The Open Road...

Alternate title: Jay’s 70 MPH descent into madness.

I posted my plan for our trip last week, and thought it would be interesting to see how close we did or didn’t come to it. Very seldom do things go exactly according to plan, and this trip was no exception. While it was difficult to plan a road trip of this magnitude, especially with two young children in tow, we kept more-or-less to our plan and arrived somewhat when we expected…

Here’s how the trip actually went:

9:34 PM, 4/15/10: Backed the car out of the garage, took one last look around the house, and got out onto the road. We’d originally intended to leave between 9 and 10 PM, so things were actually going according to plan. Set the trip odometer to 0, full tank of gas, off we go.

9:45 PM, 4/15/10: First pit stop of the trip. It was a planned stop at Dunkin’ Donuts to get coffee, and TheBoy announced he has to pee. Figure better then than 20 minutes later down the road.

11:12 PM, 4/15/10: We cross the border into CT. Mostly uneventful.

12:37 AM, 4/16/10: Cross the border into NY. The descent into Mordor-on-the-Hudson has begun.

~ 1:00 AM, 4/16/10: Second pit stop. Coffee has its drawbacks.

1:33 AM, 4/16/10: Now entering NJ. We opted to go around NYC for many reasons, but it really didn’t seem to matter too much at 1 in the morning. Very little traffic at this time.

2:15 AM, 4/16/10: Stop for gas in Isengard, err, Iselin, NJ.

3:30 AM, 4/16/10: Coffee’s finally wore off; we pull off to switch drivers.

~ 4:00 AM, 4/16/10: Cross over into Delaware (time approximate given that I was unconscious)

~ 4:45 AM, 4/16/10: Now entering Maryland (Hi T-Bolt!)

6:00 AM, 4/16/10: VA state line. There are VA State cops everywhere. Radar detectors are illegal in VA. Go figure. Fortunately, we don’t have one. Plan was to make it south of DC before rush hour; mission accomplished.

6:30 AM, 4/16/10: Pull over for pit stop, switch drivers again. Interesting side note: After the Baltimore tunnel, there were no more tolls the entire rest of the trip. It costs the same in tolls to drive to DC as it does Orlando. Go figure.

8:45 AM, 4/16/10: Time for breakfast. We pull over to a truck stop in Stony Creek, VA and have breakfast at Denny’s (it was open and with the gas station, okay?) We gas up, and then put fuel in the car, and head back out on the road by 9:30 AM - this is making great time, as we’d allowed up to 2 hours for a rest stop for breakfast.

10:00 AM, 4/16/10: Good morning North Carolina. Hello speed limit 70 MPH!

There is a Zebulon, NC. I kept looking for his cousin Zebediah…

1:00 PM, 4/16/10: After seeing signs for South of the Border for the past 375 miles or so, we cross over into SC and immediately proceed to visit Pedro for lunch.

For those that have never been there, South of the Border is a restaurant/taco stand/motel/miniature golf course/medical center/interstellar spaceport/etc. located right off the highway as you cross into South Carolina. I thought the 60 foot tall neon cactus of Hilltop Steakhouse was tacky; the 20 foot tall Pedro makes it seem downright tame. Food was decent, service was glacial (but friendly).

5:26 PM, 4/16/10: We cross over into GA and see our first palm trees. TheBoy is happy.

6:30 PM, 4/16/10: Stop for the night in Savannah, GA. Found a Days Inn for $45 including an indoor pool, continental breakfast, and free wifi - can’t argue with that!

9:15 AM, 4/17/10: Back on the road. Completely emptying the car at the hotel may have made good sense from a “keep people from breaking into the car with MA plates” perspective, but it made loading it back up take longer. Fortunately we had a ground floor room and a parking space literally right outside the door.

10:17 AM, 4/17/10: The G. family has entered the state of Florida. Be afraid.

10:40 AM, 4/17/10: Stop for gas in Jacksonville. Took about 15 minutes, total, which is about 14 minutes and 58 seconds longer than I wanted to be in Jacksonville…

12:30 PM, 4/17/10: Stopped into Daytona Beach Harley Davidson for several reasons: It’s the largest dealership in North America (it’s enormous); it was owned by Bruce Rossmeyer, who also owned Boston Harley Davidson; and we needed to use the bathrooms…

1:00 PM, 4/17/10: ORLANDO! Stopped for lunch in Bob Evans (which I can best describe to those who know my reference as “Friendlys of the South”). Free wifi, though, and low calorie options, so a good stop overall. I logged onto my e-mail, went through the online check-in procedure for checking into Fort Wilderness, and estimated our arrival at 4PM.

4:10 PM, 4/17/10: Arrive at Fort Wilderness. Traffic on route 4 in Orlando can only be described as asstacular. Never expected to run into bumper-to-bumper traffic like that on a Saturday afternoon - heck, even Boston isn’t that bad. I’m guessing it’s compounded by FLA having the worst drivers in the known universe (no offense Robb) - but then again, I should have known better, seeing as how FLA is “G-d’s Waiting Room”.

4:30 PM, 4/17/10: Checked into cabin, unloaded car, and off to visit the mouse!

Total mileage: 1,365 miles. Total time: 42.5 hours including overnight stay. Total gas cost: $169.20. Total in tolls: Don’t know yet (we borrowed my folks’ EZ Pass to simplify things and speed things along). Overnight stay $55 plus tax (we opted for the rollaway bed for TheBoy). It’s still less expensive than flying, even if it does take a lot longer…

Not having to endure TSA probulation: Priceless.

That is all.