Taking Loonnnngggg Trips, Driving a really really long way Options

[leftyf]

It works like this for me. I've left Seattle at 130pm on a Friday and been sitting eating dinner in my home in Houston by 8pm Sunday. And, I've driven 400 mi, in 3 days.

I'm 57, solo, and an amputee. When I get ready to go, I roll. During the winter, I try to start looking for a place at 3pm. And, if the weather is bad, I may stop even earlier. It just depends on how I feel.

Just because you do 600 miles in a day, doesnt mean everyone should or wants to.
The idea of the RV lifestyle is to take time to smell the roses or burn up the road. It's what is comfortable for you not what some table says you should drive.

One of the best trips I've ever had was during the winter crossing a high pass on some highway in some state in the mideast. I was praying that we would get snowed in. This was the best sleep I've had in years. Watching it snow, watching satellite TV, and eating popcorn. Man, it don't get any better.

I've also had trips where I had to do 3,000 miles in 4 days. I got her done...but,, it wasn't a whole lot of fun.

Do what you are comfortable with and don't worry what anyone else says.

lefty

[BBear]

There are things I really like doing that I wouldn't want to do for that long...

I know we all have times where we need to be somewhere but that can't be fun. It sounds like a recipe for disaster.

H@ll, it's hard to keep your average speed up if you just take a pee break..

LOL...he's been doing it for almost 30 years and has never had an accident. He just has the stamina and focus to drive for long periods of time...

...I on the other hand, have to stop at every rest stop on my route even if we don't have to use the facilities and after more than two hours driving at one time it's fidgit time for me, LOL!!!

[Butch]

To each his own, I guess the answer is- whatever works for you.

[gwbischoff]

To each his own, I guess the answer is- whatever works for you.

I mean, no offense I hope was taken. I just don't see how that is even possible. I relocated from the NJ to CA and drove myself out in a car. I just can't see doing that in an RV.

Like I said, I know we all have times where we have to be somewhere, but 900 miles a day. Bejeezuz.

[Butch]

900 miles a day is A LOT of miles, I once drove my car over 800 in a day and my butt was in that seat all day long, it was not a pleasure. I was young, and wanted to see some of the country, but it was from the car windows. The next day, and the days to follow were much different. In our Rv we only drive 250 max, and that is because of my age and a medical problem with blood clots forming in my legs. Sitting to long. Very dangerous.

[Testudo]

A little late, but I couldn't help responding to this...

Our 'longest day' was summer of 2005 (when we were still tenting) and we went from Germantown, MD to Beloit, WI -- about 825 miles.

First, I would suggest that you ditch the "anchor" and get a truck camper or a Class B [grin!]. We have a small (6.5 foot) pop-top truck camper (for just my wife and myself) on an F-250 XLT (not top-of-the-line interior, but comfortable enough on long trips). I'm 53 and we were pretty much life-long tent campers. The global warming and U.S. summer heat finally got to me, though. The RV is _all_ about the air conditioning [grin!].

Tenting from a car or pickup truck always seemed like a nice compromise to me in terms of time spent "working" (camp set-up and break-down). Now, with the truck camper, I'm kind of amazed at how fast we can get rolling each day. In a month-long trip, we probably get an extra two days doing 'fun stuff' because of the brief amount of time it takes to get the truck camper squared away. That doesn't even include the extra time we have because we don't have to backtrack from where ever we are during the day to some far off tent site. With the small truck camper, we always have all our supplies on our 'back'. When we are in some remote location, I feel sorry for people I spot out in the field that I know have big-rigs back at the campground. We have had the RV since May of 2006 (over 100 nights camping in it) and we have never taken it off the truck on the road. It is just too convenient to have it with us all day. Our biggest dollar savings has been on food -- we are not dependent on the local economy for lunch, anymore. Our camper is small enough that we can store it in our 10x20 foot garage. No small advantage since, around here, public storage is about $200 per month.

We are "right-coasters" and take a thirty-night trip out west every year (since 2005 -- last year of 'the tent'). I'm very peripatetic so the only real limitations on my tendency toward marathon driving is my wife's limited stamina and the number of daylight hours. My night vision is not so great, now, so I like to avoid driving at night.

Historically, we've easily done seven to eight thousand miles on one of these trips. I try to clear the east coast as fast as possible but it still takes us at least three days to reach the edge of the Great Basin. The first day, I try to get as close to the Mississippi River as possible. After that, I ease up a little bit and we try to take in a little 'local color' along the way. Our typical 'transit' day is about 600 driving miles. We have the smallest engine FORD offered and we try to keep our engine RPMs under 2,000, but, we have no trouble keeping up to the speed limit in our low-profile; fully-loaded vehicle. In the shoulder seasons, we have about an hour less light in the evening than in the Summer, so, getting in more than about 600 miles is challenging compared to the 650 or even 700 which we can achieve in the Summer.

Originally, once we got to our general destination, we used to try and average less than 200 miles per day. Lately, I've been trying to 'slow down'. I'm trying to spend more nights in one place and get the average mileage down to around 100 miles per day. On our recent trip, we were shooting for about 6,000+ miles and came in at 6,800 miles (we had an 'unscheduled' sidetrip of about 250 miles). When we do two-night; three-day, weekend trips close to home, I try to keep that to less than 200 miles from home.

Considering the 'anchor' that you're hauling around, I think you are doing great!!! If I can be serious, though, I'd venture to say that hauling a big rig seems to be more of a chore than a vacation when you just have a hand full of days to spend. I don't think you are missing some sort of 'technique' so much that you are maybe trying to go too far with too much in the time alloted. I realize that we are very lucky in that we can go for that 30-day block. Still, I wonder why more people don't consider smaller RVs (even shorter trailers that would be somewhat easier to jockey around). If _we_ are still happy to keep camping when our thirty nights are up, I can't imagine a smaller RV not sufficing for the weekend or few days that so many people must make-do with thoughout the year.

I can appreciate that certain types of RVs have limitations when you need to load up a _lot_ of family members, but I seldom see evidence that this is actually the case. Some people _must_ haul a lot of gear, like a full taxidermy laboratory in case they wanted to freeze-dry and stuff a roast beef, for example. But when does anyone have time to use any of those 'toys'??? When all, or nearly all, of the travel is just for a weekend or a few days, I often wonder why the owners didn't opt for a smaller RV and take less stuff from the get-go.

[gwbischoff]

Maybe it's just an LA thing.

Getting out of LA is a nightmare. It took us an hour just to get passed Dodger Stadium one trip and that's 11 miles away. Do the math on that one.

Coming back to LA is a nightmare, too. Our last trip back from Phoenix was great but I told my wife that I would rather drive the first 300 miles over again than the last 80. We left PHX at 7am and I had the cruise set at 65 the whole way until we hit the Palm Springs area. Suffice it to say, we didn't end up averaging 50mph. That's why I'm amazed by the 900 miles claims. I drove from my former home in NJ to Michigan City, IN (~700mi) solo in my car, that's my personal record. Traffic in and around major cities alone should be enough to knock anyone's average speed down.

[DXSMac]

I talked to the RV park that someone recommended to me. I was told "no cancellation charge" if I need to SLICE one day off the reservation. I'm only charged a cancellation fee if a COMPLETELY CANCEL. Cancellation policy is 24 hours.

However, the one thing I didn't like is they hit my credit card NOW for a deposit that is applied to my stay. The deposit is $34, but they told me the cancellation fee is $10. So, if I cancel, they will refund me $24 of the $34? I'll probably have to FIGHT for that $24 if I need to completely cancel! Ok, I'm locked in now.

JJ

[Texasrvers]

Just so you know, it is not too unusual for the park to charge your credit card now. Some do it. Some don't. Hopefully you won't have to cancel and everything will go just fine.

[Lindsay Richards]

You keep mentioning that you are old and then say you are 51. I thought it was a typo first. 51 is not old. I suspect that the average RV'er out there is a lot older, especially if retired. I know I have gone down hill a little since I was 51. We ae a young 63 and frequently feel we are the youngest ones in the park, espically on the weekdays.

[John S.]

We travel back to St Louis from Fresno at least once a year. 1955 miles takes us two and one half days of driving. Our first day is usaully 800 to 900 miles, second is around 700 miles. I stop when I'm tired at a rest area. No one wants us to pull in beside them at 1:30 AM. We don't stop at campgrounds on any trip when we want to make time.

900 miles a day?!?!

Are you flying one of the new Airbus A380's?

How does that work out? 90 mph for 10 hours? Two drivers, 9 hours apiece averaging 50+mph?

I have driven from DC to Spokane Washington in 4 days and have driven to Mesa AZ in 4 days. I have also driven 3 800 mile days in a row and it is tiring but doable. The most I have driven is 1100 miles in a day. I will get up at 4:30 am EST and start driving like a work day and stop at 8 at night and that will cover alot of miles. No different that me drivint to work sitting all day and then driving home. I stop and take breaks and average 50 mph in 16 hour you can cover alot of ground and in 12 hours you can cover 600 miles at an easy pace and if you push the average spped to 55 you can get up to 800 miles in a day with not many more hours. Now is this for everyone. NO. If I was retired I would cover 500 miles a day in and easy 10 hours and get across the country pretty easy with no pressure. I know my dad can drive 1000 miles in 2 days and he is 79. It is all what you are accustom too doing and how you drive. I can drive further in the MH than in my truck. It is easier to drive and easier to stop and take a break. 1200 miles is a short trip by many peoples standards and as you get accustom to it you will push further and further out. A round trip with sightseeing in it to WA from the east coast can hit close to 10,000 miles and alaska is another huge trip too.

[John S.]

Maybe it's just an LA thing.

Getting out of LA is a nightmare. It took us an hour just to get passed Dodger Stadium one trip and that's 11 miles away. Do the math on that one.

Coming back to LA is a nightmare, too. Our last trip back from Phoenix was great but I told my wife that I would rather drive the first 300 miles over again than the last 80. We left PHX at 7am and I had the cruise set at 65 the whole way until we hit the Palm Springs area. Suffice it to say, we didn't end up averaging 50mph. That's why I'm amazed by the 900 miles claims. I drove from my former home in NJ to Michigan City, IN (~700mi) solo in my car, that's my personal record. Traffic in and around major cities alone should be enough to knock anyone's average speed down.

DC is tough too so I leave after work late and go to just outside the traffic gridlock and then get up at 4:30 am to start driving.

[Joe-n-Doe]

Pre RV days we always drove from 600 to 900 miles a day. The only exception was a cross-country transfer from Ventura County to Washington D.C. We convoyed both cars and only drove the minimum required 300 miles per day.

We bought our RV last year specifically to facilitate taking our mutts with us on a cross-country trip planned long before we became dog slaves. When I planned the trip, we initially had 2 deadlines 1) to be in San Diego on Easter Sunday and 2) to be in Lake Tahoe April 24th. I planned on driving 500 miles per day. Fortunately, when I did the initial planning I plugged in extra days to tool around Northern Arizona and Southern California. Those extra days permitted us to make radical changes in our itinerary.

A last minute equipment addition to our TT and an unscheduled, but long awaited removal and replacement by a landscaper of a full sized palm tree that had died resulted in a 6 hour late departure. We made it 200 miles that day and HAD to stop (our first Flying J experience). The next day we drove appx 450 miles before calling it a day at our first RV park. Day 3 we made close to 600 miles before stopping at a truck stop. Late in the afternoon on day 4 we pulled into an RV park outside of Big Bend…another long day on the road.

That evening DW, who does most of the driving, implemented a new rule…8x4 (8 hours or 400 miles whatever comes first).

Until the last leg of the trip, scheduled stops and driving time in-between equated to a day on the road and at least 2 days in layovers. An unexpected Dr.’s appointment resulted in a forced march from the Little Big Horn back to Jacksonville, FL. 4 long days later we were home. As a result we have adopted another guideline; no more than 2 straight days of driving followed by at least one brain dump day.

Our 3 on the road rules are:
1: 8x4
2: 2x1
3: Bowing without question to one another’s stated desire to stop at some of those absolutely silly roadside tourist attractions; e. g. Molly’s Doll Museum and Jack Daniels Distillery.

[DXSMac]

Our 3 on the road rules are:
1: 8x4
2: 2x1
3: Bowing without question to one another’s stated desire to stop at some of those absolutely silly roadside tourist attractions; e. g. Molly’s Doll Museum and Jack Daniels Distillery.

I like that. Since this is my first time driving the RV that far, I will start with a "guideline" and see how I feel, and if I can modify it.

Mine will be:

1. 8 X 3 (may modify to 8X4, see how my cat tolerates it.)
2. 2 X 1 (I think this is a good rule!!!)
3. stop at an occasional rest stop to let the cat stretch it's legs

JJ

[pianotuna]

Hi,

I have often traveled alone in my RV so my rules are 50 miles, stop and do a walk around the RV, next 50 stop for a coffee (which I often have in a thermos). 50 more and lunch. In the afternoon 50 and walk around, 50 for coffee, 50 stop at a rest area and check my email and check for local boondocking and/or inexpensive campgrounds.

My "hard and fast" rule is "always fill up the fuel tank" before I camp for the night. That way if I wake up early I can quietly and quickly "get down the road".

Rarely do I eat out on these trips as I prefer my own home cooking.

So far the longest day was Cheyenne, WY to Regina, SK about 1192 kilometers (741 miles for those who are metrically challenged)