Ct. to The Fort - Route suggestions?

[daveinct]

hi folks,
i am looking for a bit of help in planning out my north-south route for the upcoming family vacation to disney fort wilderness in april. this will be the families 1st 1000+ mile adventure. its a great start to our 2nd season of owning our camper.

helpful info -
fort time - 4/7 - 4/13
tow vehicle - 2010 chevy tahoe
camper - 2014 rockwood 2306
driver - me
passengers in the great journey - DW, DS (12)
2 1/2 planned travel time
ct. to va.
va. to ga
ga to the fort

now the question? i will do a short hand of routes to make this short. construction on 77/26 ?

route #1 - stay on rt 81 alot
routes 84 - 81 - 77 - 26 - 95

route #2 - stay on rt 81 alittle
routes 84 - 81 - 66 - 17 - 95

the other question would be, would you plan those legs of a trip with a reservation at a campground. approximately 8 1/2 hours for the long legs. a helpful note, DW has not warmed up to the idea of boondocking yet.

thanks in advance with any helpful suggestions for the upcoming adventure.
take care, david

 

[PaHunter]

First having done is many a time, I would use and do use your route 1.
Campgrounds, you have several in Southcentral PA. if too close, KOA in Hagarstown, MD, further down the line, Ft Chiswell,VA. There are several in SC, Green Acres is right off of 95, Then there is another at exit 33. Exit 1 in GA at the Florida line is a nice KOA. We have stayed at all the above during our travels both to disney and other destinations.

 

[4077]

I pretty much second what PaHunter says...I live in Seymour, CT and have done both of those routes....option 1 is definitely better for the traffic in my opinion. I have suckered myself into taking 66 over to the Beltway and back onto 95 (albeit late at night/not during traffic times) because the time is an hour less according to google, but can’t really say I realize it to be any better. Anyway, safe travels and have fun. Highly recommend that KOA at the FL/GA border...easy in and out and not too long to Disney from there...

 

[jeffrey1966]

We always take the route that PaHunter and 4077 recommend as well. Tried rt.95 years ago and it wasn't a good experience. From the Albany NY area we make our first stop at the Natural Bridge/Lexington KOA which is a very nice campground and easy to get to from rt. 81 . Next stop for us is Point South KOA, Yemassee SC. We also like the KOA that PaHunter mentioned on the FL. Ga. border. It's called the Jacksonville North/ST. Marys KOA. It's been a couple of years since we've been to that one but they always had a free waffle,pancake,biscuits and gravy breakfast every morning in the main building!

 

[Sjm9911]

Im going to have to resurch this stuff soon. Leaving from nj, but have a pop up so i will need a motel that has room for the trailer. Im assuming since you all have campers these routes are good with propane etc?

 

[sirenia88]

Where are you coming from in CT. Strangely enough CT is a pretty big state. You can do 287 through NY and NJ depending on the leaving time. The main thing is be prepared for the tolls. 81 is going to be better on those costs. I know @snowmedic ,@PaHunter , @4077 and i have had several conversations about this on the boards. It really seems to depend where you are coming from.

As I have seen it, Once you get out of DC on the eastern routes, it's pretty smooth sailing. You can go over 81 and the like just remember it's hilly and your fuel costs should be adjusted accordingly. Make sure the vehicle and trailer are checked on that route mainly due to I 77s route into NC. That is a fairly long grade and will test your tow vehicle.

Natural Bridge KOA in VA is an awesome stop point. Great access to I81. Savannah South in GA excellent choice. The St Mary Jax No KoA at the FL/GA line is another perfect stopping point. It puts you around 3 hours to the land of the mouse depending on traffic.

 

[snowmedic]

I live in VT. and take I-87 to I-95 straight down. Usually hitting DC around 1 in the morning. It’s pretty smooth sailing until we get about 40 miles to GA. then it’s slow going until the GA. line. Even going through Jacksonville around in the afternoon isn’t bad. I drive 1500 miles straight through by myself.

 

[4077]

Im going to have to resurch this stuff soon. Leaving from nj, but have a pop up so i will need a motel that has room for the trailer. Im assuming since you all have campers these routes are good with propane etc?

I have had no tunnel/propane issues on the routes I have taken. I also stopped at hotel on way (just easier sometimes on my first night leaving late...just throw a bag with overnight stuff in car). I spent a LOT of time loooking at the parking lots/ease of access on google maps to be able to figure where best to stop with trailer. Hopefully should be a bit easier if you have average size pop up...I have to admit I was concerned about showing up and finding that the area I was hoping to park in would be full, but worked out ok. Probably a decent amount of options, but I was looking only at Marriott brand properties as I have points from my job for free nights, so my desire to use a “free” night restricted my choices.

 

[Sjm9911]

Good to know! My pup is pretty big, and old, lol. I was worried about parking also. Ill have to look that up also. I dont plan to run the fridge on propane on the way down, so the bottles will be off. Ill stop and get food when i get there.

 

[PaHunter]

Good to know! My pup is pretty big, and old, lol. I was worried about parking also. Ill have to look that up also. I dont plan to run the fridge on propane on the way down, so the bottles will be off. Ill stop and get food when i get there.

The only restriction for propane I know of that affects RV's is the Bay Tunnel, Chesepeak Bay. MD/VA area.

 

[Sjm9911]

I was thinking of that route. Was going to take the ferry from nj. I need to look. I thought the bridge around washington dc or something didnt alow propane also, and you had to use a go around. But thats why im here, see how you guys get there and just copy that!

 

[FtW Mike]

I was thinking of that route. Was going to take the ferry from nj. I need to look. I thought the bridge around washington dc or something didnt alow propane also, and you had to use a go around. But thats why im here, see how you guys get there and just copy that!

Sjm9911 you have me a bit confused. What Ferry are you considering using. I am very aware of the Cape May - Lewes ferry but it is no where near the routes you originally described

 

[Sjm9911]

I was going to take that originally, but was scared of the bay bridge tunnel, as they say if winds are high they dont allow trailers. Im in the middle of nj. I havent ironed out any route yet, i have untill october to decide! I always remembered the bay bridge and ferry when i was younger, but havent made the trip as an adult, or with a camper yet.

 

[Sjm9911]

Im not the original op, i sort of piggybacked on the tread sorry for the confusion.

 

[PaHunter]

I was going to take that originally, but was scared of the bay bridge tunnel, as they say if winds are high they dont allow trailers. Im in the middle of nj. I havent ironed out any route yet, i have untill october to decide! I always remembered the bay bridge and ferry when i was younger, but havent made the trip as an adult, or with a camper yet.

Well looks like you can travel with the propane, but it needs to be shut off, and they may inspect it. There is also a 24 dollar toll for the bridge if you are towing a two axle trailer.
Years ago, we are talking the mid 90's I came back 95 on a Sunday, got stuck in Beltway traffic around the DC area, for over 3 hours. Never again.

 

[trubgerg]

My parents have a 36' motor home and tow a Jeep behind it. Making the trip from Massachusetts, they prefer the 84 - 81 - 77 - 26 - 95 route as that allows them to avoid New York City, Baltimore, and Washington DC.

As for stopping overnight during the trip, they have never made reservations. Towards the end of the day's drive, my mother's job as navigator has always been to find a campground and call ahead to make sure there are sites available. One thing to keep in mind is that if you are travelling from about October until April that most campgrounds in the northern half of that route will be closed for the winter.

 

[PaHunter]

Harrisburg has a campground that is open all year, and Promised Land State Park off 84 is also open year round.

 

[Bdev13]

We like option #2 ourselves (17 is great and nice by pass around DC). We did 95 straight down a couple years ago (well with offshoot around I-4) leaving at midnight. (RT8-95 (we are north/western side of New Haven), so that timeframe gets us basically through DC before rush hour traffic and after that 95 is pretty much smooth). We make the trip with one overnight (Pt South-Yessamme KOA), so push a bit further.

However last year we went to Outerbanks and after some pin issues outside our control on our 5th wheel we had a 13 hour delayed start on our trip and left around 1 pm, with that we took option 2 back to 95. The route worked well for us, and we overnighted in the parking lot of Bass Pro off 95 outside of Richmond. It was actually really good experience and convenient on/off for the trip. We are making the trip back to the fort in Aug and plan on doing option #2 again. Option #1 my DH wants to avoid for the hills, we have driven it in our car before. As I said before, we are just north of New Haven, which factors into time of getting out of tri-state area, and routes/time we consider.

We had made reservations on our way down and back last time, April will have lots of spring breakers and might have some people heading back north, so I would keep that in mind with thoughts on reservations.

 

[tinkerdorabelle]

What time does traffic slow down in DC area.

 

[snowmedic]

Not sure what time it slows down, maybe 8-9 pm. Driving from VT. We usually hit the DC area around midnight. When we came back from Orlando a few days ago we got into the DC area around 11:00am and it was terrible. If you have ez-pass for the express lanes it really helps, when there open.