Next week I fly back to Hershey and take the pickup and 32 foot trailer on to Savannah GA. My GPS app is suggesting two routes (below). I hope to leave Hershey by late afternoon, then stay somewhere one night during the drive. Does anyone familiar with these routes have any suggestions?
Thanks for any advice,
Rob
I don't know those routes intimately but looking at the topography I would say the eastern most route would offer the most flat highway. It also is the shortest.
Rob, living in the DC area I cannot recommend you being on the I-495 beltway around DC between 3PM and 7PM! You can easily loose one hour just sitting in stop and go traffic until you get south of Fredericksburg. Its OK until you get to the beltway.
The westerly route might be a little longer but it is 65mph Interstate from Harrisburg all the way to Roanoke. I do not know the rest of that route. Just stay the heck away from DC. Traffic here is just one step away from gridlock for 6 hours a day!
Tony
I've done that drive both ways. I would take I95.
I swore off the I95 route due to DC traffic. Ive been both ways, but I only do 81 now. Just got fed up with DC. Don't care if I ever see it again. There will be some hills in Southern VA and NC on I77, but not for too awfully many miles.
I vote for rt81. I95 in Washington through Richmond is no place for one pulling a trailer!!! I live in North Carolina and have been going to Hershey for 43 years and only use I81. It may be a little longer but the traffic while heavy at times, moves in a more safe manor than I95.
Thanks guys. Would I be better off taking 81 to get past DC, then east on 64 to 95 for less hills (mountains in Nebraska )?
Rob
As with most routes, timing is everything. If you go through DC after 9 PM, it wouldn't be bad. The 81, to 64, to 95 will work, but you will hit some steep grades on 81 and 64. Richmond can have heavy traffic also depending you when you go through. Again, it is timing and how much of a hurry you are in to get to Georgia. I run 81 quite a bit and have been TDY to DC and Richmond many times.
Rob, the most severe hills are going to be from Lexington south to I-77, if I remember from my trips to Hershey and Carlisle. It won't affect you but if you were continuing south down I-81 to Bristol, Tennessee, that part is probably the hilliest. Its been decades since I been there; done that.
I-64 will get you back to I-95 just east of Richmond. That should avoid the worst of the Baltimore to DC traffic congestion, and get you on the flatter route along the coast.
I-77 is nice and lower traffic, but I can't remember how hilly it is. Took that from Cleveland to Beaufort SC / Parris Island when my son graduated 12 years ago.
There is one steep section coming down out of Virginia into North Carolina on I-81 and I-77, but it shouldn't be anything your truck/car/trailer can't handle.
Hi Rob,
I spoke to you on Sat morning at Hershey when you were working on your K. I just came back from Hershey in a motor home pulling a trailer on 81 to 77 and it was a pleasant drive. I got off on 85 South heading into SC, but, you'll continue on 77 to Columbia and take 26 to 95. None of the frustrations like fighting with DC.
Go Route 81, No Question. I have done both and 95 is miserable up north
Never been on I95, up that way, but if it's like it is in Florida, I would stay away from it. Bad crash's every day. Major delays. Like they were saying, timing is every thing.
I use I75 and always try to hit Hotlanta after 9:00PM
Thanks guys. Sounds like the consensus is 81/77 to 26 to 95 (unless I pull "an all nighter" and hit things in the middle of the night). I'll probably ask another route question when I begin the 1300+ mile pull home from Savannah (back to Nebraska) on Nov 10th.
Thank you again,
Rob
I drove from Newport News Va to Dulles every week round trip during 2010. I did notice the traffic is typical of any large city but it is not a problem. Richmond is a small blip on the route, hardly any traffic there worth mentioning.
Rob: Just a warning, watch your speed in VA. They watch 81 all the time. What ever the limit is, that is the limit. Dan
just did that trip myself --
81--77--26--95
you will enjoy 77 thru " fancy gap " --
there is a 7 mile ( down ) grade ,, nothing you can't handle
jv
Rob:
Take 81....
Skip 95....
Cheers,
Timothy
Ok, we got through that. Now, your thoughts on water pumps, Tru Fire, and, what the heck, Kevlar bands?
Next thread I'll go straight for the jugular and ask about the election
Thanks guys,
Rob
81 to Bristol,Tn 26 to 95 to Savannah.
Take 15 out of Harrisburg to 17 in Va. then back to 95
Roosevelt/Garner.
Steve,
They have my vote also!
95 through D.C. is awful especially during rush hour. Also 95 is a truck route.
I'd take 95. Instead of wasting gas and time taking the longer route to avoid DC, schedule the trip so that you pass though DC at night after rush hour. Since it takes 9 hours to get to DC from Savannah, if you leave Savannah at 10:00am it will put you in DC at around 8:00pm (after a nice lunch and dinner on the road) and in Hershey at 10:00pm where you can check into your hotel room for a good night's sleep ready for the next day. Jim Patrick
I am going to argue for 81. The thing is, you do not say whether this is the first time you have been in this part of the world. Looking for speed over landscape? If speed is the criteria, then I agree with consensus. But, as a former resident of both central VA and coastal SC, I am going to take the Blue Ridge over the Tidewater any day (sorry). Throw in Civil War sites, and it is 81 all the way for me. I'll even throw in a book for you to read on the plane ahead of time, telling you what you are looking at. Autumn in the Blue Ridge, awesome.
Having spent 2 years at Fort Eustis in Newport News, I agree that Autumn in the Blue Ridge is well worth the slight extra time compared to the never ending trucks and truck stops along I-95.
Jim, he's going from north to south.
Oops. Thanks Steve. While it would be a beautiful drive, with spectacular scenery, I would not want to pull a 32' trailer thousands of feet up, over the harrowing 2 lane roads of the Blue Ridge Mountains, still opting for driving straight through on the flatter, faster, shorter, more direct I-95 route.
If you go to bed at 6:00pm for 8 hours of sleep and get up in time to leave Hershey at 3:00am with a thermos of coffee, it would put you in DC (Be sure and take the truck route around DC and not the regular I-95 through the city) at 5:00am, before rush hour begins and put you in Savannah around 2:30 or 3:00pm depending on how many pit stops you make. Jim Patrick
Rob, you might want to keep an eye on the weather next week along the east coast. "Frankenstorm" might be a real problem.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57540360/hurricane-sandy-may-slam-into-u.s-e ast-coast-as-halloween-week-frankenstorm/
Jim, 5 AM in the DC area IS rush hour. After 9 AM traffic thins out to a dull roar. I live next to I-95 at the 161 mile sign. 5 to 9 Northbound and 4 to 7:30 Southbound are parking lots. Add the inevitable accident(s) and you go nowhere fast!
I-64 goes over Afton mountain, but the grade is not at all that bad! I use it all the time with my 29 foot motorhome and 24 foot car carrier. No problem! So for all practical purposes the flatland I-95 may end up being the hardest on the poor truck with all the slow traffic and starts and stops.
Just stay away from ANY road between Richmond and Frederick MD.
Tony
There is no scenery on I-95. The Shenandoah Valley is gorgeous any time of the year.
Thanks guys. The last two years I've driven from Nebraska on 1-80 to I76 to Hershey. The "hills" (mountains to a guy from Nebraska) are pretty significant to me from Pittsburgh to just prior to Hershey. Is 81 any worse than that?
Rob
Mike,
I noticed that, hope it doesn't hold up my flight from Omaha to Harrisburg.
Rob
Rob,if you do I81-I 77,when you get to Statesville NC take I 40 west to 321 south this brings you out south of Charlotte on I 85 4 lane all the way,faster and you mis all Charlotte trafic,look on map ,you will see what I mean.