RNBoats

Will be moving my daughter from Chapel Hill to Northampton, MA, pulling a U-haul trailer (just us girls). We are going to have to do the trip in one day (insane, i know). I have read here and other places that I-95 is probably not our best option for safety and gas/bathroom stops. This will be on a Monday in Sept. Any ideas for alternative routes are welcome, PLEASE!!

Ackislander

I have done Chapel Hill to Boston in one day in a rental truck. It was pretty hellish but it is farther than you are going.

You really only have one choice: I85/I95/I91. There are better routes without a truck or trailer, but you have a trailer. Follow the Google Maps route until you get to the Garden State Parkway. Follow it to I 287 and take that back to I 95 in Connecticut. Then I 91 north from New Haven. You do not want to go near the George Washington Bridge.

Travel Notes: there is no place to eat on I 85. There is a rest area not too far south of Peterburg, in the middle of nowhere, then no more until around Ashland, VA. There is one more in Virginia, north of Quantico, then nothing until you get off the Beltway/495 back onto 95 in Maryland. One of the two Maryland service areas with food was closed for a badly needed renovation, at least in June. The new Delaware Service Plaza is not bad. Once you cross into Jersey, there are service plazas galore, getting better as you approach New Brunswick. You should fill up at Montvale, the last one on the Garden State Parkway, because the price of gas in NY, CT, and to a lesser extent, Massachusetts will horrify you.

I am going to assume that you don't have an EZ Pass, and you don't have time to get one ( out of state drivers can get them from New York). You are going to need a LOT of small bills and change organized in a plastic box ( not in the bottom of your purse) because the tolls are going to run you something like $50 each way for this trip. You will have to wait in line at each toll booth since the number of human stations has been reduced.

Timing: Tuesday would be better than Monday; Saturday would be better than either. Northbound, you do not want to arrive in the Washington, DC, area before 9 AM, and you don't want to arrive in North Jersey much after 2:45. You can't help arriving in Hartford at rush our, but it isn't a big city. There is a rest area on a mountainside a out 15 miles south of Hartford, nd it could be the last one for a long time. You are going to have to get up really, really early to leave Chapel Hill if you can't figure out a way to do this as a two day trip. Estimate about 13-14 hours for the trip since Google timings don't allow for gas, food, and toilet stops nor for the extensive construction on the Jersey Turnpike between Burlington and Cranbury.

gail

I drove in car many times from north of Boston to Greensboro, NC area with daughter. It was not fun, but it was possible. I am not sure it will be with a U-Haul.

The key is to find a way to avoid Baltimore/Washington area and northern NJ/NYC area at rush hours. The trip timing from NC to DC area should be somewhat accurate. But ignore the travel time on mapping programs thru NJ - something ALWAYS happens in NJ that slows you down. I am not picking on NJ (my home state).

You want to go over the Tappan Zee Bridge, not the George Washington Bridge. Your GPS will not be happy with this idea - and if you can't get it to behave, program the route to Danbury, CT as an interim stop - that often works to trick it;

Are you absolutely positive you have to do this in one day? If you could even gety a few hours north on Sunday evening it would make a world of difference. Or, alternately, what about driving to northern NJ on Monday, getting up early again on Tuesday and still arriving in Northampton mid-morning on Tuesday. Since it is unlikely (I hope) you would be unloading the truck upon arrival Monday night, wondering why this is not an option.

There is no place to pee or eat between northern NJ until you are well over the Tappan Zee Bridge that does not involve a major detour. Area around Hartford is equally annoying.

Ackislander - are you sure you can pull a U-Haul on the Garden State Parkway? If you can't - OP listen to this as well - then taking the Tappan Zee Bridge is perhaps not the best option and in that case I do not think this is a safe 1-day trip.

Ackislander

Good question, Gail. i was relying on memory, so I looked it up. They are allowed. There is a toll class for them on the Parkway website. You pay by the total number of axles. On one typical toll, a car pays $4.50, a car with a single axle trailer pays $4.50, and a car with a double axle trailer pays $6 for the same mileage.

I did mention the Montvale Service area on the GSP and the rest area off I 91 south of Hartford. Since they have to get back on I 95 (I don't think trailers are lowed on the Merritt and Wilbur Cross) they should find a couple of Connecticut rest areas.

We seem to agree on the timing issues, and I also agree with your idea of arriving in Mt Holyoke on Tuesday morning. Even if they leave Chapel Hill at 4 AM on Monday, they are unlikely to arrive at he college in time to unload on Monday night.

cw

Would it be possible to rent a large SUV so you wouldn't have to haul a trailer? Obviously this won't work if you're furnishing an apartment, but if it's a dorm room, maybe?

gail

Your title says "alone" - although it is you and daughter. Please tell me you are not making this trip with only 1 driver. If that is the case, you will have scrambled brain by northern NJ and be totally unsafe on the road after the NY border.

Gretchen

Having pulled trailers of various sizes that I CANNOT back up, be sure to always have a plan when stopping (if you can't back!) that you can drive through.
I would definitely make this a two day trip in some manner because of the congestion of the route.

isabel

First of all - WHICH Monday - if you are talking Labor Day then there will be mega traffic and it can many, many hours longer than any 'normal' estimates you'll get from google or whatever. If it's a Monday later in the month just be sure to avoid rush hour in Northern Jersy/NYC area. Rush 'hour' is from about 3:30 till 7:30pm.

Are you going to Mt Holyoke College? Just so you know it's not IN Northampton - you probably already know that, just saying.

I would take the Garden State Parkway up to the NY Thruway (Nyack) and cross the Tappan Zee Bridge and then take 684 north to 84 to 91. You cannot take the Merrit Parkway with a UHaul and 95 through northern NYC and southern Conn is a mess. There are no rest stops on these roads but almost every exit will have signs telling you if there is 'gas/food/lodging' and there is at least gas at most exits.

Ackislander

That is good information, Isabel, and a good alternative route, too.

I have a feeling that they are already there, since new students are supposed to report today and returning students report on Sunday, so Monday is too late.

Gretchen

It says "September". Don't tell me it is September already!! LOL

Ackislander

No, but the day the returning students are supposed to report is in September -- and a day later before the OP plans to drive. Presumably something is keeping them in NC -- and I don't criticize anyone who can't pull herself away from Chapel Hill -- long enough to be late arriving at college, but they recognize that Tuesday would be _too_ late, thus the pressure.

Gretchen

Still not getting your timing but it is of no never mind!! LOL
Yeah, I couldn't figure out how a Chapel Thrillian was going to Holyoke!! LOL

Fra_Diavolo

Unless you are skilled in backing up with a trailer, I strongly recommend sticking to 95, Garden State, etc which have service areas on the highway where you can stop for food and gas. You do not want to be fooling with side roads and small parking lots with a trailer. The highway rest stops normally have an area where the big semis park. You can park there too and then pull straight out. I haven't driven 91 between New Haven and Hartford for a long time but they did offer gas stations last time I did. Massachusetts offers almost no services on its highways, so suggest you gas up in Connecticut.

Ackislander

No, no, no. Don't buy gas in Connecticut. Very expensive. If she fills up in Jersey, cheap, she can get back to Jersey before filling up again.

$3.90 in CT
$3.43 in NJ

Fra_Diavolo

I forgot about the price difference. My point was avoid getting off the highway, which I believe she would have to do to buy gas in Massachusetts. I think there is a stop in Montvale, NJ, just before entering New York.

isabel

There are no rest stops ON I-91. I am positive of this, I drive it all the time from New Haven to Northampton MA. Whether she takes 95 to 91 or she takes 684 to 84 to 91 she will need to get off the highway to get gas/food. But we are not talking tiny roads, there are plenty of places to get gas. I have driven from Northampton Mass to NYC (Brooklyn actually) with a UHaul several times in the last few years. Other than not being able to be on a "parkway" in NY or Conn with a UHaul, and avoiding the NYC mess if possible, it's not really a big deal.

RNBoats

To answer a couple of questions, no this is not a dorm - - apt. my daughter is moving for a job at Mt Holyoke, apt. in Northampton. The movers are supposed to be there on Tues morning to unload the trailer. This is Monday the 9th, not Labor Day. Is there a feasible route other than I95, so we can avoid NJ, DC, NY?
Thank you for the information so far, I am really nervous about this tight schedule and am trying to find alternatives.

RNBoats

Gretchen, trust me...I prefer my daughter stay a Tarheel, but she wants to try this and see how she likes it. Different job, different state, just happened to be MA. I will keep my temperate NC climate lol

isabel

RNBoats - Northampton and the Pioneer Valley is really a very nice place to live. We moved here right after college because this area (known as the five college area - there are actually many more colleges in this region) was a)pretty, b) had lots of cultural opportunities, and c) was fairly progressive in a lot of ways. We are still here (many years later). My children have all left for more exciting places (London, Paris, NY, San Francisco - and that's just one child!) but all three say they want to return and settle here eventually. So hopefully your daughter will be very happy here. Yes we have crappy winters but we almost never have hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, or wild fires.

I drive to NYC a lot, and have done many trips south and the best way to get here is over the Tappan Zee bridge to the Merrit Parkway and then to 91. But you can't do that with a Uhaul. So I suggest 684 to 84 to 91. Alternately you could go north in NY state as far as the Newburg Bridge but I think that's considerably longer. Some people detour west and come up I-81 to avoid NY/NJ completely but I think that will add more time. I would only have suggested that if you were doing it on Labor Day, but the following Monday should be OK. Just whatever you do, do NOT go over the GW bridge and through the Bronx.

Gretchen

I was ONLY funnin' you. Believe me, I could give you chapter and verse about CH vs. "wherever". Our college advisor in HS promised to keep a chapter in her book for DD!!--who did NOT go to CH!!