From NYC/NJ to TV - Where to spend the night?
 

We will be driving from Central NJ to TV (Yeah!!!) coming down I95. Does anyone have any recommendations about where to spend the night (town and motel) along the way? We would prefer to do a bit more than half the trip on the first day if possible. Thanks in advance.

I came from Sussex County NJ. We have always liked South of the Border. It is just across the border into SC on I95.

Hi NJBlue,
Some of my stops Rocky Mount/Gold Rock,NC Best Western its on 95 and maybe after the DC, north VA. run you may need a stop and you can make TV the next long day
or if you are going good about 4 or 5 exits in to Savanna GA. I think it is ~les then 200 miles to FL. then about 130 more to TV and the 2 stops are Pet ok if you need that. Good and Welcome to Hemingway did you sell your Home in NJ
I look forward to say hello
Sgt Mac

Thanks for the info. As of now we have not yet sold but there is at least one couple interested enough to come a second time. However, we plan to take a break from the emotional roller coaster of house selling and spend some good times in TV. Perhaps Murphy's Law will come into effect and as soon as we get down to TV we'll get a call from our agent saying that someone wants to buy our house and we'll have to make a quick trip back to prepare for the move.

I usually stop in Rocky Mount or Wilson. I like Marriott properties, and there are Residence Inns, Courtyards and Fairfield Suites near both. Which one depends on availability and price.

One other thing, try to make reservations if you can. We got stuck once on a busy weekend without them and we had to stay in the worst motel I'd ever imagined on the way down. We made reservations on the way back, but we were way off 95.

Most of the hotels along that route are the lower end type. Hampton, La Quinta, Fairfield, etc. What I have good success with is to go to their web sites and search for new locations along the route. If you find those that have been open 6 months or less they are usually not to beat up yet. And there seems to be one or the other opening new ones all the time. Also have better success getting off 95 by 10 miles or more. Takes you 30 or 40 minutes round trip out of your way, but usually better properties.

We just did the trip and made our first stop in Fayetteville, NC. It took about 10 hours from Danbury, CT. The second day was 8 hours to TV. Fayetteville has a Doubletree, Hampton Inn, and others.

When we used to live in NJ, we each would drive for 4 hours or so and then switch off so that we could go straight through. Took about 17 hours or so. We felt that it was much better than staying in some dumpy motel for the night. Of course, we only drove when we were taking a car down to stay or if we were transporting things to be moved. With the car full, we did not feel comfortable leaving it in a motel parking lot at night for fear of breakins. Otherwise we flew Southwest which usually costs around $130 round trip each.