How far to travel with only 2 weeks vacation time/year

MetalGator wrote:

coachjeff wrote:
I would be curious to know the ages of some of the posters that say driving 200-250 mile a day is enough. I have driven to Gulf Shores, and Pensacola which is a little over 700 miles, in a day pulling the travel trailer and came home a week later. because being a younger family working man that is all of the vacation that I get. I feel that if you are comfortable driving 1000 miles a day go for it. I myself do not have any issues driving for 12 hours stopping only for gas, food, potty breaks.

Same here. I get 10 vacation days a year. If I only drove 200 miles a day, I won't have much time to spend at my destination as it would take 2-3 days to get there and 2-3 days to get back. I'd rather drive all day to get to my destination than blow a couple of vacation days just to get to my destination.

That's us too. If we stopped at 200-300miles a day, we'd never get very far.

michigansandzilla wrote:

Bamaman1 wrote:
Given 2 week's vacation, surely there's somewhere you'd like to stay in Michigan--even if it was on the Upper Peninsula.

????
Why?

With the entire United States to explore, why stay in the same state? It's like a gift to have two weeks off of work. Why in the world would you choose to stay in the same place that you have lived your entire life? I can go just about anywhere in the state for a long weekend.

Why not go to DC, or NYC, or Assateague Island (our trip this summer), or Yellowstone or the Grand Canyon or ...........

Completely agree with that. I think two days driving on each end is a limit though to not be wore out. As I get older, I want to get home with at least a day to spare to rest before work as well.

We've set a goal of all the CONUS National Parks before kids graduate college. We like bobbing and weaving states as well to catch as many as possible. Have to stop and do something though or it doesn't count as a state visited.

We did a trip to Yellowstone from MI a few years ago. Did it in about 16 days. Enjoyed every part of the trip from start to stop. Seeing the country as we traveled is part of the vacation. Not just the destination and site seeing. Going from the city to the corn fields to seeing all the wind farms and the the mountains is something we'll never forget. Then Yellowstone park and Mount Rushmore ... words can't discribe the beauty.

We wanted to do this again, but my wonderful wife has been diagnosed with cancer and she probably can't handle the long time driving anymore. So if you are up to it ... Don't let anyone stop you. You never know what life has in store for you.

If it's something that important to you ... Just do it!!!

rv2go wrote:
Call me young and crazy, but back in 1977, the wife, daughter and I took off in our new 1976 Midas Class C. We left Knoxville, Tn and went as far west as Long Beach, Wa. The trip was over 6200 miles in 15 days.
This is about the route we took.

This is impressive! Maybe crazy too, but certainly impressive. ;) What was everyone's impression of the drive?

I have a family member that plans on taking two weeks to fly to Vegas, rent a car and then drive to the Hoover Dam, Grand Canyon, several Utah parks, Yellowstone (for 1.5 days), Mt Rushmore, and back to Michigan. I think my eyes glazed over when she told me this. Her boys are the same ages as my boys. I just can't imagine the driving and exhaustion. Memories for sure, but that's a pace even I don't think I'd like to pursue.

Bamaman1 wrote:
Given 2 week's vacation, surely there's somewhere you'd like to stay in Michigan--even if it was on the Upper Peninsula.

????
Why?

With the entire United States to explore, why stay in the same state? It's like a gift to have two weeks off of work. Why in the world would you choose to stay in the same place that you have lived your entire life? I can go just about anywhere in the state for a long weekend.

Why not go to DC, or NYC, or Assateague Island (our trip this summer), or Yellowstone or the Grand Canyon or ...........

I have driven 900 miles in a day but the second day had to be shorter. I solve the issue by leaving the night before and getting 200 miles done and pulling into a rest stop for the night. Then the next day I am up like a work day at 5 am and on the road. I stop about 9 for breakfast and then drive again. I can cover 800- 900 miles that way. I can do 600 the next day so that is your 1800 miles with two days driving and arriving in time for a late dinner at your destination. It helps that you gain an hour going west every so often. Now coming home I plan for three days so I am driving 5 days of my 2 weeks. I will stop and see something on the way home too so it is not all driving each day.

That said I did that when I was younger. I am not quite at the 2-2-2 club but I usually limit a day to 500 miles unless I have a reason to push.

With the distance of 1800 miles from Michigan that would put yellowstone in the running for possible destination. We did that journey 2yrs ago. It is a lot miles to dash there but well worth it! Can't wait until we retire and don't have to rush

toedtoes, that's it.

Another thing that kept going through our minds was using the large block of time to it's best advantage. Spending time in places that we could reach in a 4 day weekend seemed pointless. I want to be at the furthest sites that fit my time window. 4 day trips will always come up a few times a year. 2 week trips can't be counted on at all. I think our tolerance for driving changes based partly on that factor.

When I was a kid our family did many vacation trips where all we did was travel, just tourist stops and overnights. There was no destination where we stayed more than a day. It is called a road trip.

My wife's family did not do this, they always had a long-stay (at least 2-3 days) destination at one end of the drive. So I did not do road trips with my wife and children, it was something we started doing in the RV, after retirement. My wife's tolerance in the latter years of her life was about two weeks.

But we did the other thing too, with family in Florida. In the '50s it was about three days each way from Detroit to Brockville, so we would have a week there. I-75 cut it down to two days, then one very long day as it got built deeper into Central Florida. So we could have at least 10 days at destination.

Both vacation modes are valid, as are also cruises, flying to foreign cities and tropical beaches.

However, I try to manage my road trips to 200-400 miles a day, with 3-4 hours a day visiting things along the way. Because, if there is not some place I have to get to, then why push it beyond what is relaxed and enjoyable?

tragusa3 wrote:
We did 3 days of 600 miles last year to get out and the same coming home. Doing it that way gave us all the advantages of more time in the places we wanted to be, but it also gave a unique sense of distance.

I think it's that "all the advantages of more time in the places we wanted to be" that counts. If you want your trip to be about seeing the sites along the way, then 600 miles per day doesn't make much sense (no time left to sightsee). But if you are just trying to get to a destination, then why waste time in places where you don't want to be and lose time at the place where you do want to be.