For 2,000+ Mile Round-Trip Drivers Only! (III)

[BC1836]

Originally Posted by dvczerfs

hello everyone!!! just stopped in to wish you east coaster good luck! i know alot of you live closer to the shore then i do so good luck and we will be praying for everyone. see you when its over!!

Thanks.

It's our last night in WDW. Two pre-booked nights in Savannah follow, and then it's home to see what happened. To be sure, we are very concerned to say the least.

All the best.

[disneymarie]

Originally Posted by dvczerfs

hello everyone!!! just stopped in to wish you east coaster good luck! we are expecting the storm to come through with sustained winds of 50-60 mph and 8-10 plus inches of rain. i have picked up everything including the rugs in our finished basement. got the generator and pumps ready. my inlaws left this morning for florida for three weeks today so i now have two houses to worry about. there house has no basement and they dont get water but they live in the woods. hopefully the power stays on but its not looking to good. i know alot of you live closer to the shore then i do so good luck and we will be praying for everyone. see you when its over!!

Just signed in to see if you checked, and to see if we have any DISers traveling to the mouse house this weekend.
It does look like we are going to get the brunt of Sandy after she hits the coast. With the system coming from he west joking it, all we need is the temperature to drop and ten inches of rain would be ten feet of snow

Hope the homes are okay, I guess not a matter of if we lose power, but when and how long. The insurance claims for this field agent will be a challenge again. I have not heard anything about the flood gates or an evacuation for Wyoming Valley yet?

I have a generator, will fill the tub with water if it gets bad, ..see on the news a store in East Stroudsburg "survival of the fittest" for emergencies. They were going to open in two weeks, decided to open for the storm.
Ummm ore MRA's or those ready to eat meals ny good? I have sooo mnay from the storm of 1993

[LadyBeBop]

Originally Posted by MOQu

As much as I dislike driving straight through and starting off the vacation tired, this time we have no choice.

We will have 3 drivers (myself, DS 22, DD 20) plus DS 8 leaving from SE Michigan. We can't leave until my daughter gets out of her college class @ 2pm on the Friday before Thanksgiving. But....we have to check into AoA Saturday to get her Cast Member rate of 60% instead of only 50% off. (I know....rough )

Do you have a deadline to check in? Like midnight?

I'm assuming you're taking I-75 down. You should be able to make it down in about 18-20 hours. In fact, I think you'd have enough time to get a cheap motel room for about 6-8 hours if you need it. Worst case, that would put you at AoA about 10 pm.

However, with three drivers, you should be fine going straight through. I'd rest at the welcome centers entering each state. They're well lit. Only problem is that it's 360 miles from the Georgia center to the Florida center. Since you'll travel that in the middle of the night, I can see you wanting to rest in the middle of the state. Look for a well lit truck stop. There are enough of them around.

I'd seriously try to pack the night before. And be ready to leave no later than 2. Remember, your daughter's instructor wants to start Thanksgiving vacation too. He may just let his students out by 1:30...if he even shows up.

[disneymarie]

Originally Posted by pwdebbie

I'm pretty sure our tolls added up to around $11.00. Of course, we made a big mistake when Miss Gwendolyn (GPS) told us to keep right and then as soon as we were in the right lane said, "Keep left." Well, now we know how she thinks -- she meant keep left after we kept right.

But at the time we were frustrated with the rain, the dark, the tolls, the traffic so we immediately switched from that right lane across four lanes of traffic to the left lane which then put us going in the opposite direction, with no U-turns in spite of Miss Gwendolyn's insistence and then back on the 417 going back the way we had just come, back off at another exit, back on to get in the right direction again.

Then we once again got in the right lane and stayed there until we made the turn and then we got in the left lane and there in front of us was the beautiful welcome arch which I totally missed because I was at that point close to having a nervous breakdown.

Oh, and dh managed to blow through a red light with that whole right lane / left lane fiasco and we could have been killed, really. Horns blaring, brakes squealing. And me jumping out of the car spitting fire in a gas station.

We'll never get on the 417 again.

think our gps are related...oh, no that may have been the men that didn't listen to me leaving Sandford airport with directions from the rental car agent...and why???? would they ever think to turn on the GPS?
Men then when they finally put it on, they are headed the wrong way,
Recalculating! Lol

[pwdebbie]

My parents (in their 80s) are evacuating from Fenwick Island, DE, this morning and heading to Dover. I hope that is far enough inland.

As for us, we live in the woods also. Our concern (besides power) is trees. Fortunately, most of the leaves came down earlier than usual this year, so that helps a little. But soggy ground and high wind are not a good combination for us. A little further west they are expecting snow. Please, Lord, not here!

Friends of ours hit the road yesterday morning from Greencastle, PA, to WDW. They will probably have a great week weather-wise. It's always best after a hurricane, they say.

[MOQu]

Originally Posted by LadyBeBop

Do you have a deadline to check in? Like midnight?

Remember, your daughter's instructor wants to start Thanksgiving vacation too. He may just let his students out by 1:30...if he even shows up.

We can always call on the way to let them know we will be in late...And I plan to put blankets in the car in case it gets chilly and we stop. I've tried to figure out if it is legal to actually 'rest' in the rest areas along the way, but I keep finding conflicting info. Perhaps truck stops like Pilot or TA will be better choices. They have mobile apps with info about each truck stop.

Sadly, it is not the last day before Thanksgiving break for my kids. Daughter will miss school the following Mon-Wed, so the Profs won't be in any hurry to get anywhere

[BC1836]

Still in Savannah...watching the Weather Channel..checking smart phone info...phoning relatives and neighbors in Sandy's path. Heading out tomorrow towards home.

All the best.

[cruisingkat]

Will be driving down Thursday morning for our fourth trip this year. Looked at the interstate weather and rain should be gone from southeastern TN and northern GA on Thurs. Even FL looks clear for Fri.
And temps in FL look quite good - Not too hot nor too cool. Much better than our Oct trip - the MNSSHP on the 8th was miserable- Humid stagnate air which made the temp seem much higher than it was.

[TinkPirateMom]

We are so blessed that we made it through Sandy without any damage (we are only 35 minutes from AC). So we still plan to leave Friday around 6:30pm for our straight through drive to Disney World.

Praying for all those at the shore that took the brunt of this storm.

[byejou]

Originally Posted by TinkPirateMom

We are so blessed that we made it through Sandy without any damage (we are only 35 minutes from AC). So we still plan to leave Friday around 6:30pm for our straight through drive to Disney World.

Praying for all those at the shore that took the brunt of this storm.

We are 20 from Philly and have some mild damage mostly from high winds. We are leaving at 3:30am on Saturday, hoping to pulled camper down if roads are open and make it to Orlando around 8-9pm.

[letthewookiewin]

Originally Posted by TinkPirateMom

We are so blessed that we made it through Sandy without any damage (we are only 35 minutes from AC). So we still plan to leave Friday around 6:30pm for our straight through drive to Disney World.

Praying for all those at the shore that took the brunt of this storm.

I'm glad that y'all made it through without any damage. Some of the pictures I have seen look terrible. I am just so thankful that we don't have to deal with hurricanes where we live.

I finally convince the DH to the Mulligan trip I want to take next year!! Our trip this past June had several issues, and I told my DH he owed me a do-over. We'll drive again, because the boys loved driving there. Our oldest DS is already reminding us that he turns 15 this November, and since he'll have his driver's permit he thinks that means he gets to drive on the trip. I haven't talked to the DH about specific dates, but we may just do what we did last year. As soon as the boys got off the bus the last day of school, they went in the house long enough for a potty break, and to put their stuff up, and then we left.

[pwdebbie]

We also made it through without damage or loss of power. My parents had to evacuate from the Delaware coast; they went to Dover. Tomorrow (Wednesday) morning they are going to go home. If they need help, dh and I and my ds and dbil are ready to head down there in the afternoon.

[Allieran3]

We are leaving Pa on Nov 26th will be stopping in Richburg SC overnight. Here's my question will we be passing by South of the Border?

[loveysbydesign]

Originally Posted by Allieran3

We are leaving Pa on Nov 26th will be stopping in Richburg SC overnight. Here's my question will we be passing by South of the Border?

No , when you stay in richburg you do not pass SoTB on 95. We actaully just stayed at the Motel 6 in Richburg on the way down last week and stayed at the Country Inn & Suites in Rock Hill on the way home on Sun. night.

[loveysbydesign]

Got back Mon. night around 7:30p.m. from our drive We were planning to take the Autotrain home this time to try it out. Howevere at 1:30pm. on Sun, as we were checking in Amtrak got word all th erailways were closed by CSX. We hit the road immediately upon findng out! So by 2p.m. on Sun. were were on the road to adventure trying to outdrive Sandy to get to PA!!!

The drive on Sun. was uneventful other then being rushed and stressed trying to get as far north as possible as we were worried about snow in the mountains. Part of I95 was already closed north of NC so we had to go 95-26-77-81-78. That is the way we typically go anyway but we usually leave early in the morning and we felt rushed as we were concerned about snow. We only made it to Rock Hill NC Sun. night as we were exhausted and hadn't hit the road til 2p.m. We atayed athte The Country Inn & Suites, got an amazing rate of 2 connecting rooms with 2 Q beds for under $150 including taxes.
The 2nd day we had good weather for the 1st 2 hours and the last 9 were dreadful! High winds, rain, snow showers...saw 2 tractor trailers tipped over off the side of the roaud on 81 and 78 once we got to PA as the storm had worsened by then and we were only doing a max. speed of 45mph due to restricions. It was eerie once we hit Hamburg Pa as we were the only car on the road...made it a bit less stressful but still weird.