Holiday sleep deprivation

M. and I decided to trick the holiday traffic but driving down to D.C. area early on Saturday morning. Very, very early. The initial plan was to leave at 5a.m., at the crack of dawn. Instead we left at 5:30a.m.
We ended up sleep deprived, of course, and depending on caffeine. We had to nap at our destination, and I, the non-New York-to-D.C.-driver, half-alive, half-asleep, on the passenger seat, half-down, half-upright, managed to steel a couple of Z moments.
The strategy worked on our way there-there was barely any traffic and we made it in a record three and a half hours, or so.
Not so much on our way back. We left on Tuesday morning at 6:15a.m., still exhausted despite the whole 45 minutes of extra pillow-hugging. I had to struggle to keep my eyes open, again. I didn't succeed at all times. Then, I was lucky to have couple of hours before work, upon arrival. M. wasn't that lucky. I'm still amazed at how he made it through the day.
Anyway, we still got hit by the bad traffic around Baltimore, Philadelphia and of course New York. It took us four and a half hours, with only two very short stops.
Overall, did our strategy work? Maybe on our way to D.C. We hate the heavy traffic so in a way it was justifiable. I can't even imagine how the traffic was on Friday and Monday, the Memorial day. I guess sometimes gamble pays off, sometimes it doesn't. Gamble with traffic, that is.