Miles per day/hours on the road

Jim, IMHO this is doable. I disagree with some of the other comments posted earlier. I think travelling by MH is much easier on your famiy than a similar trip in a car, so a 12 hour day should not be all that difficult. With a total distance of about 2200 miles you could do 4 days on the road but why not give it 5. Then 5 back and you still will have 8 days on site. Plenty of time. Speaking from my experience only, I have done 600+ mile daily drives routinely and have not felt worn out at all.

All of this, of course, depends on the driver's experience and enjoyment behind the wheel... and the purpose of the trip. For us, 99% of the time it's to get somewhere as quickly as possible. But everyone is different. If he/she gets bored after a few hours, obviously more rest stops will be needed. Personally I love to be behind the wheel, and to keep driving and driving. We travel with several dogs and must make potty stops for them. Time and time again our trips average, including stops for gas, eating, potty time, etc., but not overnight sleeping, 60 miles every hour by the time the trip has ended. We often travel 12 - 14 - 16 hours the first day, and not as long the second day. Our overnight stop is at a rest area or a Flying J, and there is no wasted time. We can be back on the road 6 - 8 hours after turning off the rig at night. Pre-planning is essential to map out the stops, but the whole trip can be arranged on paper before leaving the house. Personally, nothing on the trip is boring: the Kansas (or Nebraska or Iowa, etc.) countryside, the overhead sky at night when there's very little traffic, and so on and so on. As said above, everyone is different, but this really works for us...and we now have 191,000 miles on our 24' RV, almost all of it traveling the current highway speed limits, crisscrossing the whole country,including many trips from CO to CT, NJ, NY, MA, and just recently Canada, and next week Louisiana......Enjoy your trip.

You will be able to make much better time once you cross into Nebraska/South Dakota. I am not sure you can average 50 MPH getting around the cities in the east. Once you reach the wide open spaces of the plains, you can sprout wings and fly. If your family is anything like mine when I was growing up, Day 3 and 4 on the road will be a religous experience, you will have gotten a glimpse of hades.

We take the car trailer (28'/12,000 pounds) from Oregon to Michigan regularly which is a little under 2500 miles. We do this in a day and a half. (32-38 hours depending on traffic and snow). We do a 3-driver rotation which is very manageable. Nobody feels tired. We carry a stack of DVDs to keep the back seats entertained when they aren't sleeping and have meals packed away under the seats so we don't have to waste time stopping for food. Each driver does 2-tanks of fuel then we rotate. Cruising speed between Oregon and Illinois is usually 80-85 (basically 10 over whatever the speed limit is).

In June 2011, we left DC at 4PM, bound for Glacier National Park. The first night we made it to just past Indianapolis by about 3AM, a little over 600 miles. The next morning, we started around 10AM and made it to just outside Mitchell SD around midnight, a little over 800 miles. The next day we made it to the badlands by noon where we over-nighted, then to Custer State Park where we spent three nights. We had the advantage of no children in the car. We also don't mind driving if we need to, to get where we are going. We also spent 3 nights in Yellowstone, 4 nights in Glacier, 2 nights in Teddy Roosevelt, a night near the Dells in Wisconsin, and two other nights at various spots on the road in Montana. We arrived back in DC on what would have been our 19th night.

It can be done, it really just depends on your tolerance levels. DH and I have very high tolerances and have been traveling like this for years. If we know that we will have a few days down time we can easily crunch out 700 miles. We did it again in September 2012, going 700 miles on day one and 850 miles on day 2. Day 3 we were in Mesa Verde.

Just a heads up though - we can drive these times because we stop at rest stops, not campgrounds. Hooking, unhooking, packing, unpacking - entirely too much time and trouble. But, we don't have kids, don't have to open our slides, and can carry enough water for a shower and coffee. Staying at a campground, you need to arrive by 7PM (courtesy) and be ready to leave again by 6AM just to get enough hours to cover 600-700 miles.

I think it all comes down to your ability to drive long hours. I know I can't drive as long as I did when in my 20s. I get really get tired after 350 miles and six hours seems to be my max before I start to get sloppy.

Maybe you are younger but we never come close to 600 miles nor do we want to. Our goal is no more than 300something, arrive at the campground in plenty of time to get a site and set up for a 6 PM dinner. Of course occassional exceptions are necessary but 450 would be tops. RVing and hurry up quick trips are incompatible in our opinion. I understand your shortness of time but I would reconsider.

Our trip run 300 to 400 miles a day. Weather has a lot to do with it.

I get 2250 miles, all on expressways or toll roads (across northern Ohio) as the shortest. With rest/gas stops I average 50 MPH, driving 60. So, 45 hours behind the wheel.

You are talking about 4 12hour days driving one way. With 18 days I would suggest you drive 2 days, stop a day somewhere and then drive 2 days again. Do the samething coming back on a different route. Leaves you 8 days in yellowstone.

My family spends a lot of time on the road showing horses during the year. Most drives are 300 or so miles but about 4 trips are 600 miles. We do the 600 in 1 day but I can tell you nobody is happy at the end of the one of those days. Now keep in mind we are pulling big heavy trailers (2 18k# horse trailers, a FW and an equipment trailer pluse other families occassional with TTs and FWs) I imagine a Class C is probably easier on the attitude than those monsters with live animals aboard.