How fast do you drive with camper on? .

jimh425 wrote:

JoeChiOhki wrote:
If the five to ten minutes it takes out of their day for me to safely reach a pullout or a section of road where they can pass impacts their schedule that much, they didn't plan their travel very well.

If the 5 or 10 minutes it takes you to get back up to speed impacts your schedule, you didn’t plan very well.;)

Not saying that anyone’s mind is changing … I just thought your comments were funny. :D

It has no impact whatsoever on me, my goal is to be considerate and pull out as soon as it is safe to do so. Jumping onto the first bit of barely there gravel on the side of a pass or shoulder that's not wide enough to accomadate a large vehicle is by no definition safe :).

I'm more than happy to get out of folks way, I plan my travels around 200 or so miles a day on long trips so I can compensate for travel delays, including needing to pull off regularly to allow traffic to pass, but those same folks that are frothing at not being able to 80 in a 55 zone are going to have to give me a moment to find a place I can safely get out of their way where my merging back in afterwards is not going to cause an even greater safety issue and larger backup due to the cost of getting moving again, hence why I usually wait till I'm not on the side of a 7% grade if that highway section has no passing lanes, where I'm going to be going far less than 45 mph for a good ways till I can wind it back up to as fast as it will go.

I try my best to plan my routes to take "roads less traveled" to avoid becoming a major obstacle on the high-traffic routes where climbing major grades will drastically slow my forward speed down.

Reality Check wrote:

JoeChiOhki wrote:

Grit dog wrote:

JoeChiOhki wrote:
45-55 mph. For me, its more than fast enough and I'm usually meandering on two lane back country away from the main routes more than I am on interstates. Plus, the truck is old and powered by a naturally aspirated small block V8 gas engine. Even with 4.10s, she's not going to be winning any races :p.

On my bigger trips, I normally only drove about 200-300 miles a day at tops, as I was more interested in the journey than just the destination.

If we're on flat lands, I usually pull off to let folks get around, or when we reach the top of a grade if we're climbing one, pulling out before then just means the next batch of folks will be stuck behind me going even slower because I'll have lost my momentum and will be starting again on a hill, so instead of going up the hill at 45, they're now doing it at 30.

On most quality roads, there are usually passing lane segments that come up and that's when most folks can safely get around.

So you’re mostly speed limited by the capability (power and age) of your truck.
Aka, one of the vehicles on the road that frustrates other drivers who are trying to get somewhere before their weekend is up or their next birthday comes around!

If the five to ten minutes it takes out of their day for me to safely reach a pullout or a section of road where they can pass impacts their schedule that much, they didn't plan their travel very well.

If you're adding 5 or 10 minutes to someone's day because of the time it takes you to pull over....you are a hazard beyond comprehension. What if there were two or three of you on the same section of highway? Seriously?

But...I suspect you meant that you'll usually pull over within 5 or 10 minutes. That's not as bad, it's just selfish and creates stress in others where it shouldn't. I'd ask? why, who made such a person God to decide what is bad planning on someone else's part? I'd be rethinking my habits and decision making process a bit. I'm can be pretty ornery, but can't hold a candle to that attitude. Just food for thought.

Its not an act of God to realize that if you only have X amount of time available for your vacation, you're going to have to accept realistic expectations of how far you can realistically travel overland within that time window, and trying to exceed that by behaving recklessly and then blaming someone else for disrupting a poorly planned endeavor is the true case of selfishness there.

I learned this very early on that if my destination is going to take x amount of hours of driving in ideal conditions and I only have four days of total weekend to enjoy, I'm going to either A.) Have to reduce how far I am going to try and go by changing my end destination B.) Find a means to gain extra time for travel, because ideals and reality rarely met up with any regularity in my personal experience.

I do my best to stay out of folks way, as I mentioned above. I use less ideal routes that might add more distance to my own journey, but will keep me from blocking a larger arterial route if there's any gradients that have to be climbed, not be as easy a drive (US-14 was a pucker factor ride all the way down the east side of the mountains in Wyoming, but I encountered a whole five cars during the journey and didn't slow down the folks racing to and from Yellowstone), and when I can safely get out of folks ways, I do.

BradW wrote:
This thread makes me remember jPonder and his throttle stick. :) :) :)

I miss Jponder to this day, he was a Man amongst boys with that throttle stick and took no guff :p.

Let me also clarify for folks here. I avoid interstates when I can, especially with the camper. When I can't avoid them, I keep myself camped in the far right lane and out of folks way if at all possible. The only times you'll see me stay a lane to the left of far right is in states who do not invest proper maintenance dollars into keeping their truck lanes in good shape and are so rough that the ride is extremely unpleasant.

Interstates generally are very boring alot of the time, and follow the routes to major metros, which unless there's something there I'm going to see there, I avoid like the plague.

I'm generally found on two lane back country highways, the blue highways if you will.

The speed limits on these roads are generally lower, 55-60 has been my experience across the northern states from Oregon to Ohio vs the 70,75,80mph of the interstates and unless I can't avoid it, they're normally not major thoroughfares, so the amount of traffic I'm sharing the road with is usually fairly low.