Getting Older

[Kim Gass]

Don't be
Fuel stops are adequate and the road is wonderful: better than most around me.
Just mind the bison and dont try to move them

[Dave A]

I'm 70 and do all of the driving with our rig, wife won't even touch it! Anyway, no more than 300 miles and try to be parked by 3 PM. I also try to avoid big cities and rough roads. We usually don't hit the road until about 9AM so we have about 6 hours of travel per day.

[Capt. Bill]

I'm 79 1/2 years young & in good health. I like to limit our daily drive to 350-400 miles /day. I like to leave @ 0730 hrs & take a 15 minute rest stop to stretch my legs every 2 hrs of drive time! I also like a short 1- 1 1/2 hr 'Papas Nap' after lunch which greatly refreshes me! I like to pull over for the night at around 1600 hrs.

If I'm forced to, I can still drive 600 miles in a day, but it's a lot tougher on me at this age than it was 10-15 years ago!

Happy Trails

[Freeman]

2, 2, and at least 2.

No more than 200 miles a day, no later than 2:00 PM driving, and staying at least 2 days when stop at a campground (if we stay only one day we are dry camping).

[pconroy]

Originally Posted by Erat

My crazy as heck dad just did 2,340 miles from Detroit to San Diego in 3 days at 67 years old. While pulling my hydroplane.

Sounds like my Pop. Years ago, he was probably in his mid 70's, he drove 1000 from Wisconsin to out here, in one day.

In the RV, I'm bushed after 350 or so.

[DennisH]

At 75 we try to keep to 200-300 miles a day. I had 3 strokes and a heart attack 9 years ago so after 300 miles and getting everything set up, I'm ready for a cold beer and some rest.

[ltnunes]

We are in the same age range and have made the decision to sell our TT and look at a drivable. While I can manage any and all technology in our family - I cannot hook up our trailer and get it out of our backyard without taking out the fence, three trees, and half the house. Let's not even discuss getting the TT into a camp spot. Not my skill set. I'm sure I can drive the truck, pulling the trailer but this task does not add to my trip enjoyment and stress reduction. My husband loves pulling things with his truck. So, I'm the planner, packer, etc. technology point person. He's in charge of the vehicles.
I agree with those who have posted to stick within your skillset - and that's gender neutral.
What we're also not enjoying is the couple of days to plan/pack on the front end and unpack/clean on the backend of trips. So....the trip has to be worth the effort.
It's equal age/ability and learning what we enjoy

[Square Dance Camper]

Originally Posted by CAG

I have seen more than my share of husbands who should not be driving.

this describes my husband, shouldn't be driving anything......

Dad taught me how to tow at 17, I do most of the driving when we travel, but only maybe 300 miles a day. I do let him drive the last 45 minutes or so because I am also the better navigator and can direct him how to get to our nightly stop.

[Hollander Mutthaulers]

We're in our mid-70s. In our youth, 750 miles by car Michigan to New Jersey was fine. But now 1150 miles Michigan to family in Colorado takes 2.5 - 3 days. 350 miles is nice, 500 or more doable and we're starting to think about slowing down. I drive almost all the time, but my skillful wife can tow as well if need be. We have a big car and small trailer, easy to tow and much of the fatigue we experience is due to traffic in Chicago and winds and weather in Nebraska. We're talking about taking 3-4 days to Colorado...

[The Gordens]

I'm 72 and wife is 67. I do all the driving and she watches for turns and stuff. We have found 175 to 250 is a good distance. Leave by 10 or so and parked by 2 or 3. Years ago 800 to 1000 mile days were fine. I guess I was a bit crazy then. We will be heading to Oregon from South Dakota friday and taking 8 days. 2 stays are for 2 days the others 1 day. Includes Harvest Host 2 nights. This works well for us now. We do not have to be anywhere at any given time so we plan and take it easy. Pulling a 42 foot 5th wheel with a SRW Ram.

[Yooper906]

Originally Posted by The Gordens

Years ago 800 to 1000 mile days were fine. I guess I was a bit crazy then.

1000 miles a day has never been fine, no matter your age.

[Cincinnati Kid]

We just completed an 87 day, 4850 mile , 36 campground, many state trip, Cincinnati to Florida then on to Maine. We averaged 131 miles a day. The shortest leg was 38 miles, the longest was 331. We avoid the interstates as much as possible, we like to see all the small towns, read plaques, and stop for lunch if we find a shady pull off.
We try to stay a minimum of 2 days, more if we have a lot of sightseeing to do.

With this easy pace, we came home refreshed and ready to go again.What's tiring is all the stuff we need to catch up on at home.

[Armycamper24]

We are 75. I try to limit driving much on 300-330per day we take a day off after 2 days oftravel

[Captnjimk]

Y’all, I’m almost 75 and my SO( significant other) is 74. Just completed 8500 miles in our 2017 Alante 26X. This is a Great Nation enjoy every little town.
We drive about 200 miles(me) a day, did over 300 twice. We saw 9 National Parks. We found little niche places everywhere. Rving is for discovery-enjoy incredible America…AND Americans

[ChiToones]

When we were younger, we'd frequently pull the popup with our station wagon over 1,000 miles. The DW and I would take turns driving and sleeping in the back while the kids read the paper map. With limited vacation time I wanted to minimize drive time to maximize fun time.

Now that we're retired, we like to take our time (more time available / less stamina). We rarely travel over 300 miles in a day. Our long days are usually driving to the area we're visiting and then the drive home. In between, we have many short travel days with several overnights so that we have time for exploring.

With stops for sightseeing/gas/food/stretching, 100 miles usually takes 2 hours or more. We like to take the back roads to see the countryside.

[hikerjohn7]

Originally Posted by EdwardOrmsbee

Hi all. My wife and I just returned from a 6-day trip from southern Oregon to Utah, about 800 miles each way, in our 2018.5 Seneca. I do all the driving and we took two days travel each way. As usual for this time of the year, there was a fair amount of road construction and one accident on I84 that set us back about 90 minutes in stop and go traffic. I just turned 71 and my wife is 70, and we are both in good physical condition. However, this trip seemed to be more tiring than usual, probably because we can't figure out a way to stop aging. I'm sure that helping our daughter and her husband move into a new apartment on the 3rd floor didn't help either.

I remember a thread a year or two ago where people shared how many miles a day they usually drove. I'm looking for ideas about making our trips less tiring and stressful, and overall a little more enjoyable. On our trip home we actually discussed the idea of downsizing our motorhome and if that might make travel a little easier. In the end we both agreed we would like to just stay with the Seneca. We also discussed staying with a Super C but upgrading to a new one. Would we gain anything except a significantly lighter wallet?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts. Ed

Tell me about getting older. I am now turning 80 and my wife (75) and I still own a 35 foot class A that has features we love; one of them is having the storage to be able to entertain people and family who like to join us for cookouts at the RV when we come into town.

We keep thinking about down-sizing but then hate giving up the space. And we have not concluded yet that down-sizing would be any less work other than now we have to be extra careful getting into sites. But we have a system that works well. My wife always gets behind the RV and we set our cell phones on speaker so they act like walkie-talkies. And I can clearly hear her instructions and also her scream to "STOP"!

Some other rules I set for myself are: I never travel at night, I limit each leg of trips to 3 to 4 hours and we stay for at least two nights at every stop so we can relax and see some sites. Since I am retired, that's not hard to do although, sometimes we have to be somewhere at a certain time. But driving 800 miles in two days is a situation that l would definitely try to avoid.

[Quantum]

I've always heard about the rule of 3s

300 miles

OR

3:00pm

and

Stop every 3hrs to stretch and walk

[Finally Able]

My brother-in-law, who used to own a large luxury diesel pusher, once soloed from Crystal River FL to NH via I95, a distance of over 1300 miles or 24 hours, stopping only for fuel and food (no naps or sleeping). He was about 70 years old at that time. How stupid!!! I have no idea what he was trying to prove, but he put people's lives in danger for sure.

My wife and I used to make that same trip in a minivan, but took at least 1 overnight, and later 2, to make it. After 8 hours of driving, I am DONE with driving, and just want to relax as I find either heavy traffic or monotonous roads mentally exhausting. Now that we have a Class A, I'd say 5 hours would be my max, and preferably no more than 4. My wife and I are both 67.

[DonBr]

Originally Posted by hikerjohn7

I never travel at night

Good one! You at 80 and me at 75 - likely less than 10% in our age bracket have good night vision. Probably less than that, but since I'm making up the number I didn't want to go too low.

[Yooper906]

Originally Posted by DonBr

Good one! You at 80 and me at 75 - likely less than 10% in our age bracket have good night vision. Probably less than that, but since I'm making up the number I didn't want to go too low.

I know my night vision is no where near par. The only way to deal with it is not to drive at night. Especially rainy nights with the oncoming headlights glaring off the road.