Miles or hours how do you plan your day's drive?

[silvercorvette]

I am a firm believer in hours. With unfavorable traffic conditions a person could spent 8 hours behind the wheel and only travel 200 miles. I personally believe that limiting hours is a safer way to be sure the driver will stay fresh and alert. Professional truckers are restricted to the number of hours they are legally allowed to drive.

Unless I have a good reason I have a specific time in mind when I call it quits for the day which can be anywhere between 4 PM and 7 PM. My goal is to be registered and hooked up at a camp site before it gets dark. Usually I'll start searching for a place to hook up between 3:30 PM and 6:00 PM. Sometimes I'll plan on just pulling into a rest stop at about 6 PM which give me time to walk and feed the dogs make a sandwich or heat up a can of something on the stove and settle in and read a book before going to sleep.

Does anyone else try to calculate their hours rather than miles?

[bertnspike]

I like to (very) roughly plan my route and break it down into 200 mile segments, looking for interesting things to do or see in each segment. Then I plan my driving. I am alone with 2 elderly dogs. I like to leave late and stop early and stay for at least 2 nights. And yet, even that is written in jello, because if the stop doesn't warrant it, I won't stay a second night, and sometimes I'll stop late in a rest area for a night.

My trips usually turn out to be a couple of 2-nighters, then a week or more, with a couple more 2-nighters until the next destination. It's a very easy & comfortable way to travel, but slow.

I've just returned to Florida from a 6 month trip to California - most of it done just that way.

[ktmrfs]

when we are camping, yes, it's more hours. We usually plan on leaving after a leasure breakfast, or late enough to avoid early morning traffic, and then plan on being stopped by about 4pm or so. Get set up, relax and then have dinner.

[Rygar]

We pick a destination within 300 miles, but if we find something more interesting closer we stop. 6 hours is the max though.

[tatest]

I plan in hours because I also plan the time for the stops. Stops can be several hours with zero miles.

In the RV, I plan 14 hours a day being awake, 8-10 hours a day from campsite to campsite. A 10 hour day might take me 450-600 miles on a travel day, fewer than 100 miles on a sightseeing day.

That's why "miles per day" doesn't work. If you are starting off on a trip with a number in your head like 300 miles a day or 500 miles a day, you don't have a plan. That's not a plan, it is at best a rule of thumb, more likely a WAG.

[jalichty]

Out here in the wild west, Wyoming, you usually tell somebody how long it takes to get somewhere rather than how many miles. When we hitch up and take off, our favorite trip is about three hours, from Lander, WY to Colter Bay Campground in Grand Teton National Park. It's less than 150 miles so you see we don't make real fast time, but we time it so we can hit the campground when the overnighters are checking out so we can get a good spot. We did take a trip to Zion from Lander last spring and, after looking at the miles, decided we could make it in one day easily driving about eight hours. Made it almost perfectly on time, got parked and everything by around 4 in the afternoon, leaving time to look around and then have leisurely dinner.

[tvman44]

Hours for me, which usually relates to 300 to 400 miles max. 🙂

[Steeljag]

We also like to be parked and set up before dark. To answer the question....300 to 400 miles a day would be good!

[wildtoad]

Normally, I try to be parked and ready to relax my late afternoon. Have no desire to back in, setup in the dark. For planning purposes, I use a max of 250 - 300 miles a day or 5 - 6 hours.

[Foggy]

Neither. We stop when tired or see something interesting to experience. We try to limit planning to deciding the general direction and possible interesting experiences.

[Aridon]

Depends on the trip.

If all we are going to be doing is watching TV until bed then we'll continue on and take plenty of breaks. I see no reason to stop and set up only to sit there and watch the idiot box when I could be driving.

We take our time, stop often and aren't in a rush. Now if there is a reason to stop and see the sights we'll stop for a few days and do just that.

[Jim_Shoe]

I look for RV parks along my route about every 300 miles. I've found over time that setting the Speed Control on 60 lets me average 50 with gas and potty breaks. So if I'm on my way by 9AM I'm close to my daily destination by 3PM. That almost always get me a spot where I planned.

[352]

Well, how many hours do you think you have left in you? Sounds like you need to slow down and smell the roses.

LIFE IS ALL ABOUT MEMORIES AND SOMEONE TO SHARE THEM WITH

[dahkota]

On a long trip, we don't do hours or miles. We just drive until we can't stand it anymore. Sometimes that's four hours, sometimes sixteen.

[The_Texan]

Either, or, it depends. I usually set a destination based on time, but if I miscalculated and get in way ahead of time, I may continue for awhile longer. Then if I run into trouble and fall short of the destination on the scheduled time, I may extend the hours a bit......No set in stone procedures for us.

[pianotuna]

Hi,

To some extent it depends on driving conditions. My longest "day" ever was from Cheyenne, WY to Regina, SK at 1192 kilometers (738 miles). Generally 500 kilometers (300 miles) is more my "speed", as I drive 78 kph (49 mph) to save fuel.

I'll stop when I see something of interest and I mainly boondock.