia traffic.

We took the inland route for years. We lived five minutes from I78 on the Pa,, Nj state line. We took I95 a few times but for me to drive to Philly in all that mess, to fight my way down I95 which, people say straight down 95, it’s not straight, it’s a huge westerly arch. But for you to drive to i81, you would lose any time you would have saved. I still have my chart I use to follow. Lol. I’ll take a picture of it and post it. The times included rest and gas stops. The last few years i would outrun the chart. Lol.

 

[dvczerfs]

Here ya go. Again we lived five minutes from I78 in Pa near the Nj state line. We would leave 3am, got me into the mountains of Virginia before rush hour. We would stop at the Florida welcome center for a four, five hour nap and drive the rest of it at 4am, missing Jacksonville traffic on I95. We moved here almost three years so we haven’t driven it in three years.
Hope this helps!
( we have a minivan, i would fold all the seats down, i built a divider that would go in the back and from the back door to the divider would hold our luggage etc. The other side of the divider to the front seats I had 16 inches of memory foam on the floor which made for a real nice bed. Had cut outs to block out the windows, turn the tv on, had the AC running, we also had a CO2 detector, and we would take a nice snooze in the van in the Florida welcome center. For years we would rent a hotel, I would sleep for three hours and sit there watching my wife sleep. Lol. So we traded the Mercedes in on a Chrysler Town and Country touring, had more in it than the Mercedes. Lol. )

 

[justreading]

Thank you. This sounds much better. Where do you usually stop?

I pretty much stick to Hampton Inns along the way. Elkin/Jonesville, NC, Walterboro, SC, Palm Coast, FL, are a few of the ones I could recommend. My last night on the road I book a room in the Flamingo Crossings area in Fla. It's a quick 15 minutes to WDW hotels from there. I don't want to pay WDW prices and arrive late in the day, but that's just me. Going home, I go 95 north all the way. I just make sure I am not in the DC area until 10am, no earlier. When I do that, I seem to sail thru the area.
I learned everything I know from the lovely peeps who responded to you last night! I use @dvczerfs chart for all my trips! I don't think he warned you about Fancy Gap. I try NOT to be in the left lane as you round that area on 77 in VA!

 

[Stratman50th]

I'm going to throw this out as a suggestion. As I've said before, we lived in MD just south of the PA line and 15 or so miles west of Baltimore. I can say that I'm pretty sure I hate DC traffic worse than any of you as I had to commute in it! As a result we avoided that stretch of 95/495 through VA to Richmond as if it was covered in nuclear waste. The route we took did have some slowdowns but nothing like 95/495. Anyhow, here goes. If you're coming from the nort on 95, get on 70 west out of Baltimore. Take 100 south and watch your Google maps for traffic. You have two choices. 100 to 97 towards Annapolis, then 50 west to 301, then 301 south.
Second option is from 100, get on 95 south, then the beltway to Rt 5 (Branch Ave) south.
I can't stress enough to watch your current traffic before you make the call on your route.
Both 301 south an Rt 5 south Y merge into 301s north of Waldorf MD. Traffic is always crap through Waldorf and you need to try and hit it when it's not rush hour. The next traffic slowdown is through LaPlata MD. Not a big town but still a few lights and traffic merging on/off 301. After that is a clear sail down to the Potomac and the Harry Nice toll bridge. I think the toll is a couple bucks for cars. So, how much do I hate 95s? Our rv, pulling the car has 5 axles. That's $36 to cross the bridge. A toll I gladly pay. From there it's a really nice country drive through VA hills. Take 207 where it splits from 301. It's a bypass and you don't have to do anything, just keep going straight. This will take you to Ruther Glen and the intersection to 95 south of all the DC garbage.
Ruther Glen has a bunch of fast food and a couple of sit down restaurants. Also a lot of gas stations and a couple truck stops. Always filled up there because the gas prices were lowest.

 

[dvczerfs]

I'm going to throw this out as a suggestion. As I've said before, we lived in MD just south of the PA line and 15 or so miles west of Baltimore. I can say that I'm pretty sure I hate DC traffic worse than any of you as I had to commute in it! As a result we avoided that stretch of 95/495 through VA to Richmond as if it was covered in nuclear waste. The route we took did have some slowdowns but nothing like 95/495. Anyhow, here goes. If you're coming from the nort on 95, get on 70 west out of Baltimore. Take 100 south and watch your Google maps for traffic. You have two choices. 100 to 97 towards Annapolis, then 50 west to 301, then 301 south.
Second option is from 100, get on 95 south, then the beltway to Rt 5 (Branch Ave) south.
I can't stress enough to watch your current traffic before you make the call on your route.
Both 301 south an Rt 5 south Y merge into 301s north of Waldorf MD. Traffic is always crap through Waldorf and you need to try and hit it when it's not rush hour. The next traffic slowdown is through LaPlata MD. Not a big town but still a few lights and traffic merging on/off 301. After that is a clear sail down to the Potomac and the Harry Nice toll bridge. I think the toll is a couple bucks for cars. So, how much do I hate 95s? Our rv, pulling the car has 5 axles. That's $36 to cross the bridge. A toll I gladly pay. From there it's a really nice country drive through VA hills. Take 207 where it splits from 301. It's a bypass and you don't have to do anything, just keep going straight. This will take you to Ruther Glen and the intersection to 95 south of all the DC garbage.
Ruther Glen has a bunch of fast food and a couple of sit down restaurants. Also a lot of gas stations and a couple truck stops. Always filled up there because the gas prices were lowest.
View attachment 794842

I remember when I was a kid, mid 70’s, my dad would take 301 heading to Florida. He would go a different way each time. Lol.
I still remember somewhere in the Carolinas you had to get off I95, travel a “back road” and then back on I95 because I95 wasn’t finished yet.
I81 through the mountains of Virginia had big signs, no services for “x” amount of miles, you were out in the middle of nowhere and there were no gas stations or places to eat. Lol.
I really enjoyed my life on the road. Now that I’m retired, I can’t stand driving to Sanford airport anymore. Lol

 

[MikeF;NJ]

I remember when I was a kid, mid 70’s, my dad would take 301 heading to Florida. He would go a different way each time. Lol.
I still remember somewhere in the Carolinas you had to get off I95, travel a “back road” and then back on I95 because I95 wasn’t finished yet.
I81 through the mountains of Virginia had big signs, no services for “x” amount of miles, you were out in the middle of nowhere and there were no gas stations or places to eat. Lol.
I really enjoyed my life on the road. Now that I’m retired, I can’t stand driving to Sanford airport anymore. Lol

I remember that, too. Twice in NC, I think, Fayetville and Rocky Mount. Maybe once in SC, too. IIRC, the "back road" was actually signed US 301.

 

[Stratman50th]

I remember that, too. Twice in NC, I think, Fayetville and Rocky Mount. Maybe once in SC, too. IIRC, the "back road" was actually signed US 301.

I don't remember what the road was, but I remember in 1968 we were pulled off the side of the road and watched one of the Apollo Saturn 5 launch. I can't believe it was 95, probably Rt 1.

 

[dvczerfs]

I remember that, too. Twice in NC, I think, Fayetville and Rocky Mount. Maybe once in SC, too. IIRC, the "back road" was actually signed US 301.

The 76 truck stops and the Howard Johnson’s. The rest plazas.
Load up the ole Plymouth Fury 3. Lol. My dad would have the A/C cranked all the way down, The rest of us were wrapped up in blankets. Lol
First car he ever owned with A/C and he never shut it off. Lol
That car passed everything but a gas station. Lol
We lived in Pa and we didn’t have self service gas pumps. It was a treat for us when my dad let us pump the gas. Lol.
Lay across the back seat, it was like a bed. No seat belts. Lol
I remember stopping in Virginia at Whites Truck Stop. We loved it, my mom would stay in the car. Lol
Man, I would give anything to go back to those days again.

 

[kittylady1972]

I'm going to throw this out as a suggestion. As I've said before, we lived in MD just south of the PA line and 15 or so miles west of Baltimore. I can say that I'm pretty sure I hate DC traffic worse than any of you as I had to commute in it! As a result we avoided that stretch of 95/495 through VA to Richmond as if it was covered in nuclear waste. The route we took did have some slowdowns but nothing like 95/495. Anyhow, here goes. If you're coming from the nort on 95, get on 70 west out of Baltimore. Take 100 south and watch your Google maps for traffic. You have two choices. 100 to 97 towards Annapolis, then 50 west to 301, then 301 south.
Second option is from 100, get on 95 south, then the beltway to Rt 5 (Branch Ave) south.
I can't stress enough to watch your current traffic before you make the call on your route.
Both 301 south an Rt 5 south Y merge into 301s north of Waldorf MD. Traffic is always crap through Waldorf and you need to try and hit it when it's not rush hour. The next traffic slowdown is through LaPlata MD. Not a big town but still a few lights and traffic merging on/off 301. After that is a clear sail down to the Potomac and the Harry Nice toll bridge. I think the toll is a couple bucks for cars. So, how much do I hate 95s? Our rv, pulling the car has 5 axles. That's $36 to cross the bridge. A toll I gladly pay. From there it's a really nice country drive through VA hills. Take 207 where it splits from 301. It's a bypass and you don't have to do anything, just keep going straight. This will take you to Ruther Glen and the intersection to 95 south of all the DC garbage.
Ruther Glen has a bunch of fast food and a couple of sit down restaurants. Also a lot of gas stations and a couple truck stops. Always filled up there because the gas prices were lowest.
View attachment 794842

THIS is the way! I used to live in Waldorf, so I have the added bonus of being familiar with some of the other back roads that you can take to escape the millions of Waldorf and LaPlata lights and traffic. Sometimes I do that, sometimes I don't, but either way the route down 3/301 and through Waldorf/LaPlata and across the Nice bridge is the one we use most of the time heading south. I have family in NC and SC and this is the way we go from our home just south of Baltimore (and right off 97). We also take 295 South instead of 95S towards Richmond, as I prefer that to going through Richmond.

Coming back home North, the easiest way to remember how to make the same trip back is to look for the big Kings Dominion park sign on 95 North on the right hand side, right around exit 98, and the very next exit is the one you'll take to make the same trip North. Just stay to the right on the exit ramp and ignore the GPS that may try to re-route you back to 95 a million times!

 

[thegame310]

9 days out from our trip! I'm almost as excited for the drive as I am the time in Disney.

 

[Stratman50th]

@kittylady1972
I used to live in Waldorf too and that's how we started using this route. When we moved north to Sykesville it was still the best way.
I left out Kings Dominion, which you're correct in saying it's a good landmark north and south. Just figured it wouldn't mean anything to some people.
Lastly, 295 was better than 95 around Richmond but the road was like a washboard. It felt like we were going to tear the RV apart using that route. Weird because it was a "relatively" newish road.
Anyway, moving to Florida shortened the route considerably.

 

[Sunelis]

Anyway, moving to Florida shortened the route considerably.

I wish I could move to Fla. Being from Canada makes it kind of difficult. Guess I'll have to settle with being a snowbird when I retire. (Still too far away... lol)

 

[thegame310]

Just wanted to follow up! We left the Harrisburg area of PA at 8:00 PM last night and took 81-77-26-95 and pulled into our Airbnb at 11:30 AM this morning. So, 15 1/2 hours? Not too shabby.

 

[dvczerfs]

Just wanted to follow up! We left the Harrisburg area of PA at 8:00 PM last night and took 81-77-26-95 and pulled into our Airbnb at 11:30 AM this morning. So, 15 1/2 hours? Not too shabby.

Pretty good timing. We were originally from Nazareth, would take me a good hour to get to Harrisburg. That was always the worse part of the trip, getting to the Virginia state line. That’s why we would leave 2-3 am, to miss all that mess.
Have a nice vacation!

 

[toolmanjan]

Taking I95 is all about timing. When I have a co-driver we leave home (Toms River) by 9:30pm. We'll be passed the SC state line at sun up. We miss the Jacksonville rush hour. Pulling into WDW around noon.

When I'm driving alone I catch the first Cape May Ferry (7am) Then Rt13, Bridge tunnel and get on I95 in Emporia Va..
I stop for the night in Yulee Fl. 4 hours from WDW.

 

[dvczerfs]

Well, after four days, today I get to start my drive to WDW ! I’ll be leaving around two pm, make the seven mile journey to I4. Hopefully I don’t hit to much traffic. If all goes well it will be exit 62, should run smooth but if it gets slow, jumping off at exit 60, fl429. and come in the back way. Looking forward to driving under that big welcome to WDW sign again!!!
( I know, I just miss making my trip posts here on this thread and the fun I had planning them for so many years. )