any advice? I leave in a little under 2 weeks. I was wondering how many people have done this, and what wisdom you can share that I may not have thought of.
I’m very nervous about this! I’ll be going from Arkansas to New Jersey and leaving on a Sunday. Did I mention I’m nervous about this? I am. I should mention I have a TomTom and not relying on a map. Or I’d end up in Mexico.
On my agenda so far is basically just to get my car serviced before I go. My dad suggested carrying a gallon of water, which I honestly didn’t even think about doing.
We drove from Arkansas to New Hampshire about twelve years ago. I thought we would never get through Tennessee.
The only problem I had was not being able to understand a guy at a gas station in Pennsylvania. The Blue Ridge mountains in Tennessee is/are the most beautiful place on earth.
Make sure you pay attention to how tired you get, and pull over for a rest or a nap if you feel your eyes getting heavy. Even if you’re not tired, make sure you stop every two hours to stretch, move around, and get the kinks out. On long drives like that, accidents are generally the result of fatigue and inattention, so stay alert.
A friend and i drove from Baltimore to Austin a few years back, going through Maryland, Virginia, Tennessee, and Arkansas before arriving in Texas. It’s much easier with two people, because you can swap the driving every couple of hours.
Have you ever driven in New Jersey and other parts of the northeast before? If not, you might find the freeways a rather different experience from what you’re used to in Arkansas.
One of my memories of driving through Arkansas is how orderly and pleasant the freeway driving experience was; everyone stayed in the right-hand lane unless overtaking, and once they were done overtaking, they would move back to the right. It’s the first time i’d ever seen this practice in America, and it was refreshing.
New Jersey (indeed, many other states) does not generally demonstrate the same sort of freeway order. The freeways are much busier, cars tend to drive closer together, and there are plenty of people changing lanes or zipping in and out of lanes. It’s not quite the relaxing experience that Arkansas freeway driving is.
It’s a law actually.
The people in Boston, rushing to get ahead of each other before the lanes drop down to go under that damn tunnel scared the snot out of me. Fortunately, Mrs. Plant was used to driving like that.
Last big drive we did was from Ohio to California when we were moving out here. To make it easier on ourselves we planned out about 10 hours of driving a day, then stopping for a full nights sleep. Depending on where in AR and where in NJ you’re looking at around a 20 hour trip so I would plan 2 full driving days for it.
When you see a rest stop, then stop to pee. I don’t care if you don’t have to pee - you will once you stand up and get to the potty. If you don’t stop to pee then, you’ll be racing through the mountains wishing you had stopped to pee at that last rest stop because OMGIHAVETOPEESOBAD!!!
I make that mistake once per trip.
The same applies to gas - there will not be a gas station in the next 20 miles if you only have 20 miles worth of gas in your tank. Stop when you can, where it feels safe to do so.
I do Tampa to Cleveland and back on a yearly basis. In fact I just did it for this past holiday weekend. I’ve also done Denver to Tampa twice. The one thing to keep in mind is how tired you are. Sometimes you can just pull into a rest stop and walk around for a bit be awake for a few more hours but if you are nodding off at the wheel pull into a rest stop or a motel and catch some Z’s. Driving can be very fatiguing.
Yes, I had heard that Tennessee was the worst for that very reason. The first half of the trip, I’m ok with. It’s the farther north I get that makes me nervous.
I think this trip would be much, much better if I had someone else in the car with me. Unfortunately, it’s a solo trip. I used to live in New Jersey, and know how crazy the roads are. Which is why I’m nervous about this trip. Fortunately my mom lives in south Jersey. I, however, have not driven on those roads. Only been in the vehicle with people who were driving. Sigh… it’s gotta be done though.
My mom wants me to make it a three day trip. Just driving during the day, and stopping when it starts getting dark. I can get behind that I think. People would be getting off work around that time, so I’d probably want off the roads anyway. Just seems like three days would be too long, but who knows.
I have amazing pee-holding powers. I’d probably pee everytime I stopped to get gas though.
A gallon of washer fluid (and you know where and how to add both)
(new stuff)
A cellphone. If you don’t have one, get a disposable for the trip.
A 4-way lug wrench. Those provided with the car are not adequate
A blanket or two should you get stranded. I don’t know your exact route, but the Apppalachians can get a lot of snow even when the weather is warm on either side of the range.
How you handle your money is up to you (cash or cards), but carry a minimum $50 in cash on hand.
Have your tires checked before you go.
My rule of thumb for long haul driving is to refill when the gas tank is at half. I panic when it gets down to 1/4. I also have a car where the last half goes very quickly.
If you get sleepy, pull over and take a nap, or switch if you have a driving-able passenger. I fear sleepiness behind the wheel more than full bladders.
I’m very frugal, so take this any way you want. I’d rather pack a cooler with stuff I like to eat and drink, than eat fast food along the road. If I do eat at a restaurant, breakfast is the cheapest meal of the day, so that’s the one I’ll do.
I make the drive from DC to Arkansas a couple of times a year with three kids in a minivan. It’s fine the whole way, really. There’s a couple of stretches without services but nothing like you see routinely out west. The stretch through Tennessee and Virginia is very nice, IMHO.
Several years ago I drove from PA to Los Angeles on my own. Then when I was dating tygre I used to drive on my own from western NY to central IL almost every other weekend. Things I learned:
Get a lot of music to listen to, or have a satellite radio. Trying to listen to broadcast radio is a fruitless exercise because once you do miraculously find a station you like it’ll be out of range. If you take music along, take something you listen to a lot and enjoy. It’s much more calming.
Bringing a gallon of water is a decent idea, but decant some of it into empty bottles or similar containers. It’s a lot easier to sip and drive.
I second mhendo’s suggestion to stop every couple of hours, even if you don’t feel like stopping. Stop at a fast-food restaurant or a Stuckey’s or similar place, walk around, try to go to the bathroom. When I tried to go four or five hours without stopping, my legs killed me for days after the drive.
Make sure you talk to friends or relatives at regular points during the drive. It will reassure them and it will be calming for you, too.
Try to eat something other than fast food–find somewhere with salads or fruit, buy it from a grocery store if necessary. Trail mix or dried fruit is good to have along too. I didn’t do that on the trip to California and by the time I got to Las Vegas my blood felt like congealed grease and I was sweating french fry oil.
Bring along something to read. Not doing this was a bad idea on the CA trip for me. Sitting in a restaurant alone with nothing to read–I might as well have been carrying a sign saying “Weird people, come talk to me.” But when I’ve been alone in a restaurant with a newspaper or book, nobody bothered me.
Find something fun or interesting along the way to do, even if it’s a short side trip. It’s a good break from driving. Take a few brochures from the hotels you’re staying at.
I’m a bit paranoid so take this for what it’s worth. Keep your overnight bag and suitcases in the trunk so that it’s not obvious that you’re on a long trip in unfamiliar territory.
What part of New Jersey? If the southern part, check the directions from the GPS unit carefully. Ya see, from the DC area (if you’re routed that way), there are 2 ways to get there. One is roughly 200 miles… the other is only 140. That’s the way the GPS will try to route you.
However, the GPS doesn’t tell you that part of that 140 miles crosses water where there is no bridge. A friend of mine found that out, when she was driving a carload of Girl Scouts to Wildwood NJ last spring. The other moms (me included), had printed out Google maps that routed us up around Baltimore and over the Delaware Memorial Bridge. Our friend saved 60 miles, but had to spend 60+ bucks for the ferry! (on preview, I looked at the routing from, say, Little Rock to Princeton and it looks like you’d go 81/76 and therefore avoid most of the DC/Baltimore area, so this won’t happen to you… but it’s a cautionary tale about relying totally on GPS units)
Do you have one of those SmartTag / EZ Pass transponders? Any time to get one before the drive? Those will speed up the toll-road portions of the trip.
Give yourself plenty of break times - I’m assuming you’re the only driver?
Bring munchies that are crunchy - they help keep you alert. Salty ones can also help with reducing the frequence of potty breaks (I’ve found). Yeah, that may not be the healthiest option and your ankles will look like watermelons for a day or so, but it’s something to consider.
I’ve done a few 1000+ mile trips alone. The interstates are more boring than backroads, but the quality of roadside services along the interstates is more constant. Some of those back road rest stop/gas station/bathrooms are a bit dodgy. The nice rest stops along the interstates are generally nice and clean, with plenty of people (other travelers) around. There are more food choices along the interstates, too. When I drive long distances I like to get a very early start (4-5 AM), because I like to stop before it gets dark. I bring a cooler and snacks, and fill my iPod up with playlists. I swear, sometimes it takes me 3 hours to go 100 miles because I get into the drink - pee- -drink - pee cycle, but drinking more (coffee/soda/water) seems to keep me more alert, but if I snack I usually don’t need to stop for meals.
My wife and I drove from the Bay Area to Saint Louis last week, a bit over 2,000 miles. Definitely get your car checked, and bring the stuff people recommended. A GPS is really useful if you take a wrong turn in a town - for the highway itself I like seeing the mileage left, but it isn’t necessary.
Number one thing to do - check the weather before you leave, and have alternate routes planned. We had fantastic weather all the way, but we had alternatives ready.
Bring a laptop if you have one. We made a reservation for the first night, and then used mine to figure out where to shoot for the next night and made reservations on line. Cheap hotels have free internet usually.
We also brought along a cheap cooler with sodas and sandwiches for the first day. We also brought snacks, which we didn’t eat. Lots of cheap motels have free (and not very good) breakfasts, but you can take cinnamon buns. It saves money, but most importantly it saves time.
If you or anyone you know is a AAA member, get maps of your route. A regional or national map isn’t good enough. We found that my GPS sometimes wanted to take us on a shorter scenic route, so if you are familiar with your route you can ignore it for a while.
3 days is plenty for the trip. When we got to St. Louis we turned the car over to my daughter and her husband, who made it from there to New Jersey in 18 hours, straight through. They had good weather also.
You need to pay attention to the weather. Seriously. You need to know what you’re driving into. Snowstorms on unfamiliar roads … nah, you don’t need that.
