Driving Advice Please

Rest areas and Walmarts are a travelers best friend...relax take your time and taking the Interstates...why.

May I suggest a Kansas state highway 54 I think from I35 to Tucumcari instead of down to I40 in Oklahoma City. It a straight shot and I really hate going through OK City. Dalhart TX has a nice Rv park and the road is good for an easy 55-60 drive. Then south from Flagstaff south down the hill to Phoenix. Enjoy the drive.

Missourijan is correct. If you're traveling through Flagstaff after Nov. 1st weather can get quite bad. Snows very heavy in a 30-50 mile radius of Flagstaff. October or before is fine and very scenic. I-17 south is all good road but does have several long downhill grades so an exhaust brake is a great help. There is one 5 mile uphill grade south of Camp Verde.

You didn't say when you are planning this trip but if it's later in the fall you could run into bad weather around Flagstaff, you might drop down sooner to I 10 to avoid that. Stay just east of OKC & Albuquerque and go through at 10:30 in the morning, everyone is at work and it's before they are running errands at lunch. We use this strategy on most big cities and it seems to work well. As others have said Phoenix is another story, very busy traffic, try to get there mid day. Know exactly where you are going, what exit, etc., it's not somewhere you want to get lost in an rv.

We have always (been pt RVing 16 years) planned much like has been said above -- 250 miles or 5-6 hours. We leave earlier in the morning to avoid hot sun and try to get into our destination by 2pm latest. We take a break every about 1.5 to 2 hours.

I haven't been out there since the mid-80s but the ride down from Flagstaff to Phoenix past Sedona etc is marvelous. Lots of long sweeping downhill curves, beautiful scenery, etc.

Dennis M M wrote:
We usually plan on 250-300 miles per day. We like to be in a park and relaxing by mid- to late afternoon.

Agree, same distance or six hours, whichever is first.

We're in a MH and toad so your time may differ but we plan from pulling out to pulling in the next stop averaging 45 mph. That includes fuel stops, lunch stops, rest stops. We sometimes get in a bit earlier than we thought and sometimes a little later but the 45 mph gives us a pretty good idea of where we'll be and when.

Drive as far as you feel comfortable each day. As you get closer to Phoenix you can adjust to miss rush hour. If necessary, spend a few hours in a rest area or truck stop.

Drive slow through OKC. Last time I was through there, I-40 was very bumpy.

marilyn49 wrote:
We are taking our first really big trip from Kansas City to Phoenix. I get that we should drive I35 to OKC and then I40 west to Flagstaff and then down to Phoenix. Just wondering how many miles to plan for each day while driving the 5th wheel. Would like to get to Phoenix before 5:00 rush hour if possible.

What part of Phx, that will make a differant to.