Anyone made the drive from DC to Tampa in one day? Do-able or a big mistake?

[Anonymous]

Personally I do long drives and would consider it, but I would start with the first leg and when I would be to the NC border. 6am might work but it depends on whether you are north or south of DC, what day of the week you are leaving, and how well a group that size can hit a scheduled departure time. If that turns into a 7:30 departure from Gaithersburg it would be a long day. After the NC border I feel less likely to hit a random hour long delay on 95

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I would play it by ear. Your stop if you make one does not need to be a destination, just something clean, safe, and comfortable right off the highway. You can find it on the way if you decide you need to stop. Just see how you are feeling and make a game day decision.

When I was a kid my parents routinely did a 17-hr drive with no stops. They would pull off at a rest area and sleep for a few hours, then finish in the morning. That was insane, but they had no money, and that's what they did.

As an adult, I've routinely down 8 hrs as a day trip, and I think 10 would be fine. 13 is a lot, but it's entirely possible. But again, I say, don't decide now. Just see how it's going.

I highly discourage this. The last time I did this -- driving from New Orleans to DC -- it was a disaster. When I decided to stop, there were no rooms available. Drove to the next place with motels, nothing available. There was some big kids sports thing going on or something, and everything was booked for a good couple of hours. I ended up driving until like 2am exhausted and pissed off.

Much better to reserve something and avoid this problem.

[Anonymous]

We drove to Ft. Lauderdale, which is further than Tampa, and back in 1 go without overnighting. Dh and I alternated driving. I wouldn’t drive it if only 1 person is driving. It also depends on the day, we were lucky to get there with no traffic. On way back got stuck in Georgia.

[Anonymous]

I've done it at night in a rain/snow storm and don't recommend it.

[Anonymous]

Not a big deal at all with 2 drivers. It's 13 hours. This is like a nothing burger. So much better than splitting and having two crappy days on the road and in a crappy highway side hotel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I would play it by ear. Your stop if you make one does not need to be a destination, just something clean, safe, and comfortable right off the highway. You can find it on the way if you decide you need to stop. Just see how you are feeling and make a game day decision.

When I was a kid my parents routinely did a 17-hr drive with no stops. They would pull off at a rest area and sleep for a few hours, then finish in the morning. That was insane, but they had no money, and that's what they did.

As an adult, I've routinely down 8 hrs as a day trip, and I think 10 would be fine. 13 is a lot, but it's entirely possible. But again, I say, don't decide now. Just see how it's going.

I highly discourage this. The last time I did this -- driving from New Orleans to DC -- it was a disaster. When I decided to stop, there were no rooms available. Drove to the next place with motels, nothing available. There was some big kids sports thing going on or something, and everything was booked for a good couple of hours. I ended up driving until like 2am exhausted and pissed off.

Much better to reserve something and avoid this problem.

PP who frequently drives straight through. Same thing happened to me. We did eventually find something but it was awful. We never played it by ear again.

[Anonymous]

Big. Mistake.

[Anonymous]

Florence, SC and Puller, GA (Savannah suburb right on I-95) are our usual places to stop for the night.

[Anonymous]

Doable. Drove home from key west in less than a day with covid

[Anonymous]

I have driven to Sarasota Florida from Springfield Virginia in one day, twice, many years ago. You have too many people to drive to Tampa in one day. Plan on about 10 hours to drive to Jacksonville if you don’t stop to eat. I would recommend stoping for the night at st. Augustine or st. Augustine beach, which is slightly past Jacksonville. I would not suggest Amelia Island Florida because it is too far from I-95. The biggest problem was the road quality in South Carolina, which is roughly 200 miles long.

[Anonymous]

Why must two cars be together?

Those who want to break it up, go in one car.

Meet in Florida.

[Anonymous]

I’ve driven back and forth from FL to DC and back many times.

The best idea for us was to switch drivers every 90 minutes. We also stopped in Savannah once on the way down from DC.

If me, I would aim for 11-12 hours and spend the night.

[Anonymous]

Yuck. My husband is from Savannah so we’ve done that drive many times. But we used to live in Sarasota and Savannah to Tampa is another 5ish. You’re looking at a 16-17 hour day in the car. Possible, sure, but awful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why don’t you just fly? I always throw up on long car rides and would not be able to do this.

Two cars, 12 people, and we need the cars to get to multiple destinations. Flying isn’t an option.

We’ve done long drives before, but 10 or 11 hours per Mapquest (plus stops) is our max—and it’s not fun.

I’m lobbying to break up the trip, but I need a destination for the stop. Last time we stopped in Savannah and everyone was annoyed since it ended up being a bit out of the way and we hit traffic the next day on the way to Tampa (so we arrived later than anticipated).

I’d like to stay someplace on the way but a bit further past Savannah. Is that Jacksonville? Someplace else?

What? Are you still on Friendster too?

[Anonymous]

We used to drive from Bethesda to Miami a lot, which is further.

We would always leave at 7pm or 8 pm and drive through the night. We would do 3 hour shifts and stop to change drivers, pee etc at the same time. The other driver would sleep in the back. We would get there by brunch time. The advantage is that there is no traffic.

But this was in our 30s and 40s. Not sure if I would still do this in our 50s…