Too many miles?

intheburbs wrote:
My answer is, "It depends."

It depends on you - do you enjoy driving? Do you find it relaxing? Or is driving a necessary evil? Do you have experience driving long distances in a day (~500-600 miles)? Did you enjoy it? Do you look forward to it? Or are you a stressed, tense, white-knuckle driver?

I'm a salesman, and seasoned road warrior. I love being behind the wheel. For me, the journey is a big part of the fun. Plus, my wife and kids are great road warriors - nobody gets carsick, and they'll read a stack of books. They grew up taking long trips, so they're used to it. We have a DVD player, but never use it.

In 2011 we went from Michigan to Yellowstone for our vacation. Racked up 5500 miles in 18 days. Longest drive was 614 miles in a day, from MI to Rochester, MN. I did all the driving, and loved it. Also had several days where we covered 500 miles. This summer, we're driving to the Grand Canyon - 2036 miles. We'll do it in three days. I'm actually throwing around the idea to try to make it to Albuquerque in two days - 1630 miles.

On the way back, we'll make some shorter drives.

When the kids were younger, we did the Disneyworld vacation every year. SOP was a 3 AM departure, arriving in Atlanta the first night - 700 miles.

If you're tense when you're driving, it can be very fatiguing. But if you're relaxed and enjoying it, go for it!

This ^ !! It's all up to you. Are you and your family up for that kinda hard pushing trip?
We are TT newbies that just started last year and have not done a long trip yet, but to start making plans, I asked around here and some other RV'ers I know the same "how far in one day" kinda question - the general consensus was there's 2 ways to to RV travel: Around 300 miles a day or less from camp to camp. OR: long runs to reach a destination with only basic rest stops along the way - no campsites to put all that work into leveling / setup - just drive, take breaks and stop and sleep as needed, or rotate drivers with no stops.
We also did a lot of the 600 to 700 mile runs straight through - up to Maine or south to Georgia - when the kids where little. But that was tent camping with nothing but a cargo trailer in tow with all our gear. I definitely don't want to push it so hard with so much more weight / length involved now.