Cracker Barrel — Sanford

Located just about 25 minutes north of Orlando, you’ll find this particular Cracker Barrel located just a stone’s throw from the very busy I4, making for a convenient and fairly quick & easy pit stop location for anyone traveling to or from the city of ‘mouse ears.’ There’s very good signage pointing you to this roadside restaurant no matter what direction you may be coming from with the 10-story sign easily visible from miles away. Situated on Rinehart Road, you’ll need just take exit 101B off I4 and head east until you reach the interior road called Hickman Drive, which you’ll take north until you see this Southern comfort eatery.

One of the huge upsides to this place – close proximity to the major highway that likely also brought you here – is also unfortunately one of the biggest downsides as you will make no mistake you are next to an 8-lane highway the entire time you are here. That said, the area that is designated for RVs and big rigs is right next to the highway on the property’s westernmost flank, however, you’ll discover that the actual pavement that you’ll be overnighting on sits substantially lower than the actual highway, so the noise is substantially less than what you would expect and you won’t be able to actually see any of the traffic, which is definitely a plus. Apart from this, the pavement is quite level and flat with seemingly freshly poured asphalt and the specific area that you’ll find yourself in feels more like an RV community in the waiting. When we stopped by, there was easily 9-10 RVs parked back in this otherwise isolated area with many fellow sojourners quickly becoming road warrior buddies and welcoming neighbors.

While scoring criteria may vary from one person to the next, here are the 5 most important criteria that informed my rating of this overnight location: convenience (EZ on- and off-access), safety & security, quality (of facilities), peace & quiet and amenities (either on-site or nearby).

 Here’s how I ranked this particular overnight spot: 

Convenience: 5 

Safety & Security: 4 

Quality: 4 

Peace & Quiet: 2 

Amenities: 4 

Overall, I scored this location a 4. 

Happy Overnighting!