Toronto to Miami in mid July roadtrip. Need wise advise

[sam2011]

Hi mates,

I am new to this forum. My name is Sam. Me and two of my buddies are planning for this road trip. we are planning to stay in Miami for at least 3 good days. we have about 9 total days for the whole trip. Since we are going through Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Charlotte, North South Carolina and Jacksonville, we want to see some famous, historical or beautiful(landscapes) places on the way down. I am trying to google them but I know I can't compare human experience with the machine. That is why I am requesting for your assist. I don't mind go off the track little bit to see any places if you recommend it. Also let me know if there are any festivals taking place during July 15-23.

Thank you in advance :)

-Sam-

[AZBuck]

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

The fact is, that at 1500 miles each way, you're looking at three solid days down and three solid days back. That doesn't leave a lot of time for sight seeing during the transit portion of your trip. What you should be looking for, instead of places to spend a lot of time, is a few places each day to just take a short break from the road.

AZBuck

[Lifemagician]

Hi Sam, and welcome,

Considering you would like three full days in Miami, then you will not have any time to visit places of interest along the way. You won't really have time to have three full days in Miami. Toronto to Miami is more then 2000 miles or four full days driving. You might consider adding more time, or perhaps, scale down your trip.

Lifey

[AZBuck]

Lifey and I have had a little background discussion and now agree that it's 1500 miles or 2400 km between Toronto and Miami. That's doable in three days, but only by the most direct route (basically I-90/I-79/I-77/I-26/I-95) and with minimal stops.

AZBuck

[sam2011]

First of all I would like to Thank you for welcoming me.

I wanted to increase the vacation period to 2 weeks but one of my buddy can't take more than a week off. I have to stick with just 10 days.

All three of us are good for driving. As per Google map it would take 25 hours to get there (straight route). So the plan is each personal drive 9 hrs straight and 1 hr break for the van to cool down and so on. If we get off on Friday 6am in the morning we can reach Miami by Saturday noon(that's 30 hrs). Then we will leave Miami on next Saturday morning to reach Toronto by Sunday. So we have full 6 days to spare. 3 days for Miami and 3 days for things to do on the way. Of course this is just a calculation. It will work on an ideal world. I know we may face obstacles on our way. Am I missing anything on my calculations?

[Mark Sedenquist]

As per Google map it would take 25 hours to get there (straight route).

If you were to drive flat-out, no speeding tickets and hit no substantial traffic jams, it will take you a tad more than 29 hours on the road to cover that route No one should drive for more than five hours at a time. Here are some more must-read tips on completing a SPEED RUN safely. I'm a veteran of dozens of speed runs... I know you are allowing 30 hours, have the three of you ever done a Speed Run of this duration before? You'll be in much better shape to actually enjoy yourselves in Miami, if you stay overnight on the way, if that's not possible -- you need to make it mandatory that one of you is asleep during their off-time on every shift. The way the shifts work: Sleeper --> Driver -->Navigator, that way the Driver has time to get sleepy during his navigator shift and is able to Sleep when it's his/her time.

Mark

[Southwest Dave]

Sure seems like a pointless exercise to me, you will arrive exhausted and it will take a day or 2to properly recover. You may as well take your time and enjoy the ride, safely !

[sam2011]

Thank you Mark for the information. It is very helpful. Specially about the Speed Run. I have been to P.E.I., but it wasn't a Speed Run.

We will rotate our shift just like the way you mentioned. Since we have at least 2 extra days on hand, I want to use it wisely. That's why I was asking you guys to pinpoint any destinations(hot spots) on the way so that I can go directly there and stay there for a day.

Thanks again.