Driving to Ft. Lauderdale from Montreal. Where to stop?
 

Hi everyone,

I posted this on the US board also, but I thought I would post here as well to see if anyone this board had any advice.

Hi Guys,

Well, my winter/spring vacation plans seem to get more and more exciting as each day passes haha!! I'm looking at the possibility of going to a sporting event in Columbus, OH for a wknd in Mar. and now possibly driving my grandparent's car down to Ft Lauderdale, FL and spending about a week there in Dec. then flying back home to Mtl.

I am looking at the route now, and according to Mapquest we pass thru new york, new jersey, delaware, maryland, virginia, N. carolina, S. carolina, and georgia before we get there. I am not sure where we should aim as our stopover for the evening before we keep driving. I was thinking Virginia, but I'm not really sure if we'll poop out before then.

Do you guys have any advice or suggestions or experiences you'd like to share? We're both comfortable driving, we'll be in a 4WD SUV, and have driven in horrible conditions before, but this is our first drive to FL so I was hoping to see if anyone here had any pointers for me

Thanks guys!

Layla %%-

I think that this is a very hard question to answer on behalf of someone else...luckily, you have so many options of places to stay, you don't have to decide in advance. I would suggest you just stop when you get tired of driving. If you have a glorious sunny day with clear roads, this may be after 1200 kilometres. If the snow/sleet/hail is coming down and playing tricks with your ability to see the road, you may pull off after 200K. It is really hard to say if that is going to put you in Poughkeepsie, New York or Peachtree, Georgia.

My only pointers: #1 good maps: I still like paper maps because they offer last-minute opportunities for change in event of weather/road work etc, that Mapquest can't.

#2. Take food in the car...apples, raisins, cheese, water, chocolate, Fig Newtons or whatever your cookie of choice happens to be. That way, you are never really stuck, cranky and hungry at the time there is NOTHING in sight.

Good luck and have a great trip! (Don't forget your passports!)

Decide if you want two stops along the way or just one.... calculate how long in hours you want to be on the road and see where that puts you on the map... usually you can add an extra hour or two on to the first day because you have more energy... OR just pick a place you have always wanted to visit such as Graceland in Memphis or Washington DC and drive til you get there... have fun!!!

hey guys,

Thanks for the pointers. I definitely think we want to get a large chunk out of the way the first day. We were thinking 12-14hours. Then we would pull off for the night and start up early the next morning to finish it up.

Of course we'd be taking mini breaks along the way, for things like food, gas, stretching etc.

I will be sure to bring a map, as well as mapquest, and our car has onstar and navigation.

I am personally planning a short break in Georgia because I've always wanted to see it, any recommendations for cute/safe little cities/towns that aren't far from the highway?

Thanks,

Layla %%-

BTW, i have my passport, but my BF doesn't will he need it or will two pieces of id as well as his birth certificate suffise? I thought the law demanding passports only comes into effect on Jan. 23, 2008? But maybe i'm wrong?


thanks again

Layla %%-

ttt

When you drive along interstate highways int he USA there are good signs notifying you of what is coming up at the next interchange. This makes it easy to plan meals and snack stops, gas stops, etc.

US highway food costs less than in Canada, and if you skip worrying about nutrition, there's losts of food that tastes good.

Shoney's has breakfast buffets where you can stuff yourself with all jinds of breakfast-type food, plus strawberry shortcake.

Cracker Barrel restaurants have excellent comfort food, like stews, for reasonable prices.

But you'll find far fewer service centers right on the highways, like you see on highway 401 in Ontario.

PLANNING -- is there something specific you want to see on the way down? Yopu'll be close to WEshington, so maybe you want to spend a day at the Smithsonian, or you've always wanted to see the Empire State Building in New York.

Now might be your chance.

BAK

Hey BAK,

Thanks for the tips!We are not the healthiest eaters ever, but we're going to try to avoid as much junk food as possible on the drive so that we can indulge a little more on our nights out :)

We were originally gonna make a few stops at some sights that we wanted to see, but after thinking about it a bit more we decided that we will probably just drive as much as we can so that we can get there in the best time, that way we enjoy our time there the most.

We will do the necessary food, gas and stretching stops but other than that it'll be just driving i think.

Thanks again!

Layla %%-