Florida road trip: Navigating I-95 for a smooth journey from Long Island

If your Florida travel plans were grounded this winter by airport chaos, a spring or summer road trip to the Sunshine State may be the way to go.

Whether you cruise down Interstate 95 (I-95) or take a scenic side trip to a coastal city or country lane, you can leave home and return on your own schedule. Traveling at your own pace, with frequent stops to take in the local sights, you can experience what “On the Road” author and legendary road tripper Jack Kerouac, of Northport, called “the world suddenly rich with possibility.”

Ready to get out on the highway? Here are tips to make the drive to that free glass of orange juice at the Florida State border worth the squeeze.

Know before you go

Driving distance: 15 hours depending on traffic and weather conditions (visitflorida.com).

• Fuel prices, the availability of EV chargers and traffic jams may affect your road trip in unexpected ways. Prepare yourself for a possible bumpy ride with the driving cost calculator at travelmath.com, the EV charging station finder at afdc.energy.gov and the rush-hour traffic monitor at waze.com.

Taking I-95 — the route most traveled

Route I-95, the East Coast’s main North-South interstate highway, has been called America’s Main Street. It spans more than 1,900 miles along the East Coast from Maine to Florida. For Long Islanders, it’s the most direct, easy-to-follow route to Florida’s East Coast, a superhighway lined with off ramps for food, gas, lodgings and other conveniences at the region’s sprawling rest stops. You’ll also pay tolls, so an E-Z-Pass is a good investment if you don’t have one.

In the spirit of 1776, the United States’ Semiquincentennial, I-95 passes through nine of the original 13 colonies and the District of Columbia. If you travel by night, be sure to look out your car window for the U.S. Capitol Dome and the Washington Monument gleaming in the distance like beacons of democracy.

Get an early start and coffee for the road

Peggy Leeson, a retired Lindenhurst public school teacher, and her husband, John, a retired NYPD detective, both 79, of Amityville, spent 17 years driving back and forth from Fort Lauderdale in their Sebring convertibles.

“We got it down to almost like a science,” Peggy said of 4 a.m. Saturday starts to avoid I-95 corridor traffic and arrive in Savannah, Georgia, by cocktail hour on Sunday. Their first stop occurred an hour and a half into the trip to pick up “grab and go” coffee and breakfast snacks at The Molly Pitcher Service Area in Cranbury, New Jersey, between Interchanges 8A and 8 (njta.gov).

“The key thing was to stop every three hours, stretch your legs and make a pit stop,” Peggy said. “If you take the dog you have an excuse to get out and take a walk.”

Take the pup, make new friends

Sean Sheer, founder of Urban Dog, an online resource for city-dwelling dog owners, and his spouse, Clark Beasley, often take road trips from New York to Florida with their Weimaraners, Booker and Baxter.

Sheer said that before taking a long road trip, dogs should be acclimated to traveling by car “on short rides to places that are fun, like dog parks.” Sheer adds, “Don’t feed them [the dogs] too soon before you leave and make sure they get plenty of rest stops, roughly every two to three hours.”

Sheer said that a travel-ready canine companion becomes a “great ice breaker” for conversations with fellow dog lovers at dog-friendly hotels such as the Best Western in Lumberton, North Carolina (910-618-9799, bestwestern.com; $72 plus $20 pet fee).

Cruising the scenic coastal route

I-95 may be the shortest distance between New York and the Florida state line, but some Long Islanders prefer routes off the beaten interstate.

While his wife takes the plane to Florida, Chuck Vinciulla, 78, of Amityville, drives south solo in his fuel-efficient 2025 Nissan Altima.

To see “what’s still left of the America of 100 years ago,” Vinciulla said, he leaves I-95 to take U.S. Routes 13 and 113.

The rural route along Delaware’s Atlantic coast is “one of the most scenic routes in America,” he said. “It’s basically open fields, farmlands, old barns, old houses — for me it’s very relaxing.”

Vinciulla crosses the scenic Chesapeake Bay Bridge to Virginia Beach, Virginia, to visit old friends from his 38 years in the U.S. Navy, before returning to I-95 via U.S. 58.

“There are some overlooks down in Virginia that are really nice,” Vinciulla said of his back-roads adventure. “That’s the excitement of taking a road trip. You find these little spots and you say, let’s pull over and take a picture.”

Enjoy a meal money can’t buy back home

At many a road stop on I-95, you can put on the feed bag at a trio of roadside eateries that have never entered the New York market, but are prized by road trip aficionados. Number one on the breakfast-bucket list is Cracker Barrel, famous for its front porch rocking chairs, antique interior decor and all-day breakfast items such a Chicken n' Dumplins, Momma's Pancake Breakfasts and biscuits (crackerbarrel.com). For a quick, calorie-rich serving of Southern hospitality, Waffle House restaurants’ All-Star Special fills your plate but doesn’t empty your wallet with a heapin’ helpin’ of eggs, bacon, hash browns (or grits), toast and a waffle combo starting at $12.35 (wafflehouse.com). Stuckey’s, a market located at the South of the Border rest stop off I-95 in Hamer, South Carolina, is another roadside staple, beloved for is pecan log rolls and candies (stuckeys.com).

Unfasten your seat belts (and overnight) at Rocky Mount

Many a weary traveler finds a reasonably priced overnight accommodation at the halfway (500-mile) mark in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. Budget-minded travelers can find lodging options in the $50 to $150 range, according to a recent search on booking.com, including midscale, limited-service brands such as Fairfield Inn and Suites by Marriott, Hampton by Hilton and Holiday Inn Express & Suites, all of which include buffet breakfasts and Wi-Fi. For a unique lodging experience, try River and Twine, a collection of 21 boutique tiny houses that's about a 10-minute drive from the Rocky Mount I-95 exit 138 (24 E. Elm St., Rocky Mount, 252-904-4731, riverandtwine.com; $129).

While in Rocky Mount, stretch your legs at free-admission 25-acre Sunset Park, which features a playground and a riverside trail (1550 River Dr., Rocky Mount, 252-446-0500, rockymountnc.gov).

Celebrate the army’s 251st birthday

If you have a few hours to spare, two free museums located near I-95 tell the history of the U.S. military branch founded more than a year before the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

The National Museum of the United States Army in Fort Belvoir, Virginia, features a new exhibition, “Call to Arms: The Soldier and the Revolutionary War.” The rare artifacts on display include a pair of Gen. George Washington’s pistols and the original flag carried by the Army’s first African American soldiers. There’s also a display of interactive, 3D maps of the Battle of Bunker Hill and the Siege of Yorktown. The museum’s Army Action Center is set to debut virtual reality and motion theater experiences this season (1775 Liberty Dr., Fort Belvoir, 800-506-2672, thenmusa.org).

Further down the interstate, the U.S. Army Center of Military History Airborne and Special Operations Museum honors the nation’s elite soldiers in exhibits covering the past 80 years (100 Bragg Blvd., Fayetteville, 910-643-2778, asomf.org).

Eat, get gas and souvenirs at South of the Border

South of the Border, a former beer stand turned massive rest stop and tourist attraction off I-95 in Hamer, South Carolina, is best known to generations of travelers for roadside billboards featuring corny puns and a sombrero-wearing mascot.

“It’s a slice of retro Americana,” said Laura Hersey, associate travel advisor for the automobile club of America about the Mexico-themed roadside destination. One of I-95’s famously sprawling rest stops, it features restaurants, gift shops, an indoor reptile lagoon stocked with crocodiles and a glass-enclosed elevator ride to the top of the 200-foot-high Sombrero Observation Tower.

Discover South Carolina Lowcountry

South Carolina Lowcountry, a historically rich region stretching from Charleston, South Carolina to Savannah, Georgia, is renowned for its African American Gullah-Geechee culture, coastal landscapes and sandy beaches.

The stretches of road through South Carolina Lowcountry “give you the prettiest views from the highway,” Sheer said.

Charleston is worth visiting for its South of Broad neighborhood, which Peggy Leeson said is famous for “all the beautiful old homes, gardens and restaurants” on scenic Charleston Harbor. 

Vinciulla said no side trip to Savannah — or road trip to Florida — can be considered complete without lunch at the “world famous” Olde Pink House (23 Abercorn St., Savannah, 912-232-4286, theoldepinkhouserestaurant.com).

Vinciulla said he’ll splurge on the restaurant’s fish plate or Cobb salad, then rise early next morning to cross the Florida border at Jacksonville.

You’ve arrived. Down your free cup of OJ

A complimentary glass of orange or grapefruit juice is part of the warm welcome at official Florida Welcome Centers, which are open daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Travelers can also get directions, pick up a free Florida map and score a souvenir in a free penny press. Centers are located 16 miles west of Pensacola on route I-10 (850-944-0442), at 1247 I-75 four miles north of Jennings (386-938-2981), at 751829 I-95, seven miles north of Yulee, (904-225-9182) and in a rural area at 5865 Hwy. US 231 three miles north of Cambellton (850-205-3859).