My wife and I are driving down with my father-in-law to Fort Myers, FL in a 20' rental truck and towing his car behind the truck. The reason is he is moving in my wife's sister and her family. We are planning to leave the evening of May 12th around 7pm and drive thru the night so we can avoid some of the traffic on I-95. We are contemplating driving straight thru to Florida. Should we drive straight thru or get a hotel room for the two nights? Also, has anybody ridin in a 20' truck with two other people? Is it there enough room? Any feedback in regards to planning this trip would be greatly appreciated.

My own experience with I-95 is that the truckers take it over in the evening until about midnight or even later. You might want to consider leaving NJ at around midnight and driving until you feel you need to stop overnight on the following night.

Of course I'm sure you realize that what you will be driving is a rather awkward combination of vehicles and that much care must be taken. I would limit my speed to around 60 mph and stay in the right-hand lane. Almost all the traffice will pass you and you'll find it easier than driving a bit faster.

As for the room inside the truck, those trucks can typically handle 3 persons with reasonable comfort. I have never driven that distance, but I have driven a similar truck for several hundred miles on I-95 with no problem.

Of course you will also want to stick to the interstate system as much as possible just because it affords you the maximum room for your cargo. The only convenient crossover to get to I-75 toward Ft Myers will be to take I-4 from the east coast to Tampa on the west, then I-75 south to Ft Myers. There will be some construction on I-4 but it isn't too bad as long as you are careful and don't get in a hurry. Good luck.

I suggest leaving a bit later. Pack everything and sleep until about 2am. You should be able to get through DC before traffic builds up in the morning. After that, it's really no big deal driving the truck.

Stop early the evening of the 13th, as all of you will be pretty tired. That should get you down to GA or even Florida by the afternoon. Find a good motel and complete the drive on the 14th.

Actually, when we travel from that direction, we take the bypass around (I think it is I295) Jacksonville to get on I10. We then go South on US301 (it's 4 lane hwy) to Hwy 326 and this takes you to I75.
You just need to watch your speed when going through the small towns of Starke, Waldo, etc. They are known to be speed traps and the towns main source of income.
We have driven from our home in Florida, to Maine (and back) several times and always stop twice along the way.

I would be tempted to put the car and father-in-law on Amtrak assuming they still do this route for cars/passengers.

That's a long drive towing a car. Remember how tall your truck is because I saw some guys in Cambridge, MA in September attempt an underpass and the warning bar hit the top of the rental truck. They had to back up on a very busy road.

I would plan on getting a hotel room. There are plenty of rather inexpensive hotels once you get south of Washington, DC. With 3 people in the cab of a truck, it is unlikely that the other drivers will get much sleep and you will need full awake attention to drive truck and towed car.

You will essentially be going straight south on I95. However, there are some roads around Washington/Baltimore that I recall from driving trips to Savannah as being "no trucks" - hope someone here can give you actual directions around DC.

I would leave at a time such that you leave after NJ rush hour and get thru DC before AM rush hour - that leave a fairly large window. You could leave about 8-9 PM, stop at a hotel around 4 AM. Depending on where in NJ, that should get you to southern VA or even NC. You could then do the rest of the trip in one day, as once you get south of Richmond, there is far less traffic.

you are talking about at least a 20 hour trip in a normal car going at least 10 mph over the speed limit and stopping often enough that you don't fall asleep at the wheel. driving an unfamiliar truck while towing a truck will definitely slow you down more.

we've done the trip a bunch of times and you need to get through dc by 5/5:30am--(when you are going south through virginia you'll be amazed at the traffic heading into the dc at that hour). after that, the trip is a breeze until florida. i think florida is the worst driving of the whole trip.

since i think it would be difficult to sleep in the truck, i would definitely plan on stopping somewhere in south carolina or georgia.

good luck!

mid jersey to jacksonville is about 13 to 14 hours in a car stopping only for gas. with more people and probably going 60 to 65 instead of about 70mph, it will likely take you 15 hours or more. also depending on where in nj you are leaving from, your travel woes will be 95 thru philly rush hour (take the nj turnpike and avoid philly and wilmington de), baltimore rush hour (95/695/895 areas can back up) dc rush hour
njtp will be find southbound whole route anytime after 7pm,until 4pm next day. washington traffic starts early 6:30am thru 9:30am so get to dc before or after.

A 20' rental truck won't have any height problem at most places. Don't need to worry about low underpass enroute. You are most likely to hit a low roof at the home/house in NJ or Fort Myers.

No trucks allowed on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. While a 20' truck is not a problem, I think the trailer is. Stick to I-95.

I was a trucker for 2.5 years, and I can tell you that life on the slow lane is pretty easy. You won't need to worry about changing lanes and passing people, forever. However, do keep an eye on big trucks getting on the freeway from your right. And you should be the slowest vehicle on the road; along with the RVs.

spb825,

Do post after your experience as we are plsanning a similar move in mid June. We will have 2 cars plus one trailer or we may get a truck and tow the car like you said. We plan on stopping one night since we have to drive solo. I'd be most interested in your timing of the trip as you try to avoid the peak traffic. Also since we will be going to North Port FL. the total time will be almost identical. Thanks in advance.

ditto on "highbay's" suggestion about Jacksonville..that is a better way to cut across to the gulf side...