Need Immediate Help!!! R/T De to Fl

[Bethnde1]

SORRY it's long, but please hang in there so I can explain and ask for help..
My daughter aged 9 and myself (young female) are about to embark on a long drive from Delaware to Orlando, FL next week. This is something we've been planning since November and was looking forward to it. However, now that we only have 1 week to go, I'm beginning to panic. Not only is it our 1st long road trip by ourselves, so of course that gives me the jitters period. As of right now, my biggest worry is hitting bad weather through all the states we have to drive through. Heck, I can't even drive through the town where I live if I see just one flurry without having a panic attack. Well, low and behold, the East Coast has been getting slammed with very cold temps and on and off again snow. Even in FL it's been freezing cold. I still have another day or two to make up my mind to cancel the road trip and do it by train, but it'll break my heart. I really wanted my daughter to experience a great big healthy/knowledgeable road trip as we did many times when I was small, but I'm now thinking twice about it at this very late in the game. I've heard from people that it could take anywhere from 15-19 hours to get there from my house, and most people just stay over one night on the road, but I've alloted my self 3 days going down and two days getting back. One last thought before my plea for help, to take a train or plane, I'd be looking at doubling the cost than driving by the time I do the train/plane tix, the transportation to and from airport, rental car, etc.

With that all said, can I ask everyone two ?'s....

1st....I'll be taking I-95 from Delaware to Orlando for the most part, so is there a web site where I can enter that info and see what types of weather is expected for that time period, if it's this site, can you show me where and/or how?

2nd....of course, I'd love to hear any and all types of questions from everyone offering to help. Whether it's on the topic of weather, or on anything else pertaining to our trip, like where can we find a cheap place to stay one or two nights on the road, people's thoughts on the condition of south of the border (a place I used to love and wanted her to stay there overnight), r/t tricks, etc.

Thank-you!

[Mass Tim]

Welcome to the RoadTrip America Forum!

If you are absolutely uncomfortable driving in inclement weather, I would definitely take an alternate means of transportation to get to your destination. Not only will you save yourself a boatload of hassle and fear, but the potential for an accident in that condition is far too great. If a flurry causes that much concern, you would be in no condition to handle driving in whiteout conditions.

You can use the Weather Channel website as just one example of what to expect for weather along your route. It's as simple as entering in the name of a key city along the way. They also have a large scale map of the country which allows you to view what is coming that way.

[AZBuck]

...and you can drive the roads in your neighborhood at the moment, then I see no reason why you shouldn't continue to plan on making the drive to Orlando with your daughter. After all, perhaps the worst weather of the season (if not the decade!) has already passed over you, and you only have a few inches of snow left on the ground. If your local roads are clear, particularly if you're starting out from 'below the canal' you might want to think about just heading down the Delmarva Peninsula and cross over to the Norfolk area on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel and then use US-58 to return to I-95, thus reaching clear ground sooner and bypassing Baltimore, Washington and Richmond. You could even hug the coast the entire way down and use I-95 for the return trip when you only have two days. As would you, I think, I'd hate to see your daughter miss out on her first RoadTrip or worse, think of them as something to be feared. But still learning to put one off when conditions conspire against you is not a bad lesson either.

AZBuck