Best/Cleanest/Safest I-95 gas/rest stops

[slappy magoo]

One time my younger DS was 3 and on the way back home to Connecticut, he practically fell asleep all day long. Then we were also battling Hurricane Bonnie through the Carolinas as we were driving. Well we finally hit Virginia about 11 p.m. and wanted to pull over and get some rest, little Johnny was wide awake and wouldn't let me sleep. Needless to say, the next few trips were via plane and we didn't drive down again until "little Johnny" was 12.

Right now our two fears regarding the drive (that don't involve falling asleep behind the wheel and dying awful fiery deaths that is) are a: the kids won't sleep in the car during the night portion of the drive, being unbearable all the next day or; b; they'll sleep so well that they'll be wired for sound all the next day making it impossible for either my wife or me to catch a nap while the other drives.

 

[flynnibus]

Right now our two fears regarding the drive (that don't involve falling asleep behind the wheel and dying awful fiery deaths that is) are a: the kids won't sleep in the car during the night portion of the drive, being unbearable all the next day or; b; they'll sleep so well that they'll be wired for sound all the next day making it impossible for either my wife or me to catch a nap while the other drives.

movies... solves all

 

[slappy magoo]

movies... solves all

Here's hoping, I've got a potable dual-monitor blu-ray player that also has a USB input. My plan is to create a folder of divx files that will alternate between shows for the older kid and shows for the younger kid on its own so there's no fighting over whose turn it is.

 

[flynnibus]

Here's hoping, I've got a potable dual-monitor blu-ray player that also has a USB input. My plan is to create a folder of divx files that will alternate between shows for the older kid and shows for the younger kid on its own so there's no fighting over whose turn it is.

Movies to a certain late time.. and if they haven't kicked off by then, put the curfew on then. My youngest can manage to stay away forever to watch.. but if I've ground her down by watching for a long time, as soon as I pull the plug she will head off to sleep easy enough.

 

[slappy magoo]

Movies to a certain late time.. and if they haven't kicked off by then, put the curfew on then. My youngest can manage to stay away forever to watch.. but if I've ground her down by watching for a long time, as soon as I pull the plug she will head off to sleep easy enough.

Oh definitely. The plan is to be on the road, hopefully, by 6. They both like Mary Poppins and Pete's Dragon, though they haven't watched either one recently and I may try to keep them off of them until trip time so they don't burn out on ithem. As we start driving we start watching one of those; each one is over 2 hours long. If we don't hit traffic, or hit any other snags, then we'll be approaching my first intended pit stop as the movie ends. If they're still awake, my wife will bring them into the bathroom while I fuel up. Then it's Lights Out for them; we have mp3s of various Rockabye Baby CDs they use to go to sleep every night anyway, so hopefully that'll trigger some yawns. And we leave the music on the car stereo all night. I'll be listening to standup comedy, podcasts or Howard Stern in one earbud to stay awake while I drive, my wife will probably opt for Audiobooks on the occasions she's driving (I tend to do most of the overnight driving, though not all). If the kids sleep all night, and there's no crazy traffic, we'll be pulling into a SC Cracker Barrel right at around the time they open for breakfast. After that, my wife will probably take over driving while I sleep, and I can sleep through their shows as long as they're not talking or arguing a lot. If they are, I'll probably put on both headphones and listen to music while I catch a few Zs. And if we're making decent time we might forgo the overnight hotel we booked in Jacksonville and see if there's any WDW Value room available for the night. This way, we'll all crash early, and next morning they can transfer our luggage to BLT and we get that whole day in the parks as opposed to just the afternoon.

 

[slappy magoo]

Hey there hi there ho there...
I don't know if bumping such an old thread is a good thing or not...but it seems like if there's ever been a thread that asked a question currently being asked again, someone's gonna find it and link to it, so it may as well be a thread of my own Besides, arguably things have changed over the years, some of the old info probably is null and void.

Original plan for next trip was to drive, per usual, leave around 8 am-ish, try to haul @$$ and make it at least to Buc-Ees and another hour past for an overnight stay, then do the rest of the trip the next day, be onsite around 2ish.

But we have a dog we have boarding booked for. Thought we could drop her off at 6am. Turns out it's 8am, so it did mess plans up a bit.

After weighing options, Slappette and I decided we'd drop the dog off the night before, start driving around 10pm, let kids spend half the trip (HOPEFULLY!) sleeping, we'd be at Buc-Ees around 7:30-8, and hopefully on property by 2ish...the day before. We used what was left of our DVC points to book a 1 night stay at Kidani (my wife's favorite). The money we save by using DVC points and not getting a hotel room more than offsets the extra $$$ to book the dog for one more night boarding (barely, she's spoiled).

On the one hand, doing so much of the drive while the kids are (AGAIN, HOPEFULLY) asleep, and in the dark so we don't get "garbage-man's tans," those are major perks. But of course we're worried about being sleepy, even if we're sharing the driving load off and on during the night. And hey, we're in our 50s. We're gonna hafta pee. More than once. In the middle of the night.

So for those of you who make the trip down i-95, which gas stations or rest stops do you feel are the ones where you'd feel most comfortable stopping in the middle of the night? Or flip it, are there any stations or rest stops where you felt like someone would sneak up behind you and say "excuse me but does this rag smell like chloroform to you" and then you'd wake up missing a kidney and married to the Gimp from Pulp Fiction and you said "never again?"

 

[Raxel7851]

I love your enthusiastic plan!! We travel regularly down the I-95 corridor to Florida. It’s strange times indeed out there. You really can’t go wrong with stopping at Pilot, Flying J, or any of the larger travel stops. We’ve found that the safer rest areas are the larger ones at the entrance to each state. The NC and SC ones are really nice and because IMO it’s their Flagship Welcome Centers. You know you’ll spend less time using those rather than exiting the Interstate. And you know the first Bucee’s you’ll hit is in Florence SC, then St. Augustine, then Daytona.

 

[slappy magoo]

And you know the first Bucee’s you’ll hit is in Florence SC, then St. Augustine, then Daytona.

Our first experiences with Buc-ees was last year when we went to DVC Hilton Head. As I may have mentioned once or twice, my wife is on the hunt for the cleanest bathrooms and the safest areas to stop, and with 2 young daughters I can't blame her for her vigilance. Well, that Florence Buc-ees was practically a religious experience in her opinion! Plus, it was our daughters' first experiences with Icees. My older is not a fan of anything "fizzy" but the bubbling icy sugar water in a 10 year old? Katy bar the door and boy howdy. Are you old enough to remember Ricohet Rabbit on The Magilla Gorilla Show? Like that, but in a confined space!