Wow, that’s a lot. Did any of the kids help you drive? We did three driving trips to DL from WA State before DD21 had her permit. I was so happy to let her drive at least a little bit! For us it’s an 18 hour drive, so a few hours less than your drive from western NY to WDW.
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I also love a good road trip! My DD’s are not as thrilled and would rather fly, unfortunately. But we will be driving down to SoCal to take DD21 back to college and visiting DL at the same time, so I will get my summer road trip one way or the other!
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DH and DS21 split the time in the smaller car (with the cats and without cruise control). While I wish I could have been chauffeured, I am glad I didn’t’ have to deal with either of those parts!
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For those traveling down I-95 the famous Texas convenience store chain Bu-ee’s has opened a location off of I-95 outside of St. Augustine. 50,000 square foot stores
Nation’s Cleanest Restrooms
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While visiting my dad, we were reminiscing about our big move from California to Arizona in the summer of 1973. My dad drove our station wagon with our two goats in the back! 
He also had a cat in the car with them. It was nuts and he had to sleep overnight at a rest area with them. He would get them out of the car to walk around and everyone at the rest stop would stop and stare. I was only 7 but remember it well.
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JJT’s name has been in my brain since that post first popped up. It’s my absolute favorite post I’ve read on here. And I still feel anxiety thinking about being stuck behind people at the tapstiles in that way.
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We are big fans of the road as well. We are in southern NJ - so a little shorter journey than you to WDW. Our family is good about the time on the road, and my daughter has already started hoarding Starbucks gift cards for the ride.
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This is the kind of hard-hitting journalism I come here to read!! lol
All kidding aside - thanks for the info. I’ve seen some questionable bathrooms in my trips.
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I do the same. I assume it’s good for your eyes to protect from UV rays, even if it’s cloudy. (As long as you have UV protection.)
I really prefer to drive on a road trip. I tend to get less motion sickness and also I’m just sort of a control freak. But my max is 10 hours of driving in a day (plus stops). I have done 14 hours before and my brain turned to mush.
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When I was 15 and had my driving permit I split driving time with my mom on a trip from Chicago to Tucson and back again. Drove through the Rockies, construction, rain storms, corn fields, desert. When it came time to take my driving test for my license it was a piece of cake.
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That sounds like an epic trip!
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Buc-ee’s is targeting folks driving to Florida and Southern vacations. They also have opened one is Daytona Beach off of I-95 as well as one in middle GA off of I-75 in Warner Robbins plus two more in Alabama including one on I-10 by the Gulf Coast Beaches. There are two more coming one at I-95 in Florence SC and another in Sevierville TN at I-40 for Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg.
We are planning on checking out the I-75 location in September when we go from Atlanta to WDW. They are family road trip friendly. They are not truck stop and do not have facilities for 18 wheelers.
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During normal times, my daughter marches in a drum and bugle corps and the summer tour swings through Texas every year. Buc-ee’s is HUGE with all of the drum corps members. Dd was wearing one of her Buc-ee’s t-shirts earlier this week!
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Florence is where we stop overnight on our drive; Pigeon Forge was our original destination for vacation this summer, before we switched to WDW. After looking at some of the news articles, I think I’d like to try to stop here on our way down. Looks interesting!
And that is totally me buying snacks for the trip. Swedish Fish are tops on the list.
Okay, @JJT, I’m done hijacking now!
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I’ve never heard of Buc-ee’s, but y’all made me look it up. I don’t get the Warner Robbins one on my map. I got Adairsville in North Georgia and Fort Valley about halfway down. We’ll be going by I-75, so I’m very interested in finding these places! Thank you for cluing me in, y’all!!! 
… Ohhhhhhhhh – zooming in on the map, it looks like Fort Valley is a suburb or offshoot of Warner Robbins! Oh, thank goodness for GPS. 
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Oh geez. We are doing our first road trip from south central PA to DW on Black Friday. Please don’t scare me. (No we are not driving straight through.)
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From our experiences, we far prefer 79/77 over 81 or 95. It is a little longer, per se, but the traffic is far less crushing so we believe it’s an easier drive.
So west first, then south. You’d even miss Pittsburgh compared to us.
Just my 2 cents.
Says a little longer, but I don’t truly think it is when you factor in everything.
ETA - awwwww all my favorites are marked and you can see I’m not in NY anymore. My blue circle is now in SC.
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I’m not sure that way will work for us. 83 runs right through our town, which takes us to 95. I never even heard of 79/77, but I don’t tend to drive that far west. There are times we take 15 down to parts of VA. When I look at how long it takes to get there from our house I get around 14 and 1/2 hours on 95.
A side note, I hate driving west in PA. If you talk to anyone who lives in this part of the state and go east, you will find everyone hates it. It is torture driving the turnpike through the mountains to Pittsburgh. It’s a never ending journey. I used to have to do it for work. The only thing worse was having to drive to Erie.
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I was just guessing where you live. 
I know I will do whatever I have to to avoid driving 95 ever again. 
In my life. Ever. 
Ever. 
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We have driven it quite a bit for our journeys down to VA and the Outer Banks. We do know a back way to get off 95 to avoid the beach traffic in VA and get to the Williamsburg area. But on Black Friday, that should be less of an issue.
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