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Sooo my mother is joining The Boy and I for our Thanksgiving/birthday cruise. Since she can't fly (health reasons) we have to make the very long drive from Chicago to Miami.

 

Have any of you ever taken a similar drive? Any tips and all of that you can give me?

 

Will not be driving straight through at all. Plan to stop and stay the night in Atlanta then continue the next day.

 

Thanks!

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Sooo my mother is joining The Boy and I for our Thanksgiving/birthday cruise. Since she can't fly (health reasons) we have to make the very long drive from Chicago to Miami.

 

Have any of you ever taken a similar drive? Any tips and all of that you can give me?

 

Will not be driving straight through at all. Plan to stop and stay the night in Atlanta then continue the next day.

 

Thanks!

 

 

How many drivers? I drive down from St Paul every time I go to Florida, it takes me 4 days driving 7-8 hours a day, I don't stress out if its bad weather I stop, if I am tired I stop. Day and a half will be pushing it during that week, Remember everyone is out shopping, I would take a extra day. Avoid Atlanta during the day hours, be prepared once you hit Florida every lunatic in the country will be driving. I would much rather drive on glare ice then that week in Florida Toll ways. Just so happens that is when I will be leaving as well. Good luck, have a nice trip.

 

PS add at least a day for bad winter weather, watch future road conditions.

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We are going this for our cruise in 2 weeks (Port Canaveral though) with an extra stop to see my mom. Our basic plan (and wouldn't change much if we weren't doing an overnight along the way) is to drive to McDonough, GA to avoid Atlanta traffic in the morning (weekday) the first day and finish the drive on day 2. We're leaving by 10 AM to start the drive, so we will miss rush hour in Indy and Louisville, but might hit Nashville at rush hour. Normally, we would drive to Port Canaveral the next day, but we're stopping to spend a day with my mom. The most important thing to me though is avoiding Atlanta at rush hour. We've done similar trips several times - and once detoured through Alabama to attempt missing Atlanta and mountains but I don't recommend that.

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Don't try to come through Atlanta during rush hour. I live north of the city and commute in every day on I75. 34 miles, and it takes me 1.5-2 hours every morning. Not fun. For Florida, I recommend getting a Sunpass sticker for your car and putting some money on it. That will let you go through the Sunpass lanes on the toll road, and save you some time and hassle. Order it here: https://www.sunpass.com/index

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Sooo my mother is joining The Boy and I for our Thanksgiving/birthday cruise. Since she can't fly (health reasons) we have to make the very long drive from Chicago to Miami.

 

Have any of you ever taken a similar drive? Any tips and all of that you can give me?

 

Will not be driving straight through at all. Plan to stop and stay the night in Atlanta then continue the next day.

 

Thanks!

Good luck.

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Depending on traffic you are looking at 11-11.5 hours of driving on day one, followed by about 10 hours day two.

 

We are three weeks removed from driving from SoFla to Valdosta GA, then to Pensacola FL, then to Auburn AL, then back home. Courtesy of Hurricane Irma. Still have lingering stiff knees, sore butts and overall malaise from all those hours staring down the road. For mom-of-mom's sake I would at least break up the drive with a day of rest in the middle. Or spread out over four days: two days of 6 to 7 hours drive, rest day, then to Miami.

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We have driven from Toronto to Miami

We take at least 3 days stopping every few hours to walk around the rest stops

eat, pit stop we usually stop by 6pm I agree about Atlanta do not hit it early morning or late afternoon

I would get well south of Orlando on the last night even then it can be a long drive in the morning to Miami with traffic delays

 

good luck

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We regularly did 14 hr drives to Far Northern CA for DD’s school.

 

Bring easy to eat, not-too-messy or sticky snacks. (Cheese puffs aren’t a good idea, lol) Bring lots of water, soda can make you thirstier. We used many baby wipes.

 

Dress in layers.

Use the restroom whenever one is available.

 

Pack a separate bag for your overnight, even if you bring it all in this will help your sanity!

 

Figure out how to pay for tolls. Some will take your pic and mail you a bill (GG Bridge does this)

If you haven’t driven this before, test drive using Google.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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Sooo my mother is joining The Boy and I for our Thanksgiving/birthday cruise. Since she can't fly (health reasons) we have to make the very long drive from Chicago to Miami.

 

Have any of you ever taken a similar drive? Any tips and all of that you can give me?

 

Will not be driving straight through at all. Plan to stop and stay the night in Atlanta then continue the next day.

 

Thanks!

 

I would avoid stopping inside of Atlanta!!! There are some areas that I would not feel safe leaving my car in a hotel parking lot overnight!!

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We drive to Florida from Lafayette, Indiana taking I65 to Montgomery, Alabama, 231 through Dothan, Alabama to I10 to I75 to wherever we are going in Florida. We usually go to Bradenton and it takes two days.

 

We like to avoid Atlanta if at all possible. Sometimes we get to Birmingham during rush hour but it's a lot better than Atlanta.

 

Two of us take turns driving and we stop about every two or so hours.

 

Safe travels.

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We drive to Florida from Lafayette, Indiana taking I65 to Montgomery, Alabama, 231 through Dothan, Alabama to I10 to I75 to wherever we are going in Florida. We usually go to Bradenton and it takes two days.

 

We like to avoid Atlanta if at all possible. Sometimes we get to Birmingham during rush hour but it's a lot better than Atlanta.

 

Two of us take turns driving and we stop about every two or so hours.

 

Safe travels.

 

I second this recommendation. Last time I drove through Atlanta it took me over two hours on a EARLY (6 am) Saturday morning.

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Thank you all soooo much. The plan is to leave Saturday (the cruise leaves Monday). However on the return trip it is a MUST I get back home Sunday night. The cruise gets back on Saturday morning. Taking 3 and 4 days is just not feasible and as much as I already hate road trips, prolonging it will just make things worse.

 

Going I want to leave at the tail crack of morning so as to maximize my son's sleeping time. The plan is 10/11 hours one day and finishing it up the next day. I have a friend in Florida that is sending me a sun pass so that will be taken care of regarding Florida tolls.

 

For my son I will be packing his favorite snacks, things to make sandwiches, coloring and activity books and of course his trust tablet. The backseat will be his play domain. I figure I can go at least 3 hours before I need to stretch it out. Same for my mom. I'm just trying to take the best path there.

 

I looked into Amtrak and that's a no go! I would have to ride almost 20 hours to DC and then another almost 20 to Miami. That's not gonna work for me LOL. If it was a direct route then yes I would have been all for it as my son would have LOOOOOVED that.

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We drive to Florida from Lafayette, Indiana taking I65 to Montgomery, Alabama, 231 through Dothan, Alabama to I10 to I75 to wherever we are going in Florida. We usually go to Bradenton and it takes two days.

 

We like to avoid Atlanta if at all possible. Sometimes we get to Birmingham during rush hour but it's a lot better than Atlanta.

 

Two of us take turns driving and we stop about every two or so hours.

 

Safe travels.

 

 

Does this add to your time? I've never done a drive like this. Longest I've ever driven was to Arkansas.

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I made a round trip in july of this year.

 

Went to Joliet for a drag race.

 

Pulling a 24' trailer I kept the cruise control at 65 MPH.

 

Total behind the wheel time was 23 hours.

 

I went Fl Turnpike, I-75,I-65, I-80.

 

Also stopped between three and five hours for gas.

 

If possible, time the trip to avoid Atlanta, Nashville and Chattanoga during Am and PM rush hour.

 

The bottlenecks were Atlanta, Chattanoga, Nashville, Louisville, Indianapolis and I-80.

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Don't try to come through Atlanta during rush hour. I live north of the city and commute in every day on I75. 34 miles, and it takes me 1.5-2 hours every morning. Not fun. For Florida, I recommend getting a Sunpass sticker for your car and putting some money on it. That will let you go through the Sunpass lanes on the toll road, and save you some time and hassle. Order it here: https://www.sunpass.com/index

 

Was gonna have my friend to send it to me but just used this site to order it! Thanks!

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We are going this for our cruise in 2 weeks (Port Canaveral though) with an extra stop to see my mom. Our basic plan (and wouldn't change much if we weren't doing an overnight along the way) is to drive to McDonough, GA to avoid Atlanta traffic in the morning (weekday) the first day and finish the drive on day 2. We're leaving by 10 AM to start the drive, so we will miss rush hour in Indy and Louisville, but might hit Nashville at rush hour. Normally, we would drive to Port Canaveral the next day, but we're stopping to spend a day with my mom. The most important thing to me though is avoiding Atlanta at rush hour. We've done similar trips several times - and once detoured through Alabama to attempt missing Atlanta and mountains but I don't recommend that.

 

Ok so don't go through Alabama. I just looked at the map and it looks like going through Alabama would add so much time. Stopping at 6pm works great for me. That way I can get a full nights rest and I won't have to necessarily drive through mountains in the dark LOL Since I'm leaving on a Saturday I hope I don't hit as much rush hour traffic. Hopefully people won't start traveling for the holidays until I'm already on the boat.

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Have you thought about cruising out of Galveston? It would be a much easier drive than going to South Florida.

 

Sent from my FRD-L04 using Tapatalk

 

 

Cruise is already paid for and this cruise was chosen specifically for one of the ports. We stop in Ochi. He wants to spend his actual birthday with his dad who happens to be in Jamaica so switching is not an option.

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I made a round trip in july of this year.

 

Went to Joliet for a drag race.

 

Pulling a 24' trailer I kept the cruise control at 65 MPH.

 

Total behind the wheel time was 23 hours.

 

I went Fl Turnpike, I-75,I-65, I-80.

 

Also stopped between three and five hours for gas.

 

If possible, time the trip to avoid Atlanta, Nashville and Chattanoga during Am and PM rush hour.

 

The bottlenecks were Atlanta, Chattanoga, Nashville, Louisville, Indianapolis and I-80.

 

I know exactly where you were going! Need to take The Boy to see a race. That's like a good hour from my house. I love cruise control. I will going a bit faster than 65 (not enough to grab the attention of law enforcement though and of course safely):D. I'm praying for the best but will have a contingency for the worse. What I'm not gonna do is miss that boat!!! Indianapolis is an easy drive (done it several times and takes me 2 hours. Those bottleneck places are the areas where I plan to stop near for bathroom/stretch/potty breaks! Thank you much!!

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Dear MomofTheBoy-You are such a great Mom to do this for your son! I was thinking you must be crazy to drive so far for this cruise till I read about your son's birthday wish! Good luck and have a great cruise!

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