How far is too far?

[Rickxr2]

We're considering a long trip this summer that will require 350+ miles a day to get there. GMC diesel pulling a 265RK Sundance. That's 3 days to get there, 4 days vacationing and 3 days to get back. We've read that most people pulling a trailer try to limit it to about 250 miles a day. Interstate all the way, I don't see a problem with 400 miles a day, but I don't want to plan something I can't accomplish. Other than being dead tired, do you see any flaws in this trip?
Thanks,
Rick & Linda

 

[Bobemuzzy]

I travel 350 to 450 miles a day with no problem especially on long trips. I like long distance driving.

 

[zombiejeep]

About the most we can do is the very eastern part of Nebraska to Estes Park, Colorado. That's about 550 miles. We do it about every year. As long as the vehicles are well maintained, I don't see a problem with it.

 

[JohnD]

About the most we can do is the very eastern part of Nebraska to Estes Park, Colorado. That's about 550 miles. We do it about every year. As long as the vehicles are well maintained, I don't see a problem with it.

Where do you stay in Estes?

We spent a week last summer at Manor RV Park (Near Fun City and Mary's Lake).

 

[Lynn1130]

Mostly it depends upon the time of year and the amount of daylight. In the Summer it is pretty easy to make it to Tucumcari from Phoenix which is about 630 miles with stops to fuel, eat and rest along the way. In the Winter with the sun going down earlier we usually make Albuquerque and call it good. Once the sun goes down I try to get off the road. Too many animals (two legged kind) come out at night, not to mention the four legged kind running across the road. I enjoy the driving and am pretty careful about stopping when I start to get the "long road stares". If you are sightseeing along the way there is no need to push it that far.

 

[danemayer]

We're considering a long trip this summer that will require 350+ miles a day to get there. GMC diesel pulling a 265RK Sundance. That's 3 days to get there, 4 days vacationing and 3 days to get back. We've read that most people pulling a trailer try to limit it to about 250 miles a day. Interstate all the way, I don't see a problem with 400 miles a day, but I don't want to plan something I can't accomplish. Other than being dead tired, do you see any flaws in this trip?
Thanks,
Rick & Linda

We have typically planned a target of 375 miles per day and adjust up or down a little to get to a suitable campground. Lately we've targeted shorter days because it can be pretty tiring driving all day.

Most trailers have ST tires that have a max speed rating of 65 mph. It's dangerous to go faster, so you don't want to up your speed to cover more miles.

And the only time I've ever towed after dark is when we had a 2+ hour delay enroute and it was unavoidable.

 

[jmgratz]

Here is an app that can help you plan your route and where you might want to stay. MobileRVing It is a free app for your smart phone or tablet. You can search for RV parks you city, state, zip code or say 'Find Parks Close to My location". Another trip planing site is www.mobileRVing.com This one will let you plan your route using a destination and starting point and will show the RV parks along your route. There are over 28000 RV parks listed in www.mobilerving.com

 

[JohnDar]

The only "long distance" hauls we've made have been from Indian River, MI, to Goshen, IN, for the rallies. That's roughly 350 miles. I drive it myself since the wife won't drive the truck with the rig on back. Takes close to 7 hours with rest stops and a short lunch break. Fortunately, I don't have to stop for fuel, so that's not part of the equation. But, when I get to the end of the ride and get set up, I'm ready to kick back and down a cold one.

Road conditions, traffic, weather and other problems along the way can make even a short drive a real endurance run.

 

[Shortest Straw]

Whenever we take the long trips I plan it so I always have an "easy" day. For example, on a three day trip I will drive longer on day one, so that I can have a shorter drive on day two, get up on day three refreshed and hit the road again. I try to do between a 4-500 mile daily average. It happens that we set up at night sometimes, but those days where I am sitting in my chair enjoying a cold one at about 3 in the afternoon make it worth it.

 

[azbigfoot]

Six days of driving and four days of vacationing seems a little backward.

I've done 4 hour days (240 miles) and 10 hour days (550 miles). My typical speed is about 62MPH and usually get 11-13 MPG depending on the winds. I much prefer the short days and those are what we usually do. When I've been in a hurry to get from point A to point B the nerves seems to get a little more frayed, the wife a little more agitated, and the body is definitely more tired. You have to get up early to break down and check in later to setup. You need to stop and take restroom and lunch breaks as well as stretching the legs. Guaranteed two potty breaks for the wife on short trips. More on longer trips. Didn't say if you had pets or kids but either can add to the stress levels too. When we started our cats howled for the first hour and a half. Now they're used to it and just meow occasionally.

 

[JohnD]

Get there before dark!

8-10 hours . . . or at least stop an hour before dark!

A lot of the RV parks out there are almost impossible to navigate after dark.

We recently did 12 1/2 hours from Quartzsite, AZ to Albuquerque, NM and arrived after dark (rolled in around 9 p.m.) . . .

We considered stopping earlier before it got dark, but we really wanted to make it to Albuquerque . . .

I had already called ahead to an RV park that we found on RVParky (phone app), but when we got there according to GPS directions . . . it wasn't there!

An hour later we found it on the same street . . . only clear on the other side of town!

Then, once we found it, another half hour trying to figure out how to get into this huge 'mobile home' park (was in an industrial area) that had a small section for RV's . . .

Then, once we did get in the park, trying to figure out by the color coded map on the outside office wall (which the colors were all faded by the sun), and even though the office was closed, there were people working inside, but nobody would come out to answer any questions.

When I did finally figure out where the RV section was . . . the only spaces available I couldn't fit in, no matter how I tried (spent a good 1/2 hour trying my best)!

So, hit RVParky again and found another place . . . and again the GPS took us to another location, so I stopped at a gas station, and the clerk knew where it was as he lived there!

So I finally found it on a highway frontage road after driving around the large city block three times . . . but guess what?

Couldn't make the turn into the park at the RV entrance (apparently for small popup trailers), so found the gated front entrance, and couldn't get in either!

A couple of cars entering offered to let us through, but I didn't feel the gate would stay open long enough for us to drive through with the trailer in tow, so I had to back out onto a highway frontage road, then drove to the nearest exit back on to I-25 . . . stopped at a gas station and checked RVParky one more time, and now a KOA was showing up about 15 miles north of town!

So we headed there . . . finally got parked around 12:30 p.m. . . . and had a late dinner!

 

[chiefaret]

Re: Get there before dark!

I do not like long days pulling the trailer. We try to limit runs to 300 +/- 50 miles with a max of 400 if no parks in the normal range. And I always plan never to drive at night. I think that the mental concentration needed when pulling the rig takes its toll, it does on me anyhow, So my limit is the 5-6 hours needed to go the distances noted.

 

[zombiejeep]

Where do you stay in Estes?

We spent a week last summer at Manor RV Park (Near Fun City and Mary's Lake).

We like, well the kids like, Yogi Bear or Jellystone. Now that the kids are growing out of it, next time it will be definitely some place a little more quiet.

 

[Bohemian]

Now that we are older and retired, we plan to only drive 3-4 hours per day. Plan our schedules to never rush.

That from people who routinely drove 24 hrs to start or end a vacation.

 

[JohnD]

We like, well the kids like, Yogi Bear or Jellystone. Now that the kids are growing out of it, next time it will be definitely some place a little more quiet.

We almost stayed there, but we drove up to Estes a couple of months before our trip and scoped out the Yogi park and decided against it.

Found Manor RV park and booked a spot right on the river!



We haven't yet decided if we are going to plan an Estes camp out again this summer.

Thinking about going to the four-corners area (Durango-Mesa Verde).

 

[Lynn1130]

Not to divert the thread but maybe some info that could help here. Albuquerque is set out in geographic sections. Addresses will have NE, SE, NW or SW at the end of the street number. If you put the wrong quad in or don't put any in you could end up on the other side of town (my parents lived at 8000 Zuni SE there is probably an 8000 Zuni SW too).

Hidden Valley RV is located off of I-40 east of Albuquerque just off of Zuzac Rd as your are climbing through Tijeras Canyon. Nice place, away from highway noise and it is truly hidden from the road.

 

[JohnD]

Not to divert the thread but maybe some info that could help here. Albuquerque is set out in geographic sections. Addresses will have NE, SE, NW or SW at the end of the street number. If you put the wrong quad in or don't put any in you could end up on the other side of town (my parents lived at 8000 Zuni SE there is probably an 8000 Zuni SW too).

Hidden Valley RV is located off of I-40 east of Albuquerque just off of Zuzac Rd as your are climbing through Tijeras Canyon. Nice place, away from highway noise and it is truly hidden from the road.

I have a Rand McNally RV GPS that has the RV places already stored in it via downloads . . .

Once I found the RV parks on the phone app, I clicked on the RV parks in the custom POI's of the GPS, then had it route us to them.

Ironically, the GPS in my phone also took us to the same places that the Rand McNally GPS did.

We used to always skip the KOA's . . .

But after our recent trip and staying in three of them, they are almost always a good bet that you can get in and out easily!

 

[Happy Campers]

When we traveled to Ruidoso,NM we made it to Lubbock,TX for our stop for the night in a little over 6 hrs and just over 350 mi.That gave me plenty of time to setup,shower and go get fuel and eat and come back and walk around the rv park a little bit.If you travel with little ones I know it's a little different but it's still doable.Check your tires at every stop and check them in your mirrors you should be ok.We carry 2 one gallon milk jugs of water to flush the toilet while on the road also.

 

[MCTalley]

Just like a lot of questions, you're obviously going to get a wide range of answers. For us, the prime objective is to get there before dark. If we know we are trying to really haul a long distance, we'll try to stay hooked up overnight so it is a quick break down in the morning and hit the road.

As a general rule, we shoot for the 350-400 mile range if needed, which is pretty doable with a leisurely breakfast in the trailer, lunch stop on the road and arriving at the next place before the office closes at 5.

I log every mile that we travel in a spreadsheet. Our longest single day haul was in 2013 heading west from Deer Lodge, Montana to Gig Harbor, Washington. 587 miles total. Several factors helped that trip, though, including gaining an hour via a time-zone change, leaving early, the fact that the days are extremely long up near the Canadian border in the summer (sunsets at 9:30 PM anyone?) and grandchildren waiting on the other end.

Also, we typically stick to interstates or four-lane limited access US highways as much as possible to maximize mileage traveled. Unless restricted by a lower speed limit, we usually run 65 mph.

 

[TandT]

When I was thirty, I had been known to go 700 miles at a time.

Now when pulling my rig 300 miles a day, or less is preferred, if I am also going to be on the road the next day. Maybe stretching to 450 if we will be saying at that destination for a longer period of time. Trace