Florida to North Carolina Without I-95

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I’ll be traveling back home to North Carolina from Florida on December 23rd. I’ve made the mistake of using I-95 once during Thanksgiving. Anyone have any suggestions? I’m thinking US-1 until I get near the South Carolina / North Carolina line.
 
You can do 301. I’ve eyeballed it before for the same exact reason. Never had the balls to do it though. I’d rather keep my wheels moving than to be dead stopped on the interstate.

Or you just commit to super early morning. Like leave at midnight and drive through jacked up on Red Bull and sunflower seeds.
 
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Invert your travel compared to normal flow will help, driving at night vs the normal peaks if keeping on 95. My grandfather loved the back roads driving from NJ to Englewood, FL each year and always got a ticket or two on the way down as the cops were looking for him (them, retirees). Cat and mouse on the back roads. Its just as bad on the DELMARVA down from philly to VA Beach.
 
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9outof10mms said:
You can do 301. I’ve eyeballed it before for the same exact reason. Never had the balls to do it though. I’d rather keep my wheels moving than to be dead stopped on the interstate.

Or you just commit to super early morning. Like leave at midnight and drive through jacked up on Red Bull and sunflower seeds.
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Unfortunately, I cannot leave that early. I will be at the mercy of others until noonish.
 
tod0987 said:
Invert your travel compared to normal flow will help, driving at night vs the normal peaks if keeping on 95. My grandfather loved the back roads driving from NJ to Englewood, NJ each year and always got a ticket or two on the way down as the cops were looking for him (them, retirees). Cat and mouse on the back roads. Its just as bad on the DELMARVA down from philly to VA Beach.
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Yeah which I could leave at 1-2 AM to avoid the traffic. That would put me way ahead of the major traffic jam areas.
 
As far as back roads I can only comment personally for eastern NC but the drug trade has moved off 95 (due to pressure) and on to the back roads as the crap is moved northward. Hwy 11 cuts through me here in ENC and I've talked to LEOs and they love to pull rentals as the likelihood is high for drugs if speeding so, this is another strike against back roads if you are driving a rental.

I say this as my boss lives in northern GA and I'll eventually drive out there with some pew pews and have tried to plan the best route to limit cop interactions with my guns/nfa items. I wouldn't take my personal truck as it sucks gas so I'd have the company put me in a rental vs flying with an armory.
 
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tod0987 said:
As far as back roads I can only comment personally for eastern NC but the drug trade has moved off 95 (due to pressure) and on to the back roads as the crap is moved northward. Hwy 11 cuts through me here in ENC and I've talked to LEOs and they love to pull rentals as the likelihood is high for drugs if speeding so, this is another strike against back roads if you are driving a rental.

I say this as my boss lives in northern GA and I'll eventually drive out there with some pew pews and have tried to plan the best route to limit cop interactions with my guns/nfa items. I wouldn't take my personal truck as it sucks gas so I'd have the company put me in a rental vs flying with an armory.
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I’ll be in my personal truck and only transporting our EDCs, so I’m not worried about LEO. Haven’t thought about Hwy 11. Going to do some looking.
 
9outof10mms said:
You can do 301. I’ve eyeballed it before for the same exact reason. Never had the balls to do it though. I’d rather keep my wheels moving than to be dead stopped on the interstate.

Or you just commit to super early morning. Like leave at midnight and drive through jacked up on Red Bull and sunflower seeds.
Click to expand...
I think we have a winner with 301. Going to pull it up on a larger screen tomorrow, it looks promising.
 
When I lived in NY and the in-laws lived on the east coast of Florida, I'd take 81<77<26 and pick up 95 near the Georgia line.

There was at least one time we came across 4 to 75 and up through TN.

Really not that much out of the way (~100 miles) but almost always faster.
 
Average Joe said:
I think we have a winner with 301. Going to pull it up on a larger screen tomorrow, it looks promising.
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301 is a great 4 lane divided highway in some areas but an old 2 lane rural road in many others. Roll of the dice with getting behind a semi or something. And there are definitely speed traps. I’m only familiar with it in FL. There are actual billboards people have bought to advertise “welcome to the speed trap.” Lawtey, FL is one that I remember.

Plus, you’re not going to have the convenience of bigger gas stations—and no Buccee’s!

But it may save you from shooting someone while stuck in a 2 hour standstill on 26!

Edit: I guess Lawtey and Waldo FL have cleaned up their acts and aren’t officially labeled “speed traps” anymore. Who knew.
www.jacksonville.com

Dismissed distinction

The days of jamming on brakes as soon as town limit signs for Lawtey or Waldo come into view along U.S. 301, then watching warily for a police car, are over, according to the Automobile Association o…
www.jacksonville.com
 
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when do you need to be back in NC?
if you cannot leave FL until after 12PMEST on the 23rd,
i would drive the night of 23/24 depending upon where
you start (Pensacola?) and where you finish ( Lansing?)
 
turkeydance said:
when do you need to be back in NC?
if you cannot leave FL until after 12PMEST on the 23rd,
i would drive the night of 23/24 depending upon where
you start (Pensacola?) and where you finish ( Lansing?)
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I’ll be leaving Tampa around noon on the 23rd, headed to Swansboro NC.
 
CZfool68 said:
Never, ever be at the mercy of others. As Nancy Reagan said, just say no. She was a freaking genius. 👻
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You know that’s right! Ordinarily this is how I roll. The wife took me on a cruise for graduating college and our anniversary. So I’m at the mercy of the ship docking, unloading, and getting back to my truck.
 
Average Joe said:
You know that’s right! Ordinarily this is how I roll. The wife took me on a cruise for graduating college and our anniversary. So I’m at the mercy of the ship docking, unloading, and getting back to my truck.
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Might be worth a cheap stay at a motel to reset the departure clock to your terms.
 
I'd set google maps on my phone and follow it's instructions. We've driven to/from NC to Disney a few times. Most of the trips have a detour off i95 in South Carolina. And there's always a wreck around Jacksonville, Fla
 
GoWolfpack said:
I don't have the kind of negative experiences you all seem to have on I-95. It's just a highway; it gets really crowded around holidays and sometimes people do stupid things that cause huge problems.
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And you find this…enjoyable?!
 
Old School said:
I'd set google maps on my phone and follow it's instructions. We've driven to/from NC to Disney a few times. Most of the trips have a detour off i95 in South Carolina. And there's always a wreck around Jacksonville, Fla
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also good to download a few of the remote areas for offline viewing mode. the cities you don't really need to do the backup, but if you have to make an exchange in the middle of nowhere with no signal... you should have the map for that area saved.
also keep a road atlas in the trunk
 
GoWolfpack said:
I don't have the kind of negative experiences you all seem to have on I-95. It's just a highway; it gets really crowded around holidays and sometimes people do stupid things that cause huge problems.
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Have you been on 95 in NC lately? It’s totally under destruction. At least from Benson south. Jersey barriers hemming you in. It’s terrible. I recently rode from Wake county to Mt Pleasant SC avoiding 95 completely
 
Since road building has become one of the biggest industries in the USA, there are both good alternate routes and bad direct routes. Avoiding highways has become a necessity in places.
 
fieldgrade said:
Have you been on 95 in NC lately? It’s totally under destruction. At least from Benson south. Jersey barriers hemming you in. It’s terrible. I recently rode from Wake county to Mt Pleasant SC avoiding 95 completely
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I just drove to Florida last month.
 
GoWolfpack said:
I don't have the kind of negative experiences you all seem to have on I-95. It's just a highway; it gets really crowded around holidays and sometimes people do stupid things that cause huge problems.
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During regular times I-95 is like all other interstates. Sucks around rush hour and in construction zones. But I-95 during holiday travel is absolutely horrible.

Many years ago a 8 hour trip took a little over 12 hours. The only other time I was I-95 during the holiday traffic a 10 hour trip took me 13 hours. Sitting stopped on the interstate is not my thing. I’d rather take other routes and keep moving.
 
Ferrisfan said:
Inter-coastal waterway. 🤣

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When I was in school I had an acquaintance whose dad owned a boat shop on the Chesapeake in Maryland. My friend worked for his dad during the summers so he had his captains license. One summer his dad needed him to move a sailboat from their place to some marina near Ft. Lauderdale, asked me if I wanted to "tag along." Are you kidding me?? Hells yeah. Down the ICW over three, four weeks or so. Stopping where we wanted, just chilling. Great experience.
 
the last time we took 95 during a holiday time was Thanksgiving week several years ago.
I-95/85 D.C. to Durham. took 9 hours...normally ~5 hours. once again, the LAST time.
 
Going from Tampa to carteret county we took 275 to 75 then hit 301 north of Ocala. 301 up to Georgia. Been a few years but 301 wasn't bad. We usually got on 95 through GA and SC then 20 to Florence and 17 the rest of the way.

We have taken 301 all the way to nc but it's been a loooong time.
 
I am eventually going to have to drive rnd trip from Raleigh to Augusta. Just waiting on a phone call. Thinking 95 at 3am until I hit whatever road goes south west thru SC. Get a room at a Hampton Inn and do it all over again the next day at 3am. I see the yellow pictograph with guy with hardhat and shovel on Google Maps from the 40/95 interchange for a lot of miles. Hopefully they arent working at 3 in the a.m.
 
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