In February my wife and I will be driving from NY (CT shoreline actually) to Hernando, FL ('bout an hour north of Tampa) and return to retrieve some of my late father's possessions. We'll be towing a trailer for the northbound leg and maybe the southbound leg as well. Google gives a 20 hour drive time on 95 which is probably rather optimistic. However, we'd like to avoid 95 for the most part (especially around DC or other high traffic cities) if we can do it without too huge a time penalty. It's not a vacation trip and I can't afford too much time off from work but we don't want to be too rushed either. Also a different route for down and back would be nice but not necessary. We may stay with relatives on the central NJ shoreline along the way to split off a few hours if it makes sense.
The last time I did this drive was with my parents 30 years ago, the classic "college visiting trip", on a NY-St. Louis-Daytona Beach-NY triangle... and I have vague memories a roundtrip 10 years before that, before the interstates went the whole distance.
Two possibilities we've looked at are I-81 to I-77 to I-95, or through NJ down the GSP to Cape May and the ferry into Delaware and Maryland, then the bridge/tunnel to Norfolk before working somehow back to 95?
-Dana