This has all been useful reading for me as I will be making the first of many Boston-Savannah drives this fall (to take kid to college - will drive twice/year drop-off/pick-up). Had hoped to make it Boston to Richmond area first day, but that now sounds a little unrealistic.

Hi Mclaurie, My husband and I do this drive twice a year. We love it, we drive from Connecticut and did it last year on Presidents Weekend. We left on Friday at 3pm and got to Rocky Mount NC at about 1am.
We love the Comfort Inn in Rocky Mount , we loove the waffles too. There is the sweetest girl behind the desk at night. I think her name is LaTanya and see really goes out if her way to accomodate people. They are also Pet friendly.
I pack a cooler with water, juide and smoe small snacks . My husband likes to snacks when he is in traffic. Also throw some wipes and tissues . Worst traffic we ever hit was the sunday of Christmas weekend. We could have walked faster, but we enjoy the trip and time together.
As far as gas prices it seems pretty inexpensive, always less then 150.00 and I get to take what ever I want even my pillow, no baggage limitation.We are not in our SUV but a 6 cylinder Jaguar S type, which gets better mileage. We don;t bring our puppy as he is not so fond of the car.
For fun we always buy local lottery tickets , which is odd because we don't buy them at home. We stop at Pedro's South of the Border and read each other all the corny signs that lead up to it. We actually know someone who stays at the hotel there because they are very dog friendly and they say the rooms are clean too. My husband always stops ther for me as when I was a kid everyone had the bumper stickers and I had never been there. Feeling totally left out, not knowning ti was a glorfied gas station . Once there I realized it was pretty sad, I guess it changed alot from the 1970's .
We love the Cracker Barrell , Waffle House and the Golden Corrals, Half the fun of the drive for my husband is he gets to eat Junk Food. His main reason for the driving is he refuses to give our car back to Jaguar Leasing with miles left on it and since he works at home he puts about 25 miles a month on it.
Enjoy the ride with your husband and puppy. Sometimes I look forward to the trip down as much as the actual trip. I'll be in Miami the same week, let's hope we have nice weather

That reminds me, I was amazed at how many billboards there were for topless clubs in SC!
We managed NOT to stop at South of the Border, they must top the Cheesiest List somewhere :)
I brought Pups water bowl, food bowl and bottled water..didn't want to deal with the possibility of pup stomach trouble, if different water causes such a thing.
In the back seat was his favorite blanket, a couple of toys and the entire seat was covered with bath rugs, rubber backed and towels. I was worried about his getting car sick..not a problem, he looked out the window, slept and was generally a much better traveler than I :)

I recently made a trip to Beaufort, SC on business. I've always wondered about Beaufort as it's an old town with a lot of history sitting on the backwater. I did not spend much time there after driving up and back from Jacksonville but I thought it was an interesting Southern city with lots of Southern charm, great old architecture remeniscent of times past.

Unfortunately, I didn't stay in the city, in fact, drove there and back from Jax in a day. I didn't see a lot of hotels but I would not hesitate to recommend it to someone driving down I-75 who needs a place to stop -- they probably have the usual chains. There were some mean-looking BBQ joints, I thought if I wasn't careful I might just have to have some good Southern food. But I had to head out.

Best advice is when you stop for the night do it early 6pm - 7pm the hotels book up fast .Get your hotel room then go for a nice dinner. Rocky mt NC is a good area for hotels or Florence SC. Drive the speed limit in Maryland (DC AREA)

We booked the hotels before we left NYC. They only have so many rooms for dogs. We took the hotel phone numbers just in case, figured an 8 hour drive to get there. I worried it would be tough making it to the hotel the first night but it was an easy drive..boring can be the worst thing about long drives. And you are only going into Better weather, which is a treat~

missjanna,
Where is Scarlett's trip report???? I just spent 10 mins. trying to locate that thread since we will be traveling from NJ to FL with 2 cats in the fall! Thanks

Scarlett, whenever I see my little yankee neices, I always say "Give me some sugah!" which translates to "Give me a kiss".

They think it is the funniest thing they've ever heard!

I've spent most of my life in Florida and the only person who ever called me Sugar was my uncle from New Mexico. There is a possibility that I'm just not sweet enough for most Southerners and that's why I've been left out of this.

Yes! My daddy used to say that all the time..and a boyfriend or two :)

Tandoori Girl, LOL You must Sweeten up then!! (although you are very helpful)

I topped my report for you, teacher~