12 hours in a car is definitely too long. I headed out at 6am, swinging by Walmart on my way to pick up Whitney for some electrical tape to cover my service engine light ($500 for a new catalytic converter when I get 30 mpg?).
I hit the interstate to find that my cruise control no longer works, sometimes it will work for about 30 seconds, but usually when I hit the set button, the dash light just blinks at me.
After 11.5 hours of driving with a cramped leg through Michigan, Ohio (thanks for closing our exit and not providing detour information), Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia we attempted to make our way to Fort Myers so I could drop the car off and hit the metro. After getting lost for a few minutes, we finally made it to the base. After a few hours of visiting with family friends, we hit the metro.
I was most impressed by the DC metrorail, having never been on a subway before. It was clean, fast and felt almost like an amusement park ride after spending all day in my car.
We got checked into the hostel just fine… it was larger than I thought, probably six 10 person rooms to a floor, with 6 floors of rooms.
Overall, it should be a fun trip.