A good days drive?

[Dmcall52]

Hi! We are planning a trip to Chicago from Phoenix in a couple of weeks to see our kids. It appears that to do it in 3 nights and 1/2 day, it will require 500+ miles a day. Is this reasonable?
I am fine to drive for 9-10 hours. We will have Mom and her dog....
Already have reservations for the trip.

Any seasoned advice is appreciated.



Dennis
2017 Jayco Greyhawk 29ME

[Grumpy]

Depends on your stamina. That will be close to a 10/12 hr day based on averages.

[hoppers4]

Depends what you're up for. Like Grumpy said, your stamina is the determinate. I prefer 350 miles a day or less, but that's just 72 YO me.

[gprapim]

Originally Posted by Dmcall52

Hi! We are planning a trip to Chicago from Phoenix in a couple of weeks to see our kids. It appears that to do it in 3 nights and 1/2 day, it will require 500+ miles a day. Is this reasonable?
I am fine to drive for 9-10 hours. We will have Mom and her dog....
Already have reservations for the trip.

Any seasoned advice is appreciated.



Dennis
2017 Jayco Greyhawk 29ME

I’m on a trip right now from Kingman, AZ to Walker, MN, not too different, mileage wise, from what you’re doing. I prefer to drive 350 to 400 mi a day, although I have done more in certain stretches. I don’t like to drive 9 or more hours, but anything around 6 to 8 is fine. Plan your driving stops for each night and you will learn to pace yourself rather quickly and make any adjustments as necessary. Just remember you will be stopping for meals, fuel and other misc reasons. The others with you will determine when and how many additional stops you will be making as well. Enjoy your time behind the wheel and most of all, get your rest and be safe !!

[EA37TS]

We do about 350 miles per day. It will also depend on weather conditions such as rain and wind.

[2edgesword]

Twenty years ago it would have been 10 hours (500 - 600 miles). Today it's 5 hours or around 300 - 350 miles.

[Jagiven]

Over the course of the day, I figure I average 50 to 55 miles an hour.

Nice thing about a MH, is the rolling house behind your shoulder.

[Tunce the traveler]

I do about 350

[homer1959]

usually 375 to 500 .... on very long trip like 3 days and up, I am trying to pile up as much as I can during the first 3 days so that can be around 600 a day

[travelingjw]

i think that is too much driving per day, if on multiple days. To make the trip enjoyable we try to limit driving days to 7 hours of driving, with multiple stops. You have the family in your vehicle, safety come first. Our standard is only 1 7 hour day every 3 days. After 2 days of driving we stop for at least one night. We are retired and our (and any guests that travel with us) first priority is safety, second is to have fun. Driving 9 hours is not fun.

[RVermont]

We average 50-55 mph on any trip over 4 hours even when driving in states with 70mph speed limits. Rest stops, fuel stops, hills, road construction speed zones, weather and traffic all contribute to reduced mph over long trips. The type of mh and how you load it has a lot to do with your comfort over long hours. Some rigs get shoved around alot in wind and trucks passing that can make an hour seem like forever. If you are planning long days with preset night stops it can add stress to the trip when traffic comes to a stop for an hour and you have already driven 8 hours.

[Danny G]

We try to leave around 830 or 9 am,the drive until about 4pm. We start looking for a camp ground then. Using our Good Sam campers GPS makes it easy. Just hit points of interest then camp grounds and they list all of them on your route. Just pick one and you get to call them to see if you can get in the hit directions and there ya go. Easy peasy.

[Riverman]

I drove 500 miles one day and then 500 the next day..... a few days later I passed a blood clot that really scared me. I haven't driven over 300-miles since, and now I stop often too.

[Tunce the traveler]

Originally Posted by Riverman

I drove 500 miles one day and then 500 the next day..... a few days later I passed a blood clot that really scared me. I haven't driven over 300-miles since, and now I stop often too.

Excellent advice and Hope it sinks in to others

[Camper_bob]

I'll second the general notion that "it depends".

It depends on your rig, it depends on your health, it depends on your driving partner(s), it depends on the weather, it depends on your family, it depends on the driver's seat ...

And when you say "I'm fine to drive 9-10 hours", I assume you know there is a pretty significant difference between driving a regular passenger vehicle for that time and driving any kind of RV (towable or MH).

Average multi-day speed on a long trip will be 50 mph. I've proven this out now in 2 different rigs traveling many different areas of terrain and weather. I didn't want to believe it, and I've tried desperately to bring that number up, but I have been unsuccessful, and the numbers don't lie, so I've just embraced it as an immutable fact and work it into our planning.

For us (Me, DW, and almost 6YO son), we've done up to 700 miles in one day; translated to almost exactly 14 hours. That was a HARD day, and it took me a half day to recover from that, and I'm a trooper when it comes to driving long distances.

Generally we try to keep it no more than 500 miles in one day. Every now and again depending on the route and our schedule, we are willing to push up to 600 miles, but that's fairly unusual, and I'd rather not do that, especially for multiple days in a row.

I have the benefit that my wife is willing to share the driving task with me. She'll take a couple hours behind the wheel in the middle of the day to give me a break. She doesn't like driving around sunrise, sunset or in the dark because she has bad vision and it's hard for her to see at those times. During my "off" times, I will watch a movie/read a book/play a game with my son, maybe catch a little nap, generally try to relax. When I'm at the "helm", DW provides support like fluids, meals, navigation, entertainment, etc.

That's another advantage of a Motorhome, fewer stops are required. But stopping about every 2-3 hours is a good idea for the health and sanity of you and your family.

When we're on a tight schedule, we typically will only stop for fuel, and that's about every 200-250 miles. Our disadvantage is that we're usually on a tight schedule because we're still working and have a limited amount of time away from work. If we're going somewhere, it's usually more about the destination and less about the journey. That being said, I usually try to work in a "layover" day on our long treks, and I try to work in some kind of "attraction" during the "drive days" (examples include The World's Largest Ball of Sisal Twine in KS, and Carhenge in NE; I'm a total sucker for "roadside attractions" and will seek them out and work them into the travel itinerary).

All of that being said, IMO it's totally doable, but if you do 3 days of 500 miles back to back without a break, you will likely be pretty blown out at the end. I know I would be. So biggest suggestion would be to work in some kind of "interim destination" to spend a day and break up the trip if you can.

So, ya, "it depends".

[michael.g]

Everyone is different. I have no problem travelling 800 miles in a day, day after day not towing or in the Motorhome. Towing, my limit is about 500 - 600 miles a day. I am a minimal stopper; I stop for gas and that's it. If I can't get food when I stop for gas I go without or more likely I have already brought food. I also take bathroom breaks when stopping for gas.

I am not the type that needs to stop every couple hours to stretch my legs, use the bathroom or just get off the road. I imagine when I get older (mid-40s now), I will need to stop more often, but right now, I am good to keep trucking and thankful for it.

-Michael

[Pfflyer]

As a driver I have done 10-12 hour days (500+ miles) with no problem with several stops but you also have to think about your passengers. Granted there is more comforts with a MH verses car or truck but long travel days still can be taxing on passengers and pets especially the older they get.

[Slurugger]

Agree it all depends your situation. Being mid-30s, working full-time and trying to maximize adventures with our 3 kids have had long travel days - like a couple 900 miles and 16 hours. It's not ideal but we've managed well. When vacation time is limited you do what you have to. When we retire I'm sure the travel days will be shorter...

[DocBrown]

15 or so years ago I would do 700+ miles a day towing, 14-15 hours. It didn't seem like a big deal at the time.

5 years ago we took the trailer to Gatlinburg, about 700 miles from where I live. Wow, that took a lot out of me. Never again. I'm finding a 4 hour drive and setting up the trailer to be more than enough for one day.

[Scott]

I'm in my early 40s and still working, so I try to go about 9-10 hours or so a day. That's about 450-500 miles towing the trailer.

That said, we have only made two really long trips with our previous popup trailer. Our longest tow was from just north of Chicago to just south of Chattanooga (660 miles). We did it in a day and a half. Our longest one day tow was from just north of Chicago to the east side of Kansas City (530 miles).

With the new TT my longest tow to date is 370 miles in one day. I'm planning one more that is 460 miles in just over a week. I've learned that towing a TT is much more tiring on me than towing a popup.

I could maybe do a long drive like that two days in a row, but I wouldn't like it.

My wife won't drive the Silverado solo (too big for her), so there is no way she would pull the trailer.