12 days 3400 miles coast to coast with kids

RedJeep wrote:
This summer I have 12 days to get from Portland Oregon to NYC. 3400 miles. Wife, nine year old twins, two dogs and a cat. Major stops along the way include Mount Rushmore, Niagara Falls, and Boston. Once we get to NYC then we get to slow down and relax for the next 4k miles.

I'm not sure if many folks do these long haul trips with kids. I decided to post in Class A because travelling in a motorhome is a different thing from TT and FW.

I figure we can average 500-600 miles per day to give us six to seven days of road time and five to six days of site seeing. Of course, I wish we had more time to get to NYC, but schedules are fixed.

Even though my kids are young they are well experienced travelers.

Anyway, I thought it would be good to share some thoughts and ask you to do the same.

What we found that works on long driving days:
* Keep kids occupied with reading, school lessons, games, electronic media and lots of stops.
* Pets are great to keep the kids occupied.
* Rule is... "let me (the driver) know if you need to get up (bathroom, drink, etc.)."
* We try to avoid making reservations that lock us into a time commitment. We like figuring it out as we drive.
* If we drive really late we will look for rest stops to camp at (actually sleep for a bit and then get up and go after a few hours).
* If no rest stops then we'll look for truck stops or walmarts.
* We tend to avoid RV Parks on the long haul days unless we need to dump the tanks. Or, if we just need a break then we look for RV parks.
* If just looking for an overnight stay we may call ahead by a few hours or just show up late at night and see what we can find. We can almost always stay at a park even showing up super late. Only a handful of times have we found that we could not get into an RV park.
* We always travel with a full fresh water tank.
* I try to fill up the fuel tank at about 1/2 full. RV is gas. Tank is 75 gallons. So we stop often. I figure you never know when you'll need some extra gas.
* I drive pretty slow (about 57 mph).

I drive pretty fast, in a CAR, speed limit plus 9 and when I drive back on the I's from Denver, at least 5 times, I average between 54-56 (avg highway speed on cruise control of 75+) so you might want to re think the schedule, or steal a few more days, IMHO you will be luck to average 400 miles maybe 450 in 12-14 hours of driving.

But here is how I'd try to do the trip, it's 1400 miles to Mt Rushmore. - But it's 861 miles to Yellowstone and the Tetons
so two long days to YNP then a day to drive through and then a day to Mt Rushmore 4/5 days and you are 1/3 of the way drive through Badlands and stop in Sioux Falls, Spend the night catch your breath. let the kids play then back for a couple more long days to the end of the second third of the trip to Niagara Falls - then a day and a half to get to NYC.


Try to do a lot of drive throughs on the way - push hard for a couple of days then find a good site and let the kids get really worn out in the pool.

I'm breathing hard and I'm sitting down - can it be done ?
Sure - Will it be Fun? Sure - will it????? - The issue is the POOR Driver - so only you will know.

A suggestion I give often to the Supermen of the World - Try to get some more time - Leave after work not in the Morning - that 4-6-7-hours is priceless at the end of the trip and is just total bonus time - Learn how to just stop in a Wal*Mart for the night - In the Summer not as easy because you might need A/C, but you have a generator right? Drive through so at least you will Know what you need to come back for - and try to get a good rest day in the MIDDLE of the trip to recharge.

This FAMILY took three weeks every YEAR so it can be done!

BOL,