Routing suggestions: Hudson Valley to Solomons, MD?

[froggie]

Sorry, I'm a Sheetz man.

Unfortunately for you, Sheetz are very few and far between in the area you're traveling...that's Wawa territory.  No Sheetz exist in New Jersey or Delaware, and none exist southeast of an Easton-Morgantown-Hanover line in PA.  The only one along your track is on US 40 between White Marsh and Aberdeen...and that would require you to take I-95 instead of US 301.  Fortunately for you, there's one not too far from Solomons...along MD 237 in California.

[noelbotevera]

Sorry, I'm a Sheetz man.

Unfortunately for you, Sheetz are very few and far between in the area you're traveling...that's Wawa territory.  No Sheetz exist in New Jersey or Delaware, and none exist southeast of an Easton-Morgantown-Hanover line in PA.  The only one along your track is on US 40 between White Marsh and Aberdeen...and that would require you to take I-95 instead of US 301.  Fortunately for you, there's one not too far from Solomons...along MD 237 in California.

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Sheetz are somewhat common west of Frederick (I counted two Sheetz between US 40 in Hagerstown and I-81 Exit 3 in PA). I was lucky and also found some surviving locations along I-270.

[froggie]

Look again at the locations, kid.  He's not going that far west, and certainly not into the territory where Sheetz locations are a dime a dozen.

[odditude]

Fortunately for you, there's one not too far from Solomons...along MD 237 in California.

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Sheetz along MD 237 in California

[noelbotevera]

Fortunately for you, there's one not too far from Solomons...along MD 237 in California.

(last sentence) what

Sheetz along MD 237 in California

Ah that place name confused me.

[cpzilliacus]

Look again at the locations, kid.  He's not going that far west, and certainly not into the territory where Sheetz locations are a dime a dozen.

I thought there was a Sheetz or two along U.S. 301 in Prince George's County or Charles County, but they must all be big Wawa outlets, as the only Sheetz in Southern Maryland are in St. Mary's County - the one on Md. 237 at Md. 235 and another one near Md. 5 almost directly south from the one on 237.

I would love to see a Sheetz or two in Anne Arundel, Prince George's and Montgomery Counties, but the land costs are probably more than Sheetz wants to pay, and the approval process in Montgomery and Prince George's is excessive and excessively expensive.

[froggie]

I thought there was a Sheetz or two along U.S. 301 in Prince George's County or Charles County, but they must all be big Wawa outlets,

That's correct.  The huge gas station they built on the north side of Waldorf is a Wawa.

My earlier comment about Maryland Sheetz locations comes from the Sheetz website.  Southeast of an Urbana-Reisterstown-Parkton line, the only 3 in Maryland are the two in St. Marys County and the one on US 40 northeast of White Marsh.  That region is very much Wawa territory.

[Pete from Boston]

A friend of mine loves Waffle House, and he can only get it when he travels southward.  He lives in Sewaren, NJ and he says none exist in New Jersey, and when I lived there I never saw one either.

I would not be a bit surprised if one is there now, but then again New Jersey was one of the last states to get Pizza Hut in the mid 1980's and probably Long John Silvers still refuses to open up a store there as well.  My aunt who drove all the way to Wilson, PA from Bridgewater, NJ just to eat there was told by store employees at the time, that LJS refuses to open any stores in NJ due to the high taxes there.  I do not know if that is still true either as this was back in the early 90's circa that she asked that question.

LJS were common in New Jersey until the early 1980s.  They mostly left the Northeast at that time, only recently dribbling back in as part of co-branded locations.

I always figured fast-food fish was a tough sell on the coast, but they and Arthur Treacher's did seem to both be busy.

[empirestate]

OK, well I just got back, and I definitely didn't see any Sheetzs, nor did I stop at any of the Wawas; sorry.

But I can say that it seemed to work out pretty well. On the way down I did skip the DE 1 toll by using local roads from exit 148, not exactly the roads I meant to take, but it worked out regardless. I don't think it saved me much of anything, but it was a pretty enough diversion.

I also noticed that Delaware seems to posts "Welcome To..." signage at the entrance to every tiny little housing subdivision; I don't think I've ever seen these placenames receive so much air time apart from the occasional over-toponymized USGS quad.

I did also take the MD 424 cutoff instead of MD 2 through Parole and Edgewater. I'm sure this saved me some congestion on a Friday evening, but I'm not sure how much. What I did encounter, besides a huge line of cars exiting for I-97 north, were a few backups south of Birdsville, where the shoulders were closed for a series of work zones. And in general, I found the MD 2/4 expressway to be the typical bland, high-powered, double-barrel surface arterial you so often have to slog through on the last leg of a trip to these seaside destinations. But it got the job done, anyway.

Coming home, I stuck to the normal route, up I-97 through Baltimore and straight up the NJ Turnpike to the GSP. No real tie-ups at all, just a constant flow of heavy traffic on the GSP. There was a big backup from the GSP onto the Thruway and to the Palisades, but I skipped it by using NY 59. Probably didn't really help me much.

And we were treated to a beautiful, bright rainbow over the Hudson as we came around the side of Bear Mountain and over the bridge, just splendid. :-)