Tool: how far can I travel in x hours?

[kohai]

Many RVers have a rule of only driving x number of hours a day (they choose what x is). I was curious how many camping locations were around my home within a half day drive.

I went in search of online tools that would show this and I discovered these two:

How far can I travel? - This tool lets you enter a speed and control more variables (miles vs km, how fast, avoid highways, etc). There are some other similar tools on this site.

Another tool - This one takes longer to run and frequently will timeout without finishing.

I don't think either of these take into account the speed on a road like Google maps does, which would be helpful. But, they are better than a simple radius tool showing how many miles from a location based on how the bird flies.

Are there other tools out there like these?

[kohai]

Bobbo wrote:
How far can I travel in X hours? Take the speed I plan to drive (62 mph for me). Reduce it by about 20% to take into account stops/slow downs/etc, multiply that by the number of hours.

Don't need no stinkin' online calculator, and it is close every time I use it.

62 mph * 0.8 = 50 mph for x hours

The advantage of the tool in the original link is that it will show you a radius from your location based on your average mph and time.

So, for me, I can plug in the average mph and hours and see how many camping spots fall in that radius from my home.

[Bobbo]

How far can I travel in X hours? Take the speed I plan to drive (62 mph for me). Reduce it by about 20% to take into account stops/slow downs/etc, multiply that by the number of hours.

Don't need no stinkin' online calculator, and it is close every time I use it.

62 mph * 0.8 = 50 mph for x hours

[mikegt4]

I use to often drove (car, not RV) from Ohio to my late brother's house in Florida in 12-13 hours pretty much straight through. My Audi would routinely go over 550 miles per tank but I would usually stop where the gas price was low (like SC) and top off. My speed was near the posted speed limit, I just didn't stop unless I had to. I was working 12 hour rotating shifts at the so the day felt like just another work day but with better scenery. Also being a lifelong gearhead I love to drive.

Now the age old prostate problem requires more, make that many more, stops. Combined with a class B that has a ravenous appetite for fuel especially over 60 mph to seems that travel times have become glacial. Before retirement I had to hurry because of job related time restraints. Retirement should bring a "slow down and enjoy the scenery" attitude but now I start thinking "how long before I can't do this anymore?" and start trying to pack in as much as possible while I can.

To be a little more on topic, I usually count on 60-65 average by car, 55-60 by RV and drive 10 hours or so if I am driving all day.

[DSDP_Don]

"Dtank".....very funny.

[Dtank]

kohai wrote:
Many RVers have a rule of only driving x number of hours a day (they choose what x is). I was curious how many camping locations were around my home within a half day drive.

I went in search of online tools that would show this and I discovered these two:

How far can I travel? - This tool lets you enter a speed and control more variables (miles vs km, how fast, avoid highways, etc). There are some other similar tools on this site.

Another tool - This one takes longer to run and frequently will timeout without finishing.

I don't think either of these take into account the speed on a road like Google maps does, which would be helpful. But, they are better than a simple radius tool showing how many miles from a location based on how the bird flies.

Are there other tools out there like these?

The "tools" are in the: stomach, butt & bladder of the beholder.:S
(driver and the passengers)

Also the fuel capacity of the vehicle.

Some types of vehicles generate more fatigue than others.

People are different.

Do whatever works best for you and skip the "tool" links..:W

.

[sljkansas]

My Dad taught me that if you base your travel on 55 MPH it will be as pretty darn close.

[LarryJM]

wa8yxm wrote:
Gee, all those tools.. I use an average speed of 50 mph (This is right close to what I actually make with fuel stops, meal stops, pit stops and such) so 4 hours is 200 miles, 8 hours is 400 miles,,, That easy.

DITTO

[ncrowley]

In the RV, we use an average of 50 miles per hour on primary roads. That takes into account fuel and food stops.

[mlts22]

Most I've done was back in the 1990s, going from Austin to LA in 24 hours, then from there to Vancouver in another 18 hours, only stopping to get gas and maybe a drive through or two. Once I got into BC, I got a motel room, and collapsed for two days. Not doing that again.

These days, unless I had to be at a destination, I just take it slowly. If I feel like pulling into a RV park full of shade trees that has a good review record, and it is 3:00 PM, I'll do so and get some laundry knocked out while reading a book or two, then find a local eatery and call it a night.

[RicJones]

I would love is a phone app where you could enter a route and have it project where you would be in X amount of time. With that I could search for campgrounds or motels, food near there. If there wasn't anything I could expand the search from there.
Anyone know of one? The closest one I know of is called RoadAhead,
which gives you what's available a the next given number of exits.

[paulcardoza]

Two years ago we drove the bus we had from Cape cod to Myrtle Beach. 500mi day one and 350 to get there on day two. That first day was quite enough.

Left the coach there at the in-laws (along with DW!) and drove back in my Wrangler, just me & the chihuahua! Drove the 850mi straight through. 14.5 hours. A bit better than the 50mph average @ 58mph, but being alone, stops were VERY short.

[DSDP_Don]

Another vote for 50mph. My wife will always ask, what time do you think we'll get their/home. I look at the mileage on the GPS, divide by 50 and give her a pretty close estimate every time.

We do the same as "Jim Shoe" when travelling to new places. We use Streets and Trips to plan the route and estimate where we'll stay for the night. Streets and Trips will the show you all the campgrounds in a radius you select. After we find what's there, we look at RV Park Reviews and pick the two nicest. When we leave in the morning, we call one or both campsites and check on availability.

It sounds complicated, but is really very easy. It took longer to type how we do it, then it usually does to find a site.

[Matt_Colie]

I played with both for a while, the first does not seem to understand lakes as in great. The second routinely crashed.

Nice plan.

Matt

[mgirardo]

Houston Remodeler wrote:
There are a few problems with your premise; Unless you have the road to yourself, you can't average 75 miles per hour. Lord knows I've tried. In a typical car, with my lead foot, the best I've managed is to average 65 mph for 12 hours. That means there are many times you have to be in excess of 75 mph to keep an average of 65.

That being said, if you keep the throttle at 65 you will not average 65 in the long run. It will be slower as there will be traffic, hills, and construction, even if you had a giant fuel tank, no need to sleep and inserted a catheter.

Actually the problem is with your premise. You assume too much. Just because you can't, doesn't mean others can't. When I drive our car from our home in South East GA to visit family in South West NJ, it is a 780 mile trip. About 1/2 of those miles are on roads with 70 mph speed limits. When driving through the night, we can make it in 11 hours (leave 9 pm, get there 8 am). Have done it many times over the last 8 years since moving to GA. 780 miles in 11 hours is an average speed of 71 mph.

Sleeping kids don't need bathroom breaks or meals. I can go the entire trip with only 1 bathroom break. Same with wife since she sleeps most of the trip. When I stop for gas, I get out, fill the tank and get back in and go. Don't usually lose more than a few minutes at a stop and we usually only need 1 stop in the CR-V.

When we make that trip in the motorhome it's generally a 13 hour trip since we drive it during the day. We don't stop for potty breaks (have one on board) and usually stop for 1 meal, usually for about an hour and it the other on the road. We make 2 stops for fuel. That's an average speed of 60 mph.

Same trip, average speed of 11 mph faster means a savings of 2 hours. Still a lot more than your 15 or 30 minute savings.

-Michael