Am I Crazy?-Driving to FL in Nov.

[KDawnLily]

We are driving to WDW, leaving on a Friday night around 7pm and not stopping until we hit mid Georgia, hopefully around 3-4pm Saturday. There are 3 drivers and a 5 yr old.
We will be heading down the I75 from just outside Toronto
So.. Am I crazy to think that we will get to Georgia by 3 or 4 on Saturday?
Any tips from folks who have already done this trip in November?
Coming back we will be prepared to take our time, in case of weather problems.
Thanks for any tips and/or accusations of being completely bonkers and I should be shot to even consider being in Georgia by 3 or 4.

 

[Hockeychic]

Basically we left Aurora, Ontario at 3pm and got into Altanta Georgia 16 hours later. We are heading out Oct 25th this time but are taking the 75/77/95 I think that is the order bascially I95 route this time and may come back I75 that will depend on the weather.

 

[PoohBWV]

I think that is very reasonable, although a lot will depend on that 5 year old. LOL! We have driven several times from Chatham, through Detroit and down 1-75 and been in Orlando anywhere between 20 1/2 hrs and 22 hours including bathroom breaks and food breaks. Driving through the night is great as long as your drivers are able to handle it. It really seems to shorten the drive. The last time we went, dh and I came home from work and went to bed right after dinner. We slept until 1:00 a.m. and had our two teens wake us up. We left about 2:00 a.m. The kids slept until 10:30 - by then we were in Tennessee. We stopped in Ocala for the night around 9:00 pm. The only other stops we made were for bathroom breaks and at McDonalds for lunch and at Crackerbarrel for supper.

 

[KDawnLily]

Whew.. Ok.. now that we have established that I'm not completely insane....(thank you PoohBWV and Hockeychic).. Does anyone have any tips about driving the I75? We did buy the Along Interstate I75 book by Dave Hunter and that has great information but some first hand experience esp. with Driving in Nov. would be great .. and I'm sure that others would appreciate any tips we can come up with too!
PS PoohBWV... the 7pm start is how we are hoping to handle the 5yr old... he will probably(hopefully) sleep the first 8-9 hours..well.. maybe not the first hour or two.. but he sleeps in cars no matter how long the trip so who knows...

 

[Hockeychic]

you will need it is awesome. It was much better then the trip tik we got from CAA. My only words of advise would be to stick to big name gas stations. Got bad gas in some no name gas station just outside of Florida, can't remember the city....vadalla or something like that....

Enjoy your trip!!!

 

[PoohBWV]

Only other thing I would say is try to plan bathroom breaks so you don't have to stop between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. We have stopped then and some of the places can be a little scary. If you absolutely have to stop, pick a big name station that is very well lit. I agree about taking Along 1-75. It is indispensable and for the person following it, it really makes the trip go quicker!

 

[cabmom]

Hi, November is normally when we drive down. We go to be with my inlaws who live in St. Petersburg for the American Thanksgiving. We have hit snow storms 2 times going down and back, and major rain. It rained all the way to Jacksonville last November. We took the coast route(rain) going last year and coming home we did I-75(ice storms). I'm not sure which route I prefer better. We have 3 boys under 7 and we took a tv/vcr combo to keep them occupied. We did not drive straight thru anytime. I don't like driving at night because of animals on the road and I can't stay awake. I would still go in November, however we are doing a Disney only trip this year!!!

 

[the4moores]

We did exactly what you are planning last September. We left around 7pm with the kids in their pjs and drove from London and made it to about 1 hour from the florida border by 3pm. We stopped at hotel with pool and the girls (2 and 4 at the time) loved swimming while husband had a little rest. It was nice to stop around that time so you can actually enjoy the hotel. We also took many breaks at rest stops for eating and washroom. The girls slept through most of the night which was nice. We had two drivers and my husband did most of the driving. We did take a 2 hour rest at one of the stops. Have fun!

 

[CindyCan]

We have driven I75 in Nov 2000 & mid-Dec 2002. In 2000 we only did about 7 hours of the drive or so, after work, and stayed in Toledo OH. We drove through vicious rain that whole section, and most of the next morning. There was also a tornado warning at the hotel in OH. Once we got through the rain, though, the drive was great. Last Dec, we actually had a really clear trip...but we were about 1 day behind the huge ice storms that had hit to the east (all along the route we took down 2 weeks earlier!). We were surprised to see ice on all the trees lining I75 through GA, TN & KY, so the storm had hit a very large area. So...
Yes, you can hit bad weather this time of year, but as long as you are flexible (if you decide you need to stop & find a hotel to wait out the weather), then you'll be fine, especially on I75. We also used the Along I75 book, and I agree that you don't need anything else...not even a CAA Triptik (which I had & used extensively for our different route down).
Have a good trip!

 

[KDawnLily]

Thank you everyone who has replied. It's been a little nerve racking panning this trip. Now I just have to get through the next 100 days or so....
If anyone else has any tips.. Please, keep them coming!

 

[DSNY FN]

We left London at 7 PM in 2001 and drove to Valdosta and arrived at the hotel there at 3 in the afternoon. We stopped every 500K's for gas then we stopped at the Georgia Welcome centre for breakfast at about 7:30 AM for breakfast and in Macon for lunch at a rest stop there. So yes you can do it especially if you are just looking to make it to MID Georgia by 3 or 4 in the afternoon. We also had an 8 month old and a 5 year old and they both slept through the night and for a fair bit of the day part to. The stop in Valdosta was great at 3 PM we got to relax and have a nice night and some dinner plus it was a good way to end a day of driving. We drove straight through on the way home only stopping for food and gas. Our total drive time was about 20 to 22 hours we also took a different route into Fla off the Turnpike it took us through lots of orange groves etc it was really nice. It was # 27 off the turnpike federal highway 27 very nice and very little traffic.