News:

Thank you for your patience during the Forum downtime while we upgraded the software. Welcome back and see this thread for some new features and other changes to the forum.

Main Menu

Hi y'all..trip routing from.....

Started by jetdoc3037, August 09, 2015, 11:42:00 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

jetdoc3037

We are going from Central Md to Orlando, then to SW Florida and leaving Monday morning.

We've done the typical 95S all the way route numerous times, however as we now live in central Md good maps also gave a routing for using 81 to 77...its about a 1/2 longer or so according to google, (yea I know), however time isn't too important as I am retired now.

What do you guys think?

Thanks.


jeffandnicole

Welcome to the group!

As long as you know about the typical heavy truck traffic on 81, it's not a bad route. At least the scenery is different from seeing the same thing on 95 all the time!

1995hoo

I'd allow more than an extra half-hour, especially if you're driving south on a weekday due to the risk of hitting rush hour in Charlotte. I assume you're thinking I-81 to I-77, south to Columbia, then I-26 to I-95? I've used all those roads but never all on the same trip. I've used I-81 to I-77 on football trips to Charlotte, and I've used I-77 to I-26 or I-20 on trips to Florida (I-26 when we were headed to Viera, I-20 when we were headed to Venice so I turned west towards Augusta). The biggest nuisance, in my opinion, is I-81 in Virginia due to the combination of heavy truck traffic and car drivers who can't seem to behave intelligently when there's a lot of truck traffic. It's kind of a given that you'll get stuck behind people slowly passing trucks, or trucks passing each other, several times on I-81. You just have to be prepared for it to happen and try not to get too annoyed–which, frankly, is part of why I don't often go that way, because I do get annoyed at people who don't accelerate to pass or move back over after they finish passing.

I-77 south of Charlotte is wide-open, an easy drive with little traffic. I hesitate to comment too much on the part from I-81 to Charlotte because both times I've used that road, I've run into problems due to big accidents somewhere ahead, so I didn't get the most realistic picture of it. I have no reason to doubt it'd be fine if there were no wrecks, though, and the drive over Fancy Gap is a nice trip.

If time isn't important and you want something scenic, I like US-29 south through Virginia to Greensboro. It's not as fast as the Interstates, but there is also a lot less traffic so it's a more relaxed drive. Coming from central Maryland you could go over the bridge at Point of Rocks, then down US-15 to connect to Route 29 near Haymarket. The only spot where traffic is much of an issue going this way is the Charlottesville area, and there it's due primarily to traffic lights and a bit of roadwork just north of the bypass. Once you're south of Charlottesville, the road is wide-open. When you get to Greensboro, you can drop down I-85 to connect to I-77, or you could go down I-73 to Rockingham. From there you either go east on I-/US-74 to I-95 or you go south on US-1 and US-52 to connect to I-95 in Florence. The latter is not a bad drive but has some slow stretches through some towns, most notably Cheraw with its 25-mph zones. My wife found it to be a slightly depressing segment due to passing some poor areas, though it was also interesting to pass some cotton fields.

I keep working on a route to Florida's east coast for the southern half of the trip to avoid I-95 due to boredom after driving it too many times, but I haven't settled on one yet. I-95 in Georgia is, of course, a pretty good road, so I think that's part of the reason–even if I'm bored with it, I kind of assume any other route will take considerably longer at a point where I just want to get to our destination. (Example: I've thought about going over to I-75 south to the Turnpike, then over to the Bee Line. But it seems too far out of the way. I might try it sometime anyway because after this Christmas, when we will drive from the Auto Train terminal in Sanford south to our relatives' house in Pembroke Pines, that northwestern stretch of the Turnpike will be all I'll need for a mainline clinch.)
"You know, you never have a guaranteed spot until you have a spot guaranteed."
—Olaf Kolzig, as quoted in the Washington Times on March 28, 2003,
commenting on the Capitals clinching a playoff spot.

"That sounded stupid, didn't it?"
—Kolzig, to the same reporter a few seconds later.

iBallasticwolf2

If your trying to get to "SW Florida" from Orlando the most direct route is I-4 to I-75. If you want to see Tampa and St. Petersburg and you time it well enough to avoid peak hours take I-4 to I-275 to I-75. If you want to avoid the whole Tampa Metro you could take I-4 to US 27 to US 17 to I-75 and avoid Lakeland and Tampa. As far as I can tell that route is much less developed than I-75 resulting in lower traffic counts.
Only two things are infinite in this world, stupidity, and I-75 construction

jetdoc3037

thanks for the great replies....1995hoo, I didn't post about 29 as I wasn't sure if there were tons of lights going that way. I had checked it out and it seems an option. Yes time isn't of a big concern....We planned to leave in the am tomorrow then drive like 10 hrs and find a hotel to stay the night, (kids and I'm not as good at driving all night as I used to be, hhaah)....then blast out in the morning to Orlando.

Not sure if 29 adds a lot of time on it though, I was interested in that option I must say.

thanks for all the advise and tips, will be printing them up.

1995hoo

I'd estimate Route 29 theoretically adds an hour over going straight down I-95, but of course that's subject to I-95 traffic or wrecks or whatever.

Regarding timing.....we live about a mile and a half south of Exit 173 on the Virginia Beltway. The exit for Jacksonville Airport in Florida is about 690 miles from our house via the straight I-95 route (except I use I-295 around Richmond and Petersburg). Counting stops, we've made that drive in 11 hours with 10 hours of actual driving time. From there it's about three hours to Orlando if you go down I-95 to I-4.

If I take Route 29 instead, we cannot make it as far as that exit before stopping for the night, and instead we stop about 100 to 110 miles north of there in the Savannah area (Exit 104, where the airport is, has lots of places).

As I said, Route 29 has very little traffic once you're beyond Charlottesville. The potential downside of that is that there's not a lot of traffic to attract the cops' attention, so you have to watch your speed. The speed limit is generally 60 mph. There are 65-mph segments on most of the bypasses (except Charlottesville's, which is 55) and a 70-mph segment on the new bypass east of Lynchburg. You have to keep it to 65 in the 60-mph zones most of the time because there's just not enough traffic going faster to attract the cops' attention. I assume you know this, but just in case you don't, remember that in Virginia going 20 mph over the speed limit, or over 80 mph regardless of the posted speed limit, is grounds for a reckless driving ticket.

The Virginia welcome center off US-29/58 near Danville is a nice one and a decent place for a pit stop, BTW. It's accessible from both directions and I like it better than North Carolina's welcome center nearby.

The conundrum is how to go once you're beyond Greensboro. I'd probably look at the time and the distance to Charlotte and if it looked like I'd hit that area during rush hour, I wouldn't go down I-85.

Regarding finding a place to stay, there's an iPhone/iPad app called iExit that is useful if you can have your spouse or other front-seat passenger operate it. It shows you what's available at a given exit in terms of lodging, food, gas, etc., and it will dial the places for you, say if you see a hotel that interests you and you want to call for a reservation. I do not know whether it is available for Android because my wife and I do not have any Android devices.

BTW.....depending on where in Maryland you're starting, there may be better routes than the bridge at Point of Rocks. Route 15 from Frederick south to Haymarket is a decent enough road, but it can sometimes feel like a longish way even though it isn't really. If your point of origin is closer to Hagerstown, it might make more sense to take a route like I-81 to I-66, then US-17 to Warrenton. US-522 from Front Royal to Culpeper is another possibility, but it's slower and I feel like the segment between Sperryville and Culpeper can feel like it takes a while. I mention this simply because when you're going to be on the road for 10 to 11 hours, I think sometimes starting out on the two-lane roads makes the day seem longer.
"You know, you never have a guaranteed spot until you have a spot guaranteed."
—Olaf Kolzig, as quoted in the Washington Times on March 28, 2003,
commenting on the Capitals clinching a playoff spot.

"That sounded stupid, didn't it?"
—Kolzig, to the same reporter a few seconds later.

jetdoc3037

Thanks for the detailed information 1995hoo....I had a whole thing typed out and it just, poof, done went and left my screen, jeez....will try again, lol.

I think we will just do 29 then, as time isn't so important, a relaxed drive is...a few years ago straight to the keys was not a prob but I've had a few things creep up and can't do that anylonger, not to mention I am retired, so what the hey.

I live in New Windsor, near Westminster, prob about 25 mins east of Frederick via route 70.

Will keep an eye out on the coppers, I generally do not blast that fast anyways. We actually intended to go from her to the Savannah area to stop for the night, so that's perfect. It is supposedly about 10 hrs or so...then from Savannah to MCO is about 3 or so? So that will get us to Disney about when we planned. Thanks for the exit tip, for hotels in Savannah, exit 104.

So to get to 29 I guess I will follow my GPS then as I am not sure about Point of rocks and such.

Again, thanks for the info.

1995hoo

NO, from Savannah to Orlando is more like 4.5 to 5 hours. The three-hour figure is from the Jacksonville Airport exit to Orlando. Savannah is close to 100 miles north of there. So I'm estimating when I add an hour and a half to the total.
"You know, you never have a guaranteed spot until you have a spot guaranteed."
—Olaf Kolzig, as quoted in the Washington Times on March 28, 2003,
commenting on the Capitals clinching a playoff spot.

"That sounded stupid, didn't it?"
—Kolzig, to the same reporter a few seconds later.

noelbotevera

Quote from: jetdoc3037 on August 09, 2015, 07:36:28 PM
Thanks for the detailed information 1995hoo....I had a whole thing typed out and it just, poof, done went and left my screen, jeez....will try again, lol.

I think we will just do 29 then, as time isn't so important, a relaxed drive is...a few years ago straight to the keys was not a prob but I've had a few things creep up and can't do that anylonger, not to mention I am retired, so what the hey.

I live in New Windsor, near Westminster, prob about 25 mins east of Frederick via route 70.

Will keep an eye out on the coppers, I generally do not blast that fast anyways. We actually intended to go from her to the Savannah area to stop for the night, so that's perfect. It is supposedly about 10 hrs or so...then from Savannah to MCO is about 3 or so? So that will get us to Disney about when we planned. Thanks for the exit tip, for hotels in Savannah, exit 104.

So to get to 29 I guess I will follow my GPS then as I am not sure about Point of rocks and such.

Again, thanks for the info.
Don't even THINK about following GPS. Just try out some new routings if you really want to. GPS is pretty darn unreliable. use paper maps instead.

iBallasticwolf2

Quote from: noelbotevera on August 09, 2015, 09:23:32 PM
Quote from: jetdoc3037 on August 09, 2015, 07:36:28 PM
Thanks for the detailed information 1995hoo....I had a whole thing typed out and it just, poof, done went and left my screen, jeez....will try again, lol.

I think we will just do 29 then, as time isn't so important, a relaxed drive is...a few years ago straight to the keys was not a prob but I've had a few things creep up and can't do that anylonger, not to mention I am retired, so what the hey.

I live in New Windsor, near Westminster, prob about 25 mins east of Frederick via route 70.

Will keep an eye out on the coppers, I generally do not blast that fast anyways. We actually intended to go from her to the Savannah area to stop for the night, so that's perfect. It is supposedly about 10 hrs or so...then from Savannah to MCO is about 3 or so? So that will get us to Disney about when we planned. Thanks for the exit tip, for hotels in Savannah, exit 104.

So to get to 29 I guess I will follow my GPS then as I am not sure about Point of rocks and such.

Again, thanks for the info.
Don't even THINK about following GPS. Just try out some new routings if you really want to. GPS is pretty darn unreliable. use paper maps instead.
Agreed. The GPS is best for seeing surroundings and I prefer a mobile phone map for seeing my surroundings and seeing what route works best. Don't follow the directions they give you because a GPS is unreliable.
Only two things are infinite in this world, stupidity, and I-75 construction

jwolfer

Quote from: jetdoc3037 on August 09, 2015, 07:36:28 PM
Thanks for the detailed information 1995hoo....I had a whole thing typed out and it just, poof, done went and left my screen, jeez....will try again, lol.

I think we will just do 29 then, as time isn't so important, a relaxed drive is...a few years ago straight to the keys was not a prob but I've had a few things creep up and can't do that anylonger, not to mention I am retired, so what the hey.

I live in New Windsor, near Westminster, prob about 25 mins east of Frederick via route 70.

Will keep an eye out on the coppers, I generally do not blast that fast anyways. We actually intended to go from her to the Savannah area to stop for the night, so that's perfect. It is supposedly about 10 hrs or so...then from Savannah to MCO is about 3 or so? So that will get us to Disney about when we planned. Thanks for the exit tip, for hotels in Savannah, exit 104.

So to get to 29 I guess I will follow my GPS then as I am not sure about Point of rocks and such.

Again, thanks for the info.
Disney is well south of downtown Orlando. Depending on traffic it can take 30-45 minutes. And with the attractions its not like normal rush hour times.

jetdoc3037


jetdoc3037

jwolfer, that is true, I didn't think about Disney being south of Orlando. Have to plan for that.



Opinions expressed here on belong solely to the poster and do not represent or reflect the opinions or beliefs of AARoads, its creators and/or associates.