Maine to Florida 1st time in our 5th Wheel

cpu266 wrote:
Just finished a run from upstate NY to clearwater florida over the holidays. On the run down went 81, pa turnpike around scranton to 15 then 95 to I4. Travel was on weekends and traffic was slow going around 15/95 down to about richmond area. Beltway 295 and 95 around jacksonville are all ripped up with contruction as well as I4 west of Orlando and to just past Mickey Mouse land.

Return took I4 to 417 (beltway around I4 in orlando) to 95 to 295 belt way. traffic was backed up from about 35miles south of Jacksonville and around 295 beltway. once past Jacksonville I took 95 to 26 to 77 to 81. Took PA turnpike around to get around construction in scranton, nice smooth run. 81 to NY then you could pickup 88 over the the Masspike.

Cutting over from 81 on 17/66 to pick up 95 is heavy traffic congestion due to the build up of commercial establishments over the years. Use to be a nice run but now can be a royal pain in the a**.

If you were to take a route via the chesapeak bridge tunnel system they require you to stop and turn off propane.

Around Jacksonville go 295 east on the new by=pass the old rt 9...flows pretty easy and shorter than the 295 west..Chuck

Just finished a run from upstate NY to clearwater florida over the holidays. On the run down went 81, pa turnpike around scranton to 15 then 95 to I4. Travel was on weekends and traffic was slow going around 15/95 down to about richmond area. Beltway 295 and 95 around jacksonville are all ripped up with contruction as well as I4 west of Orlando and to just past Mickey Mouse land.

Return took I4 to 417 (beltway around I4 in orlando) to 95 to 295 belt way. traffic was backed up from about 35miles south of Jacksonville and around 295 beltway. once past Jacksonville I took 95 to 26 to 77 to 81. Took PA turnpike around to get around construction in scranton, nice smooth run. 81 to NY then you could pickup 88 over the the Masspike.

Cutting over from 81 on 17/66 to pick up 95 is heavy traffic congestion due to the build up of commercial establishments over the years. Use to be a nice run but now can be a royal pain in the a**.

If you were to take a route via the chesapeak bridge tunnel system they require you to stop and turn off propane.

An option that we use depending upon weather is tto stay near the coast on the Delmarva...but I guess if I had your schedule I would go Tappan Zee Bridge, then a short bit on the Garden state parkway and back over to 95 for the trip south.

Rte. 95 isn't as bad as everyone says unless you make the mistake of going over the George Washington bridge. It is a bad route.

Anyway, you will have to take the John Phillip Souza bridge around Baltimore...which is not an issue, and also take the outer loop around DC. I always drive right through Richmond without taking the outer loop. For places to stay, we use Aces High in CT, which is year round, and then maybe the KOA outside Fredericksburg.

Don't speed on VA...enjoy the new rig.

If you were to take the DelMaVa route, be careful to avoid the low tunnels near Norfolk, VA...check the website for the Cheaspeke bay bridge for detailed maps.

The only major route propane restrictions are I93 in Boston (and you'd be on 95 so no worries) and the Ft. McHenry tunnel in Baltimore.

Make your way to the tappan zee bridge then into PA. There is a cabela's off 78 that you can overnite and fill fresh water. 81 until you are past d.c. then you can head back to 95 via 66 and 17, or 64(long grade this way,but not as bad as fancy gap), or 77 and 26(long steep grade at fancy gap this way). A little farther this way, but avoids nyc, nj, de, baltimore, and d.c. well worth it in our experience.

scrubjaysnest wrote:

gbopp wrote:

jergeod wrote:
Take 90 out of Mass into NY pick up 88 to 81 to Winchester Va take 66 to 17 to 95 this will get you around the mess and all good road, time wise I doubt there is that much difference. Also put RVparky app in your phone it will give you all FJ/pilot, walmart's, cracker barrel's, all campgrounds so you can travel as long as you want and never be without a place to stay or have to look for fuel stops. Used it on a Fla trip and also and out west trip and it was great never had to make reservations.

Consider I-84 west to I-81 south at Scranton PA. It may be a little shorter.
That's the route we take when going to Maine from Pennsylvania.

You can overnight at the Mohegan Sun Casino, Wilkes Barre PA. It's just off I-81.
You can also overnight at the Hollywood Casino, exit 80, I-81, north of Harrisburg PA. It's not as nice as Mohegan Sun.
Enjoy your trip.

This is kinda what we were looking at for a trip to ME this summer. We won't go any where near I-95 though.

where are you coming from???

2 Retired wrote:
You can avoid all the tunnels in Baltimore by taking rt. 896 after crossing the Del Memorial Bridge (towards Middletown, De just after the Delaware rest stop on I 95). That will hook you up with US 301 which will allow you to bypass all of the Baltimore-DC-Richmond-Petersburg traffic. Nice overnight around Exit 95 (a guess) in NC called RVacation. Pull thru sites-easy on/off from I 95. Safe trip.

We did 301 in DE/MD coming down to FL in November. The first 30 miles of 301 was thump-thump concrete.

gbopp wrote:

jergeod wrote:
Take 90 out of Mass into NY pick up 88 to 81 to Winchester Va take 66 to 17 to 95 this will get you around the mess and all good road, time wise I doubt there is that much difference. Also put RVparky app in your phone it will give you all FJ/pilot, walmart's, cracker barrel's, all campgrounds so you can travel as long as you want and never be without a place to stay or have to look for fuel stops. Used it on a Fla trip and also and out west trip and it was great never had to make reservations.

Consider I-84 west to I-81 south at Scranton PA. It may be a little shorter.
That's the route we take when going to Maine from Pennsylvania.

You can overnight at the Mohegan Sun Casino, Wilkes Barre PA. It's just off I-81.
You can also overnight at the Hollywood Casino, exit 80, I-81, north of Harrisburg PA. It's not as nice as Mohegan Sun.
Enjoy your trip.

This is kinda what we were looking at for a trip to ME this summer. We won't go any where near I-95 though.

You can avoid all the tunnels in Baltimore by taking rt. 896 after crossing the Del Memorial Bridge (towards Middletown, De just after the Delaware rest stop on I 95). That will hook you up with US 301 which will allow you to bypass all of the Baltimore-DC-Richmond-Petersburg traffic. Nice overnight around Exit 95 (a guess) in NC called RVacation. Pull thru sites-easy on/off from I 95. Safe trip.

You folks are amazing. Thank you so much for all the input, especially the fact that we can't overnight in the rest stops.