Any suggestions?

[whitesands]

Family members of ours are driving from just outside Detroit to SoWal for a visit in the up-coming months. It's about a 19 or 20 hour drive down. They want to make the trip over three days. There are young children involved, and DVD's only hold their interest for so long!

I've looked at the route and don't see any cities that split the trip up evenly into three travel days...about 6 1/2 hours' driving per day. My maps only show the major cities...Louisville is almost a 10 hour drive and then Birmingham is almost a 6 hour drive from there. I would think they need something about 3 or 4 hours before Louisville and then something 6 or 7 hours after Louisville. Does this make sense?

Does anyone know of a couple of decent hotels and/or cities/towns where our friends could stop for two nights en route?

Thanks

 

[amylouky]

I don't think Detroit-Louisville is 10 hours.. more like 6, unless you stop every half hour. Mapquest shows the drive as 5 hours, 50 mins.
Then, Birmingham is about 6 hours from Louisville.. SoWal maybe another 5?

 

[whitesands]

Thanks amylouky. They are about 1 hour outside of Detroit, but from what you say, it looks like I messed up somehow with mapblast. Perhaps those cities are the best choices to stop for the night after all!

 

[amylouky]

Thanks amylouky. They are about 1 hour outside of Detroit, but from what you say, it looks like I messed up somehow with mapblast. Perhaps those cities are the best choices to stop for the night after all!

If they stop in Louisville, the Slugger museum/factory tour is a good way to kill a few hours. Hope they have fun!

 

[TreeFrog]

Then, Birmingham is about 6 hours from Louisville.. SoWal maybe another 5?

Yup. SoWal is 10 Hr. from Memphis and Birmingham is exactly 1/2 way on that drive, by miles or distance.

 

[whitesands]

Thanks for the help and for the suggestion about the Slugger Museum too! I see that I did mess up on Mapblast... Good thing that when we drive, I'm the driver...not the navigator!

 

[Cheering472]

Fly.

 

[DERBYGIRL]

Which interstate would you be coming into Louisville on your trip? 71 from Cincinnati?

 

[Paula]

When come from about 30 minutes from Detroit and when we drive (we usually fly into Panama city or Fort Walton Beach), we try to drive all the way to Montgomery with the kids watching videos (our more refined friends get books on tape), stay at a hotel in Montgomery, and then get up and get going around 7:00 a.m. which gets us to SoWal before lunch. We don't like driving between Montgomery and SoWal late at night. There aren't many stops, gas stations,etc. during that last leg of the trip.

 

[whitesands]

Which interstate would you be coming into Louisville on your trip? 71 from Cincinnati?

Yes, 71 from Cincinnati to Louisville.

Cheering472 and Paula, I hear you. Fly! We actually offered to fly them out for a visit. They said they were worried about the children and the stop-over in Atl. I really don't understand why they'd rather drive. It seems like such a long, long trip to make with two little ones in tow. I told a friend about the strange turn our invitation had taken. She said "Well they're both lawyers and you know you can't tell a lawyer anything." You know, I really couldn't think of anything valid to say to refute her statement in light of what I just told her. Foot in mouth disease! I hope it's just that they are still young enough to want an "adventure". I am worried about them driving at night during the last leg. They have promised they'll only drive during daylight hours. I'm thankful for that.

Thanks to everyone for your input.