We'll be driving up from Naples, FL and spending a couple of days in Charleston before heading farther north. Is there any quite pleasant turnpike motel in the area just above Jacksonville? I figure that's about where we'll be for our fist night-- which would allow us to get to Charleston at a good time. Prefer newer motel/hotel and one near decent restaurant (that we don't have to drive to, after driving all day).
Thanks!

Jacksonville itself has quite a few nice hotels/motels along I-95 but I cannot remember any between there and Charleston..One of our drives down was with a dog so we stayed at any La Quinta and the one in Jax on Butler Blvd was brand new ( 3 yrs ago) and near a bunch of restaurants...some very very good..or as you go past downtown, you can stay at any of the big hotels, you can see them from 95- Hilton, Hyatt etc..
In that area, I highly recommend BBs and Bistro Aix ..

Thanks for your reply, Scarlett. In fact, we'd like to by-pass Jax altogether. We'll be coming up I-75, then picking up route 10 to get us over to 95; I believe we don't need to go through the city. (One time we did that, since we wanted to explore a bit, and we enjoyed our overnight stay in one of those riverfront hotels. Had a good dinner, too, though I don't remember where. Pleasant area to stroll.)

Hoping for more input....

Try the Amelia Island/Fernandina Beach area.

I think you can get some great ideas from the I-95 Exit Guide <http://www.i95exitguide.com/index.php>.

I second the Amelia Island suggestion.

if you want to go two hours north of Jax, I highly recommend the brand new Comfort Suites right outside Savannah Airport. All the hotels in that area right off I-95 are brand new, and there is a Sam Snead's Tavern (excellent food) right across the street.

Thanks for the good suggestions.
(Amelia Island, like Jax, won't do since it's well out of the way. We do stop at AI when we want to do some bike riding or beaching in the area-- i.e. when we want to spend time there-- but this time we want to head straight on up to Charleston.)

20 minutes is well out of the way ?