What time to leave for our big drive tomorrow?

[gymnbomb]

Wow. Is it that bad? I guess we’ll see! For us a casual 6 hour drive us not stressful when we regularly do 12. But traffic and weather—that’s my concern. Cost is a major concern for us as we have some lofty financial goals that we won’t meet if we don’t keep things tight. I’m wondering if we don’t just decide to hunker down and go with the traffic. My concern is that we’ll be tired, pushing ourselves and still missing the window and then still hitting traffic and weather! Leaving at noon or two wouldn’t be smarter then? Keep it low key and casual. Cranking the radio. Making rest stops, etc.... or is that a nightmare waiting to happen?

I guess part of it comes down to if you are a morning person or a night person. I cannot stand driving at night. Once it starts to get dark (which happens around 4:30 here this time of year...) it feels like time drags on so slowly and I am just tired and miserable and can’t wait to stop. I can’t imagine anything worse than intentionally driving overnight, though tons of people choose to do it, and there were times in my younger days when I did too, though it was never my first choice. I also feel like those hours spent around the house before getting on the road are wasted time when I could have been at my destination. So I would always choose to get up early and go. But if that isn’t you, then it just isn’t you.


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[PZMommy]

Wow. Is it that bad? I guess we’ll see! For us a casual 6 hour drive us not stressful when we regularly do 12. But traffic and weather—that’s my concern. Cost is a major concern for us as we have some lofty financial goals that we won’t meet if we don’t keep things tight. I’m wondering if we don’t just decide to hunker down and go with the traffic. My concern is that we’ll be tired, pushing ourselves and still missing the window and then still hitting traffic and weather! Leaving at noon or two wouldn’t be smarter then? Keep it low key and casual. Cranking the radio. Making rest stops, etc.... or is that a nightmare waiting to happen?

Yes, traffic is awful and that is when the weather is good!!! A few years ago I was flying out on a Tuesday. I left the valley at 1:30, and it took me over 3 hours to get to LAX. No accidents, just bad traffic. Normally we drive up to Victorville on Thanksgiving morning. A normal 90 minute drive is minimum 3 hours. Throw in bad weather, and it is going to be a nightmare to travel these next few days. We are trying to make arrangements to drive up tomorrow morning. If that doesn’t work, we will cancel our plans to go for Thanksgiving. The cajon pass is expecting 3-6 inches of snow on Thursday and no way are we driving in that mess!

[doberbrat]

It all depends on how bad the traffic is. I once left from MA to CT on Wed afternoon before Thanksgiving. Was supposed to be 2.5h -3h. The first hr, we got about 10mi away. The 2nd about 30. iirc, that drive took us nearly 6h. In decent weather. I wanted to get out and walk!

Similar coming back on Sunday after. the 13ish hr drive from NC took about 17h. Accidents galore because of rain & traffic.

If you're ok w/traffic vs driving at night, than that is what is best for your family. We cant do early am. DH is physically incapable. So that ends up being way more stressful for us.

[bisous]

I don’t know why I’m fighting it. I’m a total morning person and have been up at 4:00 (almost involuntarily) 3 of the last 7 days! I think I’m just not as prepared as I should be and I’m afraid of both a long night AND an early morning. I need to engage DH as I’m usually the driver. Maybe he can do the last minute prep I usually do so I can get to sleep at a decent hour.

Plus, you guys are very gracious in your replies and I am grumpy! I apologize!!

[bisous]

It all depends on how bad the traffic is. I once left from MA to CT on Wed afternoon before Thanksgiving. Was supposed to be 2.5h -3h. The first hr, we got about 10mi away. The 2nd about 30. iirc, that drive took us nearly 6h. In decent weather. I wanted to get out and walk!

Similar coming back on Sunday after. the 13ish hr drive from NC took about 17h. Accidents galore because of rain & traffic.

If you're ok w/traffic vs driving at night, than that is what is best for your family. We cant do early am. DH is physically incapable. So that ends up being way more stressful for us.

Thank you for sharing this. I do want to avoid that kind of traffic! Early it is!!

[georgiegirl]

I’m sure it’s going to be worse than you expect. Once we came into LAX on Memorial Day weekend, and it took us 2.5 hours to get to my mom’s house from the airport, which is normally 1.25 hours with some traffic (and 45 without any traffic....like at 5 am).


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[PZMommy]

NBC Nightly News just did a what time should you leave segment. For Los Angeles area, it was 4am. Some areas were 3 am, some at 4am, and there was one city where they said you could leave as late as 5am.

[SnuggleBuggles]

NBC Nightly News just did a what time should you leave segment. For Los Angeles area, it was 4am. Some areas were 3 am, some at 4am, and there was one city where they said you could leave as late as 5am.

That sounds like misery.

OP- i get you having a long term financial goal but sometimes a splurge in the now is worth it. Hotelstonight.com and Priceline can find cheap hotels. You drive til you get out of the worse of your metro traffic (at least) then rest. Imagine how nice it’d be in the AM to be closer to your destination?


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[DualvansMommy]

For us, we just never do long distance driving in the best of conditions, as ds1 have severe car motion sickness. We always fly if it’s more than 4-5 hours of driving time.

So Thanksgiving, rain, and traffic. Just don’t fight it. Leave as early in the am, and stop at a hotel for a a break if needed.


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[mikala]

That sounds like misery.

OP- i get you having a long term financial goal but sometimes a splurge in the now is worth it. Hotelstonight.com and Priceline can find cheap hotels. You drive til you get out of the worse of your metro traffic (at least) then rest. Imagine how nice it’d be in the AM to be closer to your destination?


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Agreed, plus if you can find a place with free breakfast you don't have to pay for a meal so that offsets it a little. Add in a hotel pool for free entertainment....