tips for driving from Virginia to NH?
May 23, 2022 3:27 AM Subscribe
I need to drive from the I-81 part of Virginia to Concord NH a week from now, in a 2014 Forester without Sirius, and I'm kind of dreading the trip. I can only spend one night on the road, and I want to avoid NY (or any city) traffic jams. Hoping to do 8 hours the first day, and 4 the next. What are your tips for making this as easy and pleasant as possible?
I was going to say something similar, except that for the most part 81 is too pretty to be boring. Very mountain.
95 between Fayetteville and Jacksonville. That's boring. Or Dallas to Midland/Odessa.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 4:19 AM on May 23, 2022 [2 favorites]
95 between Fayetteville and Jacksonville. That's boring. Or Dallas to Midland/Odessa.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 4:19 AM on May 23, 2022 [2 favorites]
Best answer: Even if your car doesn't have a working auxiliary jack, you can patch a portable audio player into the FM radio using one of these dealies. (Plus maybe a second adapter for the headphone jack if you have a recent Apple phone.) This is the audio setup I use in my old but still serviceable 2010 Impreza. Then you can download any number of podcasts before the trip to help you pass the time while you drive.
mskyle has covered the routes. I agree that I-81 and (to a lesser extent) I-84 are quite scenic. If you want extra scenery on the second day (with the penalty of some extra time), you could drive north to the Albany area and then across southern Vermont & New Hampshire via NY-7, VT-9, and NH-9. These would be small two-lane roads, which have a different feel (maybe less dull) than driving on interstates for hours on end.
posted by Johnny Assay at 4:28 AM on May 23, 2022 [5 favorites]
mskyle has covered the routes. I agree that I-81 and (to a lesser extent) I-84 are quite scenic. If you want extra scenery on the second day (with the penalty of some extra time), you could drive north to the Albany area and then across southern Vermont & New Hampshire via NY-7, VT-9, and NH-9. These would be small two-lane roads, which have a different feel (maybe less dull) than driving on interstates for hours on end.
posted by Johnny Assay at 4:28 AM on May 23, 2022 [5 favorites]
"What are your tips for making this as ... pleasant as possible?"
I mean, aside from just not going to New England? Haha.
I've driven from Washington to New York before, and from New York to New Hampshire before, but never together. The DC-to-NY drive was mostly along I-95, and yeah, avoid that. Lots of traffic, but also, lots of tolls.
Much of the area around NYC is pretty nice. I've spent a little time in Bergen County, NJ, and would recommend it. Likewise Westchester County, NY. Either of those would be a good place to stay. Kind of a long second-day drive, though. Google Maps says Bergen County to Nashua, NH (where I live) is a little under four hours, but with traffic and stops it took me more like six. Plus another 45 minutes to an hour to Concord. So that might be too much driving.
Assuming you stay away from the big cities, the hardest part of the drive will be toward the end, from around Worcester to Manchester. The 495 pretty much always sucks, and Route 3/the Everett Turnpike in NH is a complete parking lot from around 3:30 to 6pm every weekday. Worse on Fridays. Your goal should be to make it to Lowell before 2:30pm on the second day. If you can do that, the rest of the trip should be easy breezy. If not, well, I've spent an hour just going from Lowell to Nashua, which is only like eight miles. There are ways you can avoid the 495 and Route 3, but honestly, they're pretty far out of your way and wouldn't save you much time. Most of them are fairly small roads, too. When we travel west (which is pretty much anywhere from NH), we generally take MA-2, but it's a two-lane country road west of Leominster. If you get stuck behind someone doing 35mph, is that really any better than being stuck in traffic on the 495?
What I would suggest is, at some point, to get on I-84 and take that until it dead-ends into the Mass Pike (I-90). Take the Mass Pike to I-190 south of Worcester, then take I-190 from Worcester to Leominster. (Side note: don't try to pronounce either of those words.) Hop on MA-2 in Leominster over to the 495 (MA-2 is a freeway at that point), then the 495 to Route 3. With some name changes, the 3 will take you all the way to Concord. There are tolls before and after Manchester on the 3/Everett Turnpike/293/93. The one south of Manchester is a booth, but the one north of Manchester has a drive-through option if you have an EZ-Pass. It's fairly easy to avoid the southern toll if you really want to - get off on the airport exit, then follow the signs for Brown Avenue, which will eventually bring you to the 293. Manchester and Concord have no real traffic. You could drive through at 5:15pm and not stop.
Concord is a fun town with relatively lots to do for a place its size. I WFH, but my office is there, so I'm there occasionally. If you need recommendations for food or anything, let me know.
If you want an easy way to stay awake on the second day, keep count of the number of Dunkin Donuts you see.
posted by kevinbelt at 6:56 AM on May 23, 2022 [3 favorites]
I mean, aside from just not going to New England? Haha.
I've driven from Washington to New York before, and from New York to New Hampshire before, but never together. The DC-to-NY drive was mostly along I-95, and yeah, avoid that. Lots of traffic, but also, lots of tolls.
Much of the area around NYC is pretty nice. I've spent a little time in Bergen County, NJ, and would recommend it. Likewise Westchester County, NY. Either of those would be a good place to stay. Kind of a long second-day drive, though. Google Maps says Bergen County to Nashua, NH (where I live) is a little under four hours, but with traffic and stops it took me more like six. Plus another 45 minutes to an hour to Concord. So that might be too much driving.
Assuming you stay away from the big cities, the hardest part of the drive will be toward the end, from around Worcester to Manchester. The 495 pretty much always sucks, and Route 3/the Everett Turnpike in NH is a complete parking lot from around 3:30 to 6pm every weekday. Worse on Fridays. Your goal should be to make it to Lowell before 2:30pm on the second day. If you can do that, the rest of the trip should be easy breezy. If not, well, I've spent an hour just going from Lowell to Nashua, which is only like eight miles. There are ways you can avoid the 495 and Route 3, but honestly, they're pretty far out of your way and wouldn't save you much time. Most of them are fairly small roads, too. When we travel west (which is pretty much anywhere from NH), we generally take MA-2, but it's a two-lane country road west of Leominster. If you get stuck behind someone doing 35mph, is that really any better than being stuck in traffic on the 495?
What I would suggest is, at some point, to get on I-84 and take that until it dead-ends into the Mass Pike (I-90). Take the Mass Pike to I-190 south of Worcester, then take I-190 from Worcester to Leominster. (Side note: don't try to pronounce either of those words.) Hop on MA-2 in Leominster over to the 495 (MA-2 is a freeway at that point), then the 495 to Route 3. With some name changes, the 3 will take you all the way to Concord. There are tolls before and after Manchester on the 3/Everett Turnpike/293/93. The one south of Manchester is a booth, but the one north of Manchester has a drive-through option if you have an EZ-Pass. It's fairly easy to avoid the southern toll if you really want to - get off on the airport exit, then follow the signs for Brown Avenue, which will eventually bring you to the 293. Manchester and Concord have no real traffic. You could drive through at 5:15pm and not stop.
Concord is a fun town with relatively lots to do for a place its size. I WFH, but my office is there, so I'm there occasionally. If you need recommendations for food or anything, let me know.
If you want an easy way to stay awake on the second day, keep count of the number of Dunkin Donuts you see.
posted by kevinbelt at 6:56 AM on May 23, 2022 [3 favorites]
Best answer: I cannot speak to the specific areas, but I will tell you my usual strategy for an 8-hour-drive day: I leave a couple hours early and pre-plan stops every 2 hours: 15 minutes, an hour, 15 minutes.
I pick a place to have lunch in advance, a real lunch, and in this case you really do want to research to find either a place with a patio or something near a park. I like to look at Yelp for that area and look to see what the beloved local spots are. I've had some amazing meals on otherwise tedious drives, and also amazing meals on good fun drives, where I might have otherwise done a drive-thru to get where I'm going faster.
On your 15-minute stops, go to the bathroom and refresh any supplies you need, but also take the WHOLE 15 minutes, not sitting (except for the bathroom). Walk around, stretch, collect any trash in your car and throw it away/tidy your operational area.
To me, it seems like it makes a worse start to leave home and immediately stop, so I suggest either having your breakfast before you leave home or make it at home and take it in the car. Get gas the day before.
When you arrive at your stopping point for the night, this is where I do suggest either a drive-thru/takeout of something that can tolerate the 30ish minute hangtime before you can sit down to eat, or researching in advance if you can get dinner delivered at your hotel. Most of the time I'll specifically stay somewhere with room fridges and I will get enough dinner to eat for breakfast or take in the car to eat when I'm ready. Pizza is of course perfect for this. However! If you are an extrovert or just need the semi-presence of other humans around you to feel more normal after a day in the car, maybe find some kind of patio dining or see if there's a food truck area/event kind of thing. I personally just want to get my shoes off, and I used to want to get into my comfy pants but now I just drive in my jammies, I don't care.
If you have a SiriusXM account you may also have access to the app, which I use in my car that is too old for fancy satellite things but a bluetooth aux thingy works fine.
posted by Lyn Never at 9:05 AM on May 23, 2022 [1 favorite]
I pick a place to have lunch in advance, a real lunch, and in this case you really do want to research to find either a place with a patio or something near a park. I like to look at Yelp for that area and look to see what the beloved local spots are. I've had some amazing meals on otherwise tedious drives, and also amazing meals on good fun drives, where I might have otherwise done a drive-thru to get where I'm going faster.
On your 15-minute stops, go to the bathroom and refresh any supplies you need, but also take the WHOLE 15 minutes, not sitting (except for the bathroom). Walk around, stretch, collect any trash in your car and throw it away/tidy your operational area.
To me, it seems like it makes a worse start to leave home and immediately stop, so I suggest either having your breakfast before you leave home or make it at home and take it in the car. Get gas the day before.
When you arrive at your stopping point for the night, this is where I do suggest either a drive-thru/takeout of something that can tolerate the 30ish minute hangtime before you can sit down to eat, or researching in advance if you can get dinner delivered at your hotel. Most of the time I'll specifically stay somewhere with room fridges and I will get enough dinner to eat for breakfast or take in the car to eat when I'm ready. Pizza is of course perfect for this. However! If you are an extrovert or just need the semi-presence of other humans around you to feel more normal after a day in the car, maybe find some kind of patio dining or see if there's a food truck area/event kind of thing. I personally just want to get my shoes off, and I used to want to get into my comfy pants but now I just drive in my jammies, I don't care.
If you have a SiriusXM account you may also have access to the app, which I use in my car that is too old for fancy satellite things but a bluetooth aux thingy works fine.
posted by Lyn Never at 9:05 AM on May 23, 2022 [1 favorite]
I've done the Virginia to New Hampshire drive twice.
I wish I'd had an EZ Pass because there are SO MANY TOLLS along the way. So go to the DMV ASAP to get one of those if you don't have one already. No, you don't want to just check "avoid tolls" on your GPS because that will add hours to your drive.
Also buy/upgrade a AAA membership to the level with the maximum towing mileage. The difference between 5 miles and 100 miles is a lot bigger in New England in terms of how difficult it will be to retrieve your car later.
When looking at routes on Google Maps etc, don't just enter your destination, also enter your theoretical start times. You don't want to go anywhere near NYC during weekday rush hours but it can be fine late at night.
It's totally possible to do the drive in a day unless you struggle with sleepiness on long drives. IMO the question to ask yourself is will you have more back pain from a longer driving session, or more back pain from a restless night in a shitty motel? Personally, I decided to put a lumbar support cushion in my drivers seat drive straight through.
If you don't like Dunkin Donuts, pack enough snacks for the whole trip.
posted by Jacqueline at 10:04 AM on May 23, 2022
I wish I'd had an EZ Pass because there are SO MANY TOLLS along the way. So go to the DMV ASAP to get one of those if you don't have one already. No, you don't want to just check "avoid tolls" on your GPS because that will add hours to your drive.
Also buy/upgrade a AAA membership to the level with the maximum towing mileage. The difference between 5 miles and 100 miles is a lot bigger in New England in terms of how difficult it will be to retrieve your car later.
When looking at routes on Google Maps etc, don't just enter your destination, also enter your theoretical start times. You don't want to go anywhere near NYC during weekday rush hours but it can be fine late at night.
It's totally possible to do the drive in a day unless you struggle with sleepiness on long drives. IMO the question to ask yourself is will you have more back pain from a longer driving session, or more back pain from a restless night in a shitty motel? Personally, I decided to put a lumbar support cushion in my drivers seat drive straight through.
If you don't like Dunkin Donuts, pack enough snacks for the whole trip.
posted by Jacqueline at 10:04 AM on May 23, 2022
To continue @mskyle's suggestion: take I-87 N from I-84 and avoid all of Connecticut as well. It adds ~25 minutes to the Google Map's time estimate, but depending on the time of day can significantly reduce the chances of traffic delays.
posted by flicken at 10:12 AM on May 23, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by flicken at 10:12 AM on May 23, 2022 [4 favorites]
I've been doing a pretty similar drive 4-5x a year (Charlottesville VA to Greenfield MA) since 2014, although I almost always just do the full 10-11 hours in one day.
If you want to avoid city traffic and highway slowdowns, ignore your GPS' tendency to try and get you over toward I-95, you don't want to deal with the Beltway, Baltimore, Philly, or NYC. If I was trying to break a trip from central VA to Concord NH into a two-day drive, this is what I'd do:
Day 1 -
Take 81-N into PA, all the way up to Scranton, then jump on 84-E over into NY. Cross the Hudson at the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge, then stay the night somewhere around Fishkill.
Day 2-
I hate driving through Hartford, so I'd take 84-E over to the Taconic, then head north on the parkway until it intersects with I-90. At that point, you could take kevinbelt's route, driving east on the Mass Pike through Springfield and Worcester, then taking 190 up to Leominster, etc. etc... I prefer the drive through southern VT though, so I'd jump off the Pike in in West Springfield and take 91-N up to Brattleboro, then NH-9-W through Keene over to Concord.
Everything else mentioned upthread--pack snacks and water, podcasts are your friend, make sure you get out and take a full stretching/walking break for 15 minutes or more every 2-4 hours (it's easy to synchronize these stops with gas and meal breaks), LUMBAR SUPPORT CUSHION--is also good advice.
posted by drumcorpse at 10:21 AM on May 23, 2022 [1 favorite]
If you want to avoid city traffic and highway slowdowns, ignore your GPS' tendency to try and get you over toward I-95, you don't want to deal with the Beltway, Baltimore, Philly, or NYC. If I was trying to break a trip from central VA to Concord NH into a two-day drive, this is what I'd do:
Day 1 -
Take 81-N into PA, all the way up to Scranton, then jump on 84-E over into NY. Cross the Hudson at the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge, then stay the night somewhere around Fishkill.
Day 2-
I hate driving through Hartford, so I'd take 84-E over to the Taconic, then head north on the parkway until it intersects with I-90. At that point, you could take kevinbelt's route, driving east on the Mass Pike through Springfield and Worcester, then taking 190 up to Leominster, etc. etc... I prefer the drive through southern VT though, so I'd jump off the Pike in in West Springfield and take 91-N up to Brattleboro, then NH-9-W through Keene over to Concord.
Everything else mentioned upthread--pack snacks and water, podcasts are your friend, make sure you get out and take a full stretching/walking break for 15 minutes or more every 2-4 hours (it's easy to synchronize these stops with gas and meal breaks), LUMBAR SUPPORT CUSHION--is also good advice.
posted by drumcorpse at 10:21 AM on May 23, 2022 [1 favorite]
I came here to say the same as what drumcorpse recommends:
Day 1: Drive up I-81 to I-84 and stop overnight somewhere in the Fishkill area. The only major metro area you'll pass is Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, and it's a beautiful drive.
Day 2: Take the Taconic Parkway north to the Mass Pike, the Pike east to I-91N, then exit at Brattleboro, VT, and take VT/NH Route 9 to Concord. No major metro areas on this stretch (the Mass Pike connects with I-91 north of Springfield).
If you take this route, the only tolls will be on a short stretch of the NY Thruway and the Mass Pike. The Pike doesn't have toll booths any more. If you have EZ Pass, you'll have tolls deducted from your EZ Pass account. If not, the system will scan your plates and invoice you, and then you can pay online. It's more expensive - $2.70 from the western end of the Pike to West Springfield, vs $1.55 for EZ Pass. But if you don't use EZ Pass often, the extra $1.25 is worth the convenience of not having to carry an unused EZ Pass balance.
posted by brianogilvie at 10:36 AM on May 23, 2022 [2 favorites]
Day 1: Drive up I-81 to I-84 and stop overnight somewhere in the Fishkill area. The only major metro area you'll pass is Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, and it's a beautiful drive.
Day 2: Take the Taconic Parkway north to the Mass Pike, the Pike east to I-91N, then exit at Brattleboro, VT, and take VT/NH Route 9 to Concord. No major metro areas on this stretch (the Mass Pike connects with I-91 north of Springfield).
If you take this route, the only tolls will be on a short stretch of the NY Thruway and the Mass Pike. The Pike doesn't have toll booths any more. If you have EZ Pass, you'll have tolls deducted from your EZ Pass account. If not, the system will scan your plates and invoice you, and then you can pay online. It's more expensive - $2.70 from the western end of the Pike to West Springfield, vs $1.55 for EZ Pass. But if you don't use EZ Pass often, the extra $1.25 is worth the convenience of not having to carry an unused EZ Pass balance.
posted by brianogilvie at 10:36 AM on May 23, 2022 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: Thanks, everyone - these are all excellent and helpful contributions. Yay, hive mind! I feel much better about this now.
posted by mmiddle at 12:03 PM on May 23, 2022
posted by mmiddle at 12:03 PM on May 23, 2022
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For how to make that much interstate driving more bearable, I like to download audio that I know will be engaging (if you have favorite podcasts, don't listen to them this week, save them for the drive), but I also like to wait as long as possible before deploying it, like just zone out for the first hour or two, then maybe turn on the radio for a while, THEN listen to the podcasts. Just to remind myself that being bored is OK, I guess.
Also get out of the car every two hours, even if it's just to walk in circles around the car for a couple minutes. Eat all meals outside of the car, no drive-throughs unless it's pouring rain and you're highly COVID-averse.
posted by mskyle at 4:14 AM on May 23, 2022 [9 favorites]