Hello fellow RV'ers. Mi wife and I are going to be embarking on our first long haul road trip with our two sons. (13 and 8). I hope this is the first in a long line of annual family vacations. :)We live approx 20 min west of Milwaukee, WI and will be heading down to Orlando, FL.We are planning two days for travel. I plan to leave between 4 and 5 am the first day and drive Nashville area. We have made reservations at a camp ground there. I hope we can make it there around dinner time to give us time to relax and rest up for day two.I was planning to go through Rockford Ill on 39 to champaign and then taking 57 south and picking up 24 into Nashville. This gets me around chicago and avoids the dreadful drive on 65 to Indianapolis which I made more times then one person should ever have to in their lifetime. :)For day two it looks like 24 to Chattanooga and then 75 all the way. Tried to find some ways around atlanta but doesnt look like there are many options.We will do the same thing on the return trip.We're pulling a 30' TT so we plan on taking it nice a slow. we will be in Florida for a solid 11 days with some off days planned between all of the touristy stuff. Really looking forward to it.We have done some smaller, two our drive, trips with the camper so I've gotten a good feel for how the trucks pulls with it. Be a long trip I could use some tips and or advice any seasoned RV'ers would have.

My first tip is to slow down. That first day is nearly 600 miles, double what most RVers do in a day. We used the 3/3 rule for overnights. 300 miles or in a campground by 3pm. You'll only average 50 MPH so you're looking at a 12 hour first leg. It's been a while since I traveled with kids, but I remember a considerable amount of crankiness after 8 hours on the road.

My family has transitioned over a 4 year period from hitting it hard (5-600 miles/day) to the 300 mile rule this year. Our main motivator in the earlier years was not knowing if we'd have the chance again. We are over that now. Our trips are far more relaxing, but they are missing something from that first year or two... You can enjoy a trip with either strategy.

Two days from WI to FL is not what I call "taking it nice and slow". You might find the 2nd day a very long one for the kids. We never made reservations more then a day out when we had kids or grandkids with us because they found stuff they wanted to do more then sit for 12 hrs. Sometimes it takes us four days to go from CT to FL.

Search this Forum for Disney World. I think three days is a good number for a visit. The first day I'd go to Epcot, the second day to Animal Kingdom and the third day to the Magic Kingdom. If you go to the MK first the other days will seem boring to the teens and almost teens. There are some unofficial guide books that explain how Disney works and some the helpful hints for avoiding the long lines as much as possible.On the way back I'd head for Cedar Point the roller coaster capital of the world. The teens will forget about Disney once spending a couple of days there.X2 on breaking the trip into three days AND I would try very hard to have a pool at the campgrounds.

Your going to have some cranky kids at 600 miles per day. Split it into at least a 3 day trip. Make it a vacation instead of a marathon.

Tips for first time long haul road trip. | Good Sam Community

welove2drive
Explorer
Jul 19, 2017
A good place for a pitstop/picinic in Atlanta I-75 mm 198 is High Falls State Park. We overnighted there on our last trip to FL. Another time just ate lunch.

Make sure your brakes are in good shape for going through Chattanooga. Long grade through mountain. Beautiful area.

Have a great time making memories and a safe trip!
LarryJM
Explorer II
Jul 18, 2017
Tyler0215 wrote:
Your going to have some cranky kids at 600 miles per day. Split it into at least a 3 day trip. Make it a vacation instead of a marathon.

I agree 600/day is too much especially with kids. Most of our Road Trips are at least 1,000 miles or more and shoot to avg 250mi per day on average with no more than 4 days traveling before taking a day off.

Newbies just don't realize how much different it is towing these behemoths over driving just a passenger vehicle by it's self. One needs to be "extra alert" when towing and there is a mental strain associated with that. If one's rig is even slightly marginal that just multiples the strain factor and will beat up even the best of the drivers.

Larry
1971duster340
Explorer
Jul 18, 2017
And remember after 11 days of fun and siteseeing, the adrenaline is gone. You'll still face the same corn fields driving back...much harder.
1320Fastback
Explorer
Jul 18, 2017
We just did our first long range trip and even though we do NOT have kids I was worn out after 500-550 miles each day.

It isnt the traffic, it isnt because your towing, its just a long long day.

Our next long range trip will be no more than 500 miles per day.
Lwiddis
Explorer II
Jul 17, 2017
Join our club and enjoy your vacation! Drive 230 miles and stop, or stop at 2:30.
naturist
Nomad
Jul 17, 2017
I, too, think 600 miles a day is overly ambitious. I doubt you'll enjoy it that way. 600 miles at 60 miles an hour takes 10 hours, so I see how you arrived at 5 am to 6 pm allowing 3 hours for fuel and food stops. But truth be told, there's no way you can average that fast. I think making it three 400 mile days will at least tolerable, but you are still going to be exhausted at the end of each of those days.
Crowe
Explorer
Jul 17, 2017
Your going to have some cranky kids at 600 miles per day. Split it into at least a 3 day trip. Make it a vacation instead of a marathon.

X2. You are looking at back-to-back 11-12 hour days assuming there are no issues with traffic, someone not feeling well, etc. I understand the "rush" mentality but you will still have ample time in FL if you slow down a bit. One of the reasons we are not RVing at this point in time is you can only get so far in a two-week vacation and we wanted to explore more parts of the world. Driving 3 days out isn't too bad-it's the 3 days back that sometimes ruins whatever benefit you got. You could also stop an extra day on the way home somewhere fun to give everyone something to look forward to on the return trip and take some driving stress off.

Regardless of what you choose to do one of my suggestions would be to stop every 2-3 hours and switch drivers. Even if you don't feel tired it helps with both the mental and physical fatigue as well as boredom. You'll need to get out to let the kids blow off steam and burn energy and switching drivers will help facilitate that. Kids that are cranky and fighting will quickly turn fun into NO fun.
Tyler0215
Explorer
Jul 17, 2017
Your going to have some cranky kids at 600 miles per day. Split it into at least a 3 day trip. Make it a vacation instead of a marathon.
Dick_B
Explorer
Jul 17, 2017
Search this Forum for Disney World. I think three days is a good number for a visit. The first day I'd go to Epcot, the second day to Animal Kingdom and the third day to the Magic Kingdom. If you go to the MK first the other days will seem boring to the teens and almost teens. There are some unofficial guide books that explain how Disney works and some the helpful hints for avoiding the long lines as much as possible.
On the way back I'd head for Cedar Point the roller coaster capital of the world. The teens will forget about Disney once spending a couple of days there.
X2 on breaking the trip into three days AND I would try very hard to have a pool at the campgrounds.
K_Charles
Explorer
Jul 17, 2017
Two days from WI to FL is not what I call "taking it nice and slow". You might find the 2nd day a very long one for the kids. We never made reservations more then a day out when we had kids or grandkids with us because they found stuff they wanted to do more then sit for 12 hrs.
Sometimes it takes us four days to go from CT to FL.

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