We are planning a trip to KL. We will be driving from the Atlanta, GA area. We aren't sure if we want to drive it all at once or stop along the way. We were thinking about driving 8-10 hours and then stopping. Since we have never driven this route b4 we don't know what city to stop in. Any recommendations from someone who has driven this route b4?
P.S. We will be on the turnpike
Thank you.
I always opt for the single day of driving, but if you want to take in some sights, that's ok too. There's not much to speak of between Atlanta and Orlando, except Gainesville... which has an excellent Chicago style pizza joint if you're interested! Other than that, it's a college town with little to do besides eating or drinking.
Ocala is mediocre at best. It's got some good eats but they are way off the interstate. The turnpike has service plazas spaced about 45 minutes apart, depending on your speed. (Don't forget that Florida has state troopers [troop K] dedicated to driving the turnpike just looking for wrongdooers.)
You can't go wrong getting off the Turnpike @ I-4 because you can hit anything you want around International Drive. (Sorry, the Diver's Direct store is closed now.) Also, if you're going to make a stop, Orlando would be a good place to do it.
From Orlando, I would stay on the turnpike until you can get off and get on I-95 since they parallel each other for quite some distance and you usually don't get there any faster. But that decision is really based on you being in south Florida around rush hour or not. I prefer not to pay to sit in traffic.
Eventually you'll run out of interstate and will need to get on US-1... it is a slow ride from that point... you're going to feel like you're going 30mph the whole way there. At least I did. I've not been to the keys in many years, but I still bet US-1 rivals Atlanta for generating road rage.
There are plenty of places to eat, but my recommendations stop at Jupiter. While it's all been good, nothing I would make a point to go back to... or too far off your route.
If you decide to stop in Orlando, let me know!
Ken