Thinkin about driving to DC from Atlanta. Doable/Fun or am i crazy?

[CarpeDiebold]

I really want to go there for spring break(a few friends in town, 'nam memorial, the new wwII memorial, the usual places) but I don't want to fly. Is the drive up there fun and doable? How long would it take, ya think? I've never driven such a long distance before, anything I should know beforehand? any places in particular i HAVE to check out(bars, resutarants, etc?)

Thanks!

[mwooldri]

1. It's doable. But it is an awful long drive.

I live half-way in Greensboro, NC. It's 5 hours to Atlanta from here, 5 hours to DC from here. So you're talking about a 10 hour drive.

As for a 'fun' drive, it depends on your view of driving. 10 hours is a lot to hack, and it's I-85 til you join I-95 in VA. You get a few interesting sites - there's a peach watertower somewhere in SC - we affectionately refer to it as the buttcrack. There's a few outlet stores if you like stopping for shopping. If you want to split it up certainly you could stop in NC overnight and make it more leisurely. If I were going with my family I would definitely do that now (take a break that is). We once went from Greensboro to Milwaukee in our minivan with two babies, a 7 year old, and three adults. Bloody long drive!

Believe it or not, there is still a _TRAIN_ service that goes from Atlanta to Washington DC. It goes overnight, so if you can sleep in a seat you're OK. If you want pure luxury you could get a bed (if you're travelling with someone that's a good way of doing it too) - fall asleep in Atlanta, wake up in Washington DC.

Just a thought,

Mark.

[WCGreen]

2. I just drove from Cleveland to DC....

About 6.5 hours....

I do 10-12 hoiur days all the time....

[specimenfred1984]

3. I-95 In VA is Crazy, 90-mph Stuff with Lots of Cops

D.C. is pretty this time of year with the cherry blossoms in bloom. Traffic is very heavy wherever you go, if you can ditch the car somewhere you'll be able to see more places.

[electricmonk]

4. No real reason to go the I-85/I-95 route

At Charlotte get on I-74 and take it into Va where it turns into I-77 then I-81 north. 81 can be thick with truck traffic but once you pass Charlotte there's no large cities to slow you down. According to Mapquest this route would take about 30 minutes more but it says it takes 4 hours to go from Roanoke (where I'm at) to DC but I've done it in just over 3 hours.

I'm biased towards the mountains but the scenery in this half of Va blows away anything on the I-95 corridor. Plus as an added bonus you won't have to deal with the Springfield Interchange, but then if you can navigate spaghetti junction you can make it through the mixing bowl.

[ForrestGump]

6. Yeah...that's the way I usually went

Does it continue through the Shenadoah Valley? Can't remember.

I-95 is a nasty Interstate pretty much anywhere between the northeast and Miami.

[electricmonk]

7. Yeah

81 is pretty much right in the middle of the valley all the way until you veer off onto I-66 to head into the Northen Va suburbs and DC.

[ForrestGump]

8. That is, indeed, quite a nice ride for a freeway

I came back on 95 once, part of the way, and hated just about every mile.

[SoCalDem]

5. Fun, IF you have plenty of time and plan stops along the way

If you have to do a kamikaze trip, it will be a brutal drive..

You could do a DUer tour, and line up lunch/dinner/breakfast stops along the way.. It might take you a month to GET to Atlanta.....but.....

[sbj405]

9. I'm in DC. I would not recommend driving.

For one thing it'll take 2 days out of your spring break (one coming and one going). Traffic on 95 is miserable. During the week, you get to deal with rush hour and the weekends you get to deal with construction related or random back ups.

Flights can be had from ATL in National pretty cheap. Hop on the metro and 10 minutes later you're at the memorials. Can't really beat that.

[ScreamingMeemie]

10. Totally Doable! I love road trips. We have often driven from MI

down to Florida, bypassing Atlanta on the way! :hi:

[RebelOne]

11. If I could make a road trip from Miami, FL to Los Angeles,

then Atlanta to NY should be a piece of cake.