How many driving hours per day?

[Gregbachand]

I’m about to take my first trip: from CT to TX.

I’m going to drive 4 hours the first day due to the stress of it being my first day.

How many hours per day am I going to want to travel thereafter. Just the wife and I and a couple of dogs. No kids. We are retired (old) and in no rush.

[Skid_Row_Joe]

tragusa3 wrote:
I have a related question: As dubdub07 mentioned above, I wonder how travel days differ from truck/trailer to truck/5th wheel to Class A,B,C?

I've always had a 24' Class C, no towed. Typically, I'll run 300 miles or so per each day. I'm good with that.

[Skid_Row_Joe]

Mr.Mark wrote:
Our normal travel mileage is between 250-300 miles a day and/or about 6 hrs. of driving including a quick lunch.

We usually leave a campground at 11:00 AM (check out time) and will arrive at the new location at 5 PM (if there are no time changes). I will adjust these times as not to drive at dark. In four years with this coach, we might have driven at night 3 times.

I do not like navigating through a dark campground where I have never been (just for safety). 🙂

Safe travels,
MM.

Mark, just wondering if you ever pull your 45' Prevost with towed in to a Walmart Supercenter while traversing cross-country?

[tragusa3]

I have a related question: As dubdub07 mentioned above, I wonder how travel days differ from truck/trailer to truck/5th wheel to Class A,B,C?

[carp65]

We are retired full-timers. Our rule of thumb is 250 miles per day. Time is
not too revelent to us--depends on traffic, terrain, and road condition. We
also try to stay away from Interstates--too many semi's, crazy drivers, and
billboards! Federal and state highways are usually more scenic with many quaint
small towns.

[dubdub07]

When I had a FW, I stopped more. I went slower, and it was arduous. With the motorhome, I can drive 10 hours or more. I am still in the camper, the wife and kids are happy, so I stop when I need to....sometimes 12 hours on the road. A motorhome is built to drive for a long, long time....

WW

[Executive45]

Following up on my earlier post with some additional suggestions. I'm assuming you're recently retired. When I retired 10 years ago, our adventure started out we us in "vacation mode". We had places we wanted to see and created a bucket list of sorts. This meant we spent our first year going to those places. Jump on the interstate, go from point A to point B, just like we did when we were working. In this mode 5-6 hours, sometimes more made sense. After the first year, we realized how much of the country we'd missed by traveling this way. By staying off the interstates, taking back roads, you see much much more. You also arrive at your campsite more relaxed, are able to set up camp by 3-4PM and enjoy the campground. We usually don't leave until 11AM as we break camp, walk the dog, eat breakfast, pre-flight the coach and take our showers. I'm a planner, so we usually map out our next stop in advance and make reservations. A 3 hour window allows you to move to your next destination and still be close enough to retrace in the toad if you missed something that you weren't aware existed until you happen to see it while enroute. Our preference is to stay a week or so at each stop which allows you enough time to tour the surrounding area and take a couple of 'do nothing' days to re-generate....Happy traveling...Dennis

[Rustycamperpant]

sch911 wrote:
I still work and when I camp I need to minimize the amount of travel days. So we sometimes do 10 to 12. It's not for everybody...

Us too. I dont like it, but we have driven up to 18 hours straight to get home with only fuel/snack stops. It depends on your situation, if time were not an issue 6 to 8 hours max would be ideal to me.

[BigRabbitMan]

Executive wrote:
We average 3 hrs/day but we don't use the Interstates if possible. There's too much awesome things to see in this country to travel 6-10 hrs a day. Think of what you're missing. Look ahead and plan accordingly. Minden, Nebraska has a Merry-Go-Round that still charges a quarter to ride....Dennis

Yes, if you get near Minden, NB stop and check into the campground adjacent to the museum. The museum is very large and I took three days just going through it. Campground is old and funky but fine. Going back in 2020!

[Tom_Barb]

We drive as much as we need to, to get where we re going, simply to be there and enjoy the place.

[Matt_Colie]

Greg,

Even though we co-drive and have a very comfortable and easily driven coach, I find that 6 hours is a good plan. If it you get out there, and the day is easy, maybe longer. By the same token, we have had some really short days. One was just into Pennsylvania. We decides to hold up in a truck stop, burn propane and watch the chaos on the highway until the storm cleared. It was winter in the northeast.

The short first day is a very good plan. Rushing departure is a great way to make mistakes. (That is a lesson I learned long ago and it still stands.) Where you are starting from in Connecticut can make a big difference too.

You seem to have your head on right, just keep using it. Pushing is a good way to end up dead. This time of year, start out with provisions for three days. It is easy to get stopped for one, and so two can happen. The third day is just so two does not make you uncomfortable.

This is all from a guy (and DW) that have done an 1101 mile day.

Matt

[archbarb]

We used to do long days 6-7 hrs. when we were working. Now we try to stay within 3-4 hours. Now that we are retired we have no reason to be in a hurry. I like to get into campground around 2, and R&R. I hate pulling into campground after dark.

[mike_brez]

We have drove as many as 17 hours and as little as 1.5 hours.

[Scottiemom]

You are wise to plan your first day out for four hours max. You will likely get tired just because you are not accustomed to the routine. We typically drive 200-250 miles, about 4-5 hours. After a couple days of that, though, I want to stop for 2 days so I have a rest before hopping back in the saddle. I am the only driver, so I want to be comfortable.

Good ideas have been mentioned. . . we usually eat breakfast before leaving. We also have a dog. Leave around 9. Stop 11:30 to noon for lunch in the rig and to walk girlie. May time it with a fuel stop and then park in the lot for lunch. If it's a long afternoon of driving as well, we will plan another stop to walk the dog. Always try to arrive relaxed and with time left to explore if we wish.

Dale

[Executive45]

We average 3 hrs/day but we don't use the Interstates if possible. There's too much awesome things to see in this country to travel 6-10 hrs a day. Think of what you're missing. Look ahead and plan accordingly. Minden, Nebraska has a Merry-Go-Round that still charges a quarter to ride....Dennis