Miles per day/hours on the road

That is a lot of miles to attempt in a day. I usually do 350-400 any more an I tend to get tired, and need to take a good long break to shower,eat a good meal,relax and let the stiff muscles limber up. With kids it will probably be worse as they do get cranky after awhile. Good luck on the trip

Jnccpf wrote:
First let me say I am a newbie when comes to the RV. My wife and I are planning a trip from CT to Yellowstone, but due to limited vacation time, we are going to try to get their as quickly as we can. In your experience, when making a trip like this how many miles a day do you an to drive and how long does it take you? My thought was we could make about 600 or so miles a day doing 12 hour days. That would give us time to take a brake, get gas and perhaps stop at a roadside attraction. I am looking for you real life experiences. Thanks!!

Edit!!! We have two children, 13 and 15.

That is not hard to do especially in a MH based our experience leaving the weekend after 2011 Labor Day with Yellowstone as our first major stop. We got to Badlands 32 hours after getting to IL including a 6 hour nap at WM in north KS near NE. I-29 was closed or it would have be fewer hours.

I am the solo driver and the twins turned 14 on that cross country trip. I was 60 at the time and have major limitations from arthritis but when those wheels start turning with exciting places to go I am good for 12 hours/600 miles especially if I get five hours of sleep the night before.

For the most part one of the kids would stay awake as co-pilot since they took turns sleeping. The daughter is the night owl so she pulled most of the after dark co-piloting shift.

If you have two drivers you will be in hog heaven making 600 miles a day I expect. Best of luck.

Now some are only good for 200 miles a day and that is fine. The nice thing with a MH if you find you are only a 200 miles a day person just whip into a parking lot and call it a day. I prefer WM because of their security set up and the kids wanting to go and come getting stuff while I was in the MH.

My family (Myself, wife, 6yo daughter & 4yo son) can manage 2 days of back-to-back 600 miles, but then we really need to rest. At first the kids would lose cohesion at about 400 miles, but after a few trips we found a pattern that worked for us and now the 600 mile days don't lead to any unhapiness.

Our method is to hit the road very early and get a couple hundred miles in before the kids become very active. Then we start stopping every 60 to 80 miles for leg stretches, snacks, view points, etc. Our average pace slows alot in the afternoon between lunch, dinner, etc. Then once it's dark we just drive for another couple hundred miles until roughly 11:00ish. The kids usually sleep once the sun goes down, and I'm a night owl so i don't mind driving at night. On these travel days we usually don't stop at campground, just because I don't like driving in that late and disturbing others. We stay at rest areas, Wal-Marts, etc. We've done this many times for 2 days in a row, but I don't think I'd try for more until they're older. I hope to be able to get 3 or 4 days in a row out of them by the time they're as old as your kids.

In my 30's I often did 550-600 a day. Would get up at 6, drive for a couple of hours and stop for breakfast. Usually drove a 12 hour day. Wife usually drove for an hour or so after lunch to give my eyes a break. At the time you will be traveling CG's may be full by 4-5 pm so you'll need to reserve or use Wally World/truck stops.

Now, 45 years later it's 9-3 or 4. Only time we exceed 7 hours is out west where facilities are further apart. Each decade now seems to reduce our range a 100 miles or so per day. In scenic country we may only get 150 every other day. In retirement the journey is the destination!

Personally, I'd like to see more days devoted to the trip, especially since you're a newbie. If you were more "seasoned" to the ways of RV'ing, then I'd say it's possible. But if you don't have any other choices then it is what it is and you try to make the best of it. But for newbies, I'd strongly recommend choosing a destination closer to home until you get more miles under your belt.

First of all, generally we average about 50 mph when on the road. That's travelling 60-65 mph most times. You will be travelling through a peak holiday, so you may run into more traffic than normal, so your average may be less. The nice thing about travelling in the motorhome is that if you do run into heavy traffic, we use that time for potty breaks and meals while the motorhome inches down the road. When the tie-up clears, we cruise on by while most of the people in cars head to the nearest rest stop ASAP.

Are you the only driver, or will you have help? Do you like to drive long hours? In our class A, wifey rarely drives, but it's so comfortable I can drive for 12-15 hours per day without any real stress. With two people driving, I'd just say drive as long as you can rotating drivers every time you need to refuel. Stop at a Super-Walmart for a quick break & rest, then hit the road. If possible, try to time your rest stops to avoid peak rush hour traffic times, especially when you're on the eastern side of the country. If your kids do Wii/XBox/etc. you can connect to help occupy their time. When we're on the road for long times, the kids play Wii for hours on end.

But any way you slice it, it's going to be a push. Doable, but it might cause some stress within the family. But that really depends upon your own family. I'd recommend a shorter trip with less travel so that you can spend more time with your family around the campfire at the end of the day. :) (Disney World is a day & a half away. :) )

Good Luck,

~Rick

Good thing we do not have to keep a log book like the truckers do. A bunch of you would be paying fines.

I think you need to reconsider and go for a shorter trip or allow more time. You are really pushing it and it will not make for a good trip. Everyone will be worn just from the extended trip driving time.

Can the wife do part of the driving? Does the moho have any handling issues at all (truck wind response, wandering, etc)? If it drives right, it'll be a lot less tiring. If the kids can stand it, you'll make better time staying in truck stops, WM's, and rest areas some nights... no lost time on drive to CG, check in, set up, and drive back to the route.

One more hint... don't linger to see the sights in the first & last two or three days. You'll get around to that later. Do nothing but haul tail those days.

Jim, "I was never as good as I used to be."

300 miles or about 5 hours is my limit. When I go on vacation it is to relax and enjoy it. Driving 12 hours per day does not fit into that equation.

If we drive 70 or 55 to still comes out to 50 miles an hr. Maybe I spend more time in the rest area or maybe I have to stop for gas more often when I drive faster, I don"t know but it's always about 50 miles an hr. We can go 10 or 11 hrs (500 or 550 miles) for 2 or 3 days but then it's time to take a day off from driving. If you want to see anything on your trip you nead to slow down and not drive from sun up to sun down.