is 2500 +/- each way road trip pratical in 10 days?

[TCBob]

Considering trip next yr to AR from Oregon. Enjoy road trips, but is it praticle for 3 +/- days at destination? In TC?
There was a day when we would drive straight through swaping drivers as needed. But I think they are in past. Google looks like 30 hrs drive time, so I am thinking 3x10 hr drive each day. A few days at destination and hot foot it back. So I am wondering if that is even pratical?
heck, I get off on rabbit or squarl trails just going to the store.....still think it would be fun. Comments?

[JacintoKid]

I did 4300 miles in 12 days but I wouldn't want to do it again. I like to keep moving when we're out west every summer but that particular trip was pretty exhausting. However,southern CO is about 15-17 hours from my house in TX and I drive straight through but once we get there, I slow it down. Multiple 15 hour days gets old fast

[jimh406]

Comparing regular trips to being in a truck/TC doesn't seem at all comparable.

[2oldman]

It's not practical to me.

[Steve_in_29]

I have done right at 1000 miles in 15 hours with 2 pee breaks, one of which was also a food/fuel stop, but I had to fall out of the truck at my destination as I was too stiff to move at first.

I recently drove just shy of 2400 miles round trip in 48 hours (including all stops and getting new tires on the trailer after one blew in New Mexico) going from CA to TX and back to deliver a car to my son. I did all the driving. I was totally dead by the time we got back and slept the entire next day.

Travel during those trips may have exceeded the speed limit.

With you and wife trading off driving (sleeping as other drives) it would give 5 maybe 6 days at destination but the first would be spent sleeping. You would also need to factor in a full day (at least) of recovery time upon returning home. So it can be done but proably not the most enjoyable trip.

[Kayteg1]

For years I've been buying vehicles on East Coast and bringing them to California.
My personal best in the car was 1240 miles/2 time zones in a "day".
Day ended at 3 AM that is why "".
In the past I was making 2100 miles from Chicago to SF Bay Area in 2 days, even with diesel pusher. But those were days of 90 cents fuel and no revenue seekers on the road. Now driving 80 even in Nebraska brings high risk of tickets, especially in jurisdictions where cops have trigger-activated radars that my ValentineOne will not detect in advance.
Sure doable, but not enjoyable.
I mention time zones on purpose - driving east you will notice shorter days affecting your daily mileage.

[Farmerjon]

we have made the trip from Mo to San Diego many times and we have no trouble making it in 2 days going and 2 1/2 returning and we avoid the dark, mostly.
With the truck and camper we can average 60MPH. We are worn out after the trip. It is 1700 miles.
To add 800 miles and only 1 more day would make it a race and not fun for us.But it is doable.
And if you hit wind your mileage really takes a dive at the speeds you have to hold.

[Bedlam]

The best time I have made was 750 miles in 12 hours. That was with no traffic, passengers, load or trailer and making only one fuel stop. I would be hard pressed to repeat that pace multiple days in a row nor would I want to.

[Grit_dog]

2500mi one way is about right depending on your location and destination.
You're looking at 3 solid 16 hr days behind the wheel. Only you can decide if you're up to that.
I'm presuming you don't have many/any long road trips under your belt or you wouldn't be asking the question. So take the 16 hrs on the road, add an hour at night and in the morning for eating, winding down, waking up, first fuel stop etc. are you good with 6 hrs max sleep in your camper for days on end?

Not sure what's in Oregon for you but 10 days X country and back and expecting the destination to be a vacation is not what I'd call any sort of vacation.
Add in 2000 mi of headwinds that you'll inevitably hit driving straight west, if for no other reason than your in a hurry to get there and you can add more hours to your trip.

None of this considers a 16-17 year old truck loaded to the gills getting pounded down the road for 100 hrs straight there n back. That type of service also tends to bring out the worst in old vehicles that are just fine doing daily commutes and little weekend trips.

[jimh406]

I don't think it is practical.

[silversand]

Google looks like 30 hrs drive time, so I am thinking 3x10 hr drive each day...

....that's 83.3 MPH and not a second under the entire way....carrying a large truck camper. You'll be breaking every speed limit on every road you travel on. Also, what if you hit traffic? You have to go through numerous "choke points" along any route I can see; this will almost certainly kill your destination clock (3 days ticking down...).

We drive to north Florida from Canada in 2.3 days in a pretty well equipped SUV for speed, with tires rated at 115 MPH, and collision avoidance system, and it takes me about 2 days to 3 days to recover from the heavy psycho-physical toll on my system, staying 120% alert during the drive absolutely demolishes your physical health doing 7~9 hours actual driving a day. So, I personally would never do this driving a large pick-up, with a swaying load perched on the bed at such velocity. And, on top of that, 10 hours of driving a gas-hungry truck at a tremendous fuel premium (83 MPH will give you hellacious gas OR diesel mileage), you will need to make numerous looooong refuel stops (probably 6), at say 40 minutes a stop (really, a pit-stop), will add AT LEAST 4 hours to your 30 hours. Forget about visiting anything along the way. So, at this time of the year, you will be doing quite a bit of night driving, probably quite fatigued.

If this were me, I would reconsider the daily mileage/destination/speed. But, hey, YMMV.

Good luck with it! This certainly wouldn't be my plan.

[Richandtd]

Wife and I use to drive a big truck and before they changed the hours of service rules we drove non stop except for fuel and once every 5 hours to swap drivers and going from Virginia to California and back in a week was done a few times but after each trip we were out of hours. But that was in a big truck and we cruised on cruise control at 55 mph. Now that we're retired we choose not to.

[Bedlam]

I always plan on averaging 50 mph with stops and avoid more than 500 miles per day. That trip sounds more like work than pleasure.

[valhalla360]

That sounds like punishment to me but some people enjoy long days of driving.

I think the 50mph average is much more realistic as you have to stop for gas and bathroom breaks and if you hit any traffic or congestion. That means 50hrs driving each way.

I suspect if you calculate the gas and campground fees, you will find it cheaper to fly out and get a hotel. You will certainly have more time to enjoy the destination.

[kohldad]

Not in my book. Even if you could share the driving, it would still be two FULL days of driving each way.

In my book, I like to figure about 1200-1500 miles total per week of trip to make it enjoyable. If I can't do that, it can wait until I retire. To much to see close to home to spend all my time driving.

[jerseyjim]

For the cost of a rental, one can stay at a nice hotel.