My friend and I are going on a road trip starting in Georgia and going north all the way to Prince Edward Island in Canada. What should we do to prepare my car for the journey?
Also are there any roads to avoid? (exp. 95 is a toll road and very busy)
Thank you! 
If you are going in the summer, the trip will be easy. Roads are good and you can drive right there over the bridge!
If you are going now, make sure your maintenance is up to date your antifreeze is good for -35F (standard mix), and your windshield wiper fluid is the WINTER TYPE. Most people forget that part and their washer system freezes up.
In other words, nothing different from visiting your aunt in Chicago. If you have a AAA membership it will be honored by the various auto club affiliates in Canada.
Take a cell phone with you.
Happy hollidays!
You don’t want to go up there now…
For any trip, even to the grocery, make sure all the maintenance is up to date. In this case with a long trip, make sure you have a cell phone and good maps or a GPS. Going now is likely going to be lots of snow and ice. It is not something you want to learn about on a road trip.
I-95 is not busy once you get into Maine:)
Take I95 all the way to Bangor/Brewer, then take rt 9 (the Airline Rd.) to Calais to cross into Canada. Avoid Rt 1, especially in the summer.
The weather is pretty much coastal and will generally be no worse than it is in coastal Maine. The problem is, though it’s warming up, it’s still late winter and the forecasts are very UNRELIABLE as weather can change dramatically in a matter of miles. It’s nothing to get an unpredicted 2 to 3 inches of snow when the forecast is rain…you’re from Georgia ? Good luck driving.
I wouldn’t take this trip, this time of year w/o awd, winter tires, appropriate winter gear a computer on line or GPS.
Once you get past Portland, your access to a motel in a pinch is a much greater drive. So if the weather turns bad, you’ll have to drive it out for greater distances, and finding them w/o a GPS is harder.
BTW, north of Portland, 95 thins out and is 'BOORINGLY" less traveled. If you haven’t made the trip before, I suggest you do it in the summer.
I don’t know if it’s still true, but historically most road break-downs were allegedly tires, hoses, and belts. Have them checked out by someone who knows what they are doing.
When we drive into the Snow Belt in the winter, we put in my -30 degree sleeping bags. Not everyone has them, but do put in enough warm stuff that you will not freeze to death if you did get stuck a day or two in the snow. Even if you are both the same gender or something like that, you might have to snuggle up in the same blankets if you start getting cold; it’s basic survival.
I also recommend a large container of peanut butter, because it has enough energy to keep you warm if you have enough blankets. The Russians carried lard, but most of us have trouble choking lard down cold, though I like it when it is melted and hot.
And, water, preferably in an insulated container so it doesn’t freeze. It is usually recommended not to “drink” snow, but that is because it tends to take away body heat. If you have plenty of energy food and plenty of cold weather blankets, a small amount of snow, just enough to keep your mouth moist, should not drop you body core temperature, but do watch what you are doing. A gallon thermos should last two of you until road crews find you.
Water proof matches, though the odds of needing them make them just a last ditch item.
If you get stuck in the snow on the highway, stay in the car as long as the storm is happening. With those blankets, you can last several days. The car should be considerably more warm than being totally exposed to the elements.
If it clears up, the sun is out, and several days pass without help, then it is time to move, but do think it over carefully. I say this because some years ago, a man was driving in the mountains out west. He took a side road, the snow came and they closed both ends while he was driving through it. He got stuck, no one came to check, and he sat in that car for weeks, writing in his journal until he starved to death.
The reason to stay in the car is it keeps you alive until help comes; but after some period of time it should become obvious that no help is coming.
Note those matches. If he had left his car and built a honkin’ big fire on a clear day someone would have seen it.
On main highways, it is going to take a historical snow storm to prevent the highway from being cleared in two or three days, and even that long is very rare.
I remember the date Feb. 12, 1966 very clearly. I was released from active duty on that date at Ft. Lewis. I jumped into my 1953 Chevrolet and took off for the Midwest. After 44 years, I can’t remember the route, but the words Pendleton and Snoqualmie come to mind. Those who might know that part of the country, feel free to correct my bad memory.
Whatever the town was, Pendleton or ?, a highway patrolman stopped me. I thought it was the same thing as the Wash.HP who checked out my expired license plates, which were still good because I was in the Army. He said, no, he understood that, he wanted to warn me not to go up the mountain because a major snow storm was going through that area. I had already planned to stop there (Pendleton???) so there was no problem.
The next morning, I went over the pass, and they already had the Interstate open, but the snow on both sides was like 20 feet high, and no exits were open. I had never seen anything like it. But, even with that horrid snow, the Interstate was open within 12 hours.
I think not long ago, this winter, they had a horrid snow in IA/NEB, and one of them shut down the Interstates, and prohibited tow trucks from going out, but that was for one day max.
Loafer, if the goal is to get to the destination I agree, but of the goal is to experience the east coast then rt. 1 should be a primary route, except through the most urban areas like around Boston, with 1A wherever possible. Rt. 95 will deny a person the experience of the beauty.
Route I in the summer, LL Bean and the sites and a stop in CR, new Bucksport Bridge vista and Bar Harbor, I agree; then back to Ellsworth to Calais and Canada. Everything is desolate this time of year. Don’t come til June.