5050 miles in 9 Travel Days

Use to visit my sister in Miami on long weekends. One way from Central Illinois was over 1,200 miles. 24 hours straight, each way. Got 30 mpg in my VW when gasoline was $0.30/gallon or less than $15 one way. That tells you how old I am. Limit myself to 700 miles/day now.

My longest trip was around 500 MI, turned into a brutal 13 hrs drive. Lots of contributing factors. 1st east coast cities, 2nd 21 gallon fuel tank on my Tacoma and last missing an exit (construction not completely my fault) and being forced to take a detour through downtown Pittsburgh PA

Mike

CavemanCharlie wrote:

Scottiemom wrote:
I'm 70 and recently widowed. While my husband was alive, I did all the driving of our 40' Phaeton towing a car. We fulltimed till he died. So I sold my Phaeton and kept my 22' R-Vision mini motorhome. She's all loaded and ready to leave on a 2-month excursion tomorrow. I'll start with an overnight at my son's across the state, then heading north to Virginia to see my daughter and family. That's a 3-day drive. From there it's on to Indiana to see my almost 96-year old Mom.

I have always loved to drive and it will be easy for me to drive a 22' (no toad) as opposed to a 40' DP and towing. I'm looking forward to it. I have always been a cautious driver, but more so now that I don't have another set of eyes. I don't feel my skills are diminished though, so plan to keep at it for several more years.

Dale

Sorry to hear about your husband.

I love to drive too and you are inspirational to me. I hope that I can still be driving comfortabley at 70.

Keep having fun !

X2

Well said CavemanCharlie

Mike

I ain't a gonna try it!

Listen to the children. As I was ripping along at 80 mph, I made the comment, "We are making good time". My son brilliantly asked, "Dad, is the emphasis on "Good" or "Time"?" I slowed down. My favorite travel gal once took a week to go 500 miles.

I am close to 75 and do not do well with long continuous hours driving. Even when I was much younger I could not handle more than about 10-12 hours of driving which would total maybe 500-700 miles.

I do make long cross country trips. I live on the East coast and mainly visit the West and Rocky Mountain areas. I found way to handle those long drives without being stressed and tired. I drive 3-4 hours and then stop for 1/2-1 hr. In addition to fueling if necessary, I get into the truck camper. Have something to eat and drink and take a power nap for at least 20 minutes. I am then refreshed and ready for another 3-4 hour leg. I don't like to drive at night, but in the Summer with long days, I can drive for a total of about 10-12 hours averaging 60 mph; i.e., 600-720 miles. Typically I am towards the bottom end of that range which means I have about 3 days to get past flyover country and the marathon is over.

agesilaus wrote:

A while back, there was a topic about stopping rv’ing @70 years of age. At closing in on 70, I don’t think it’s time to stop....but, a marathon trip like in the title .....isn’t as easy as it once was.

Ah Phooey, I'm 72 and just getting started. We did a trail yesterday with a 800 ft climb in a mile. Nothing to brag about but we are just getting our hiking legs back, There is a YT channel on old mine exploration and one of the two guys doing it is 85. And he is climbing up and down 300 foot shafts.
Some folks do have debilitating health problems, but so do some 25 year olds. God has seen fit to let us be active.

How do you even drive 5000 miles in the US without going up into Canada? The most we every did was 1900 miles in 4 1/2 days. North Florida to Yosemite. Had reservations to keep.

I hear ya ! A few years ago as part of my 62nd year, I bought my National parks pass. So, off to Utah we went to hit the 5 parks plus some other beautiful areas. One day we were on a hike and I was getting a bit weary and felt like turning back. Just about that time, going back down the trail is this woman, much older than I, just having a great time/ Well, I said to myself, if she can do it, so can I. I too had a great hike that day. On the way back, about a mile or so from the trail head, we came across a group of 20 somethings, one of the girls was crying and saying she couldn't go any further. We all have different abilities and drive.

Speaking of drive.. I typically do about 300 miles a day now. No hurry and the dogs like to get out every couple hours. When I was working and on a constrained schedule, I'd drive 800-900 miles a day to get to my destination. No more !

fj12ryder wrote:

memtb wrote:
...

A while back, there was a topic about stopping rv’ing @70 years of age. At closing in on 70, I don’t think it’s time to stop....but, a marathon trip like in the title .....isn’t as easy as it once was.

...

That thread was just to stir the pot, it was put up by a known troll, and it was just to get people aggravated. Which it did.

I always thought his posts were harmless, but that is how I saw it

Mike

Why do people put others at risk with such long hours behind the wheel. Truckers are limited to: Current regulations limit long-haul truck drivers to 11 hours of driving within a 14 hour on-duty time period. Drivers must have had 10 consecutive hours off duty before on-duty time starts again. Additionally, truckers who are going to be driving for more than eight hours must take a 30-minute break before reaching the eight-hour mark.

Scottiemom wrote:
I'm 70 and recently widowed. While my husband was alive, I did all the driving of our 40' Phaeton towing a car. We fulltimed till he died. So I sold my Phaeton and kept my 22' R-Vision mini motorhome. She's all loaded and ready to leave on a 2-month excursion tomorrow. I'll start with an overnight at my son's across the state, then heading north to Virginia to see my daughter and family. That's a 3-day drive. From there it's on to Indiana to see my almost 96-year old Mom.

I have always loved to drive and it will be easy for me to drive a 22' (no toad) as opposed to a 40' DP and towing. I'm looking forward to it. I have always been a cautious driver, but more so now that I don't have another set of eyes. I don't feel my skills are diminished though, so plan to keep at it for several more years.

Dale

Sorry to hear about your husband.

I love to drive too and you are inspirational to me. I hope that I can still be driving comfortabley at 70.

Keep having fun !