first time roadtripper! NJ to KY

[DCsleeps]

Hi, all!

My name is DC and I'm a 20 year old college student. I've been trying to put together ways to visit KY later this summer and am considering the benefits of simply driving there myself -- plane tickets seem to be pretty expensive!

Having never taken a road trip, however, 12 hours of driving (some websites have told me 11.5 hours) between my home in NJ and my destination in KY seems kind of daunting. GoogleMaps says the trip is total ~737 miles. I'd be driving by myself, and I definitely don't want to take more than two days to get there, as my time is pretty limited (summer jobs, and all).

How do you guys think this could turn out? Is it possible to fit all 12 hours of driving into a day with a couple of breaks? Or is it safer as a first time driver to do an overnight in a motel somewhere?

Thanks for any advice you can give me. Hope to hear from some of you!
DC

[Southwest Dave]

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums !

I am sorry to say that there is just no way you can cover 737 miles in 12 hours of driving, safely. Mapping programs are hugely optimistic on long drives as they don't seem to understand that you have to stop for food, bathroom breaks, to fill with gas, never mind traffic congestion and construction delays.

With plenty of short breaks you could possibly make the journey in 13 to 14 hours, but that is beyond what we would recommend in one day. 550-600 miles will see you on the road for around 10 hours, and is as far as you can safely push in a day, especially as it's your first trip and you don't know how your body will react. Two days will be quite comfortable, you can either push a little on the first day and take a shorter run in on day 2 or split it into the 2 days and take time to enjoy the ride, and make your first trip memorable for the right reasons.

Good luck !