Need advice for planning a trip

[sjarrell]

Good day all, I would like to run an Idea by this very experienced group to see if any one has either done this before, or can give advice on places along the way. I was just given the go ahead from the wife to plan a long camping trip for 2011. What I would like to do is this, I live in CT, I want to travel from CT to FL and work my way around the Gulf coast to <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com//heartlandowners.org/ /><st1:City w:st=Brownsville</st1:City> <st1:State w:st="on">TX</st1:State></ST1 then back home. I figure I would need three full weeks off from work so I would get a total of 21 days to do this. My plan is to drive straight to Tallahassee FL, then after that only go 8hrs at a time spending 1-3 nights per location for sight seeing and leisure. I would like to stop at or near <st1:City w:st="on">Mobile</st1:City>, <st1:City w:st="on">New Orleans</st1:City>, <st1:City w:st="on">Galveston</st1:City>, <st1:City w:st="on"><ST1San Antonio</ST1lace</st1:City>, Corpus Christ and finally Padre Island National Seashore. It will be me, my wife and at the time my 11yr old son. I figure I have never been to these places and I think he would never forget this vacation. So I am open for suggestions. Oh yeah we will be towing the North Trail 28bh fifth wheeler and staying at campgrounds along the way. I am just starting to plan the route now. So can anyone tell about any must see places along this route or suggest campgrounds along this route?

 

[aatauses]

Before driving straight to FL you may??? want to consider stopping in PA/MD/VA and check out the civil war places.
al

 

[sjarrell]

Thanks for the thought, I actually grew up in DE and my family is from WV so I and my wife have seen most of the sights between them. This is really more about the gulf coast as we have never been there. You are right though there are a lot of good places to see in MD, DE and WV. a few of my favorites are Fort Delaware on Pea patch Island, Laruay Caverns in VA, Skyline drive, in Va. Colonial Williamsburg. Baltimores inner harbor area, norfolks downtown and VA beach. Sorry, getting side tracked........ Like I said I have never been anywhere around the golf so I would like to try and get some history and education in on it as my son would benefit from a fun education vacation. I have started mapping out my route and I am trying to pick national parks to camp at.

 

[jmgratz]

Driving in Texas is not like driving in many of the other states. If you have never been to Texas you will be surprised just how big it is. An example is the City of Houston is the same size as the Hawaiian island of Oahu. It will take you at least and hour and probably 2 to drive through Houston. So to drive from Houston to Corpus Christi you should plan on a 1 day drive. It will take you 6 hours to drive from Orange Texas to San Antonio Texas if you are driving 70 mph. Towing it will be longer. So what I am trying to say is don't cut yourself short on time.

 

[TXBobcat]

Welcome to our forum. The trip you’re planning is an aggressive trip.

I will give you my thoughts, but don’t be offended. I am just giving you what I think are the facts.

Your trip from Connecticut ( I used Hartford) to Florida ( I used Jacksonville, worse if you went further south.), to Brownsville TX and then back to Hartford the most direct route, would be about 4380 miles. I am using Streets and Trips 2009 to plot this route.

Just from Hartford to Jacksonville is over 1000 miles. If you took 1000 miles times 2 for a round trip that would be 2000 divided by 21. Lets round it to 20. That is 100 miles each day. That is a busy trip. If you drove 200 miles for 10 days then you will have time to do something. Now if you’re still looking to go to Brownsville which is lets say 4400 miles round trip you would have to drive about 220 every day. Or 440 miles for 10 days and spend one day at each location.

I know this is basically statistical numbers. A lot of things can change usually for the worse. I don’t mean to be negative. I would like for you and your family to go on a trip and have a great time.

Seeing that we full time we never travel over 200-250 a day and stay at least 2 nights. I do under stand that a family has limited time and want to see as much as possible.

The trip to Florida would be a good trip and you could spend some time at different places on the way down and back. A little harder trip would be direct to Brownsville and stay a few days there and on the way down there and back but would be fast.

Thats my 2¢ worth.
BC

 

[Uncle Rog]

jm, the two previous posts make a lot of sense to me, the longest day I have pulled the horn was 8 hrs, made 400 miles and we were whipped!

 

[jayc]

When I am planning a trip, I give myself a 50 mph average when pulling the trailer. Of course, we drive faster than that, but when you figure in stops for fuel, food and potty breaks it pretty well averages out.

 

[jbeletti]

For reference, I do the same as Jay. 50 miles per hour works nearly every time for me when Nancy and the dogs are with me. I pull the RV at 55-65, depending on the speed limit.

When I am pulling the rig alone, I can do better across an entire day than 50 mph as I stop fewer times and my stops are faster.

Jim

 

[jayc]

The difference is that I'm not allowed to travel alone. Stella insists on riding along to tell me about every little mistake I made and every wrong turn I took.

 

[jnbhobe]

Now I know for a fact Jim has been known to do quite a few miles in a day. JON

 

[truknutt]

The difference is that I'm not allowed to travel alone. Stella insists on riding along to tell me about every little mistake I made and every wrong turn I took.

Oooooo, you have one of those, too?!! Luckily mine only does that when SHE's AWAKE!!

 

[2010augusta]

Speaking from our recent experience in moving from South Texas to Gig Harbor Washington, we traveled about 3,000 and stopped and toured 13 National parks and that took a very hard 14 days. We had two days that involved over 540 miles of driving. Both of those long days started out before sunrise and ended very close to sunset. The second 540+ day end with my DW not speaking to me. By the end of the trip my wife did not want to be in a car for any reason for several days (she did have to drive her jeep for the entire trip plus some of the the driving in the parks totaling almost 5,000mile in the jeep). The most we stayed in one park was 2 nights, and most of the time we were on the road shortly after sun-up. It was a very scenic and fun trip, but we were both worn out after 14 days, Last year we did a 4,500 mile trip with the jeep and a tent for 12 days and it was not nearly as tiring, but we were able to share the driving. I am younger than most (possibly all) the member on the site, at age 28 and my DW is slightly older, so we do have youth on our side

I am sure you all can do this trip in the time frame you have, but it will involve some very hard driving days. I am not sure how much distance you can drive in a day on the east coast, so I won't even try to calculate how much time it will take to do each leg of the trip, but I would try to keep each day under 400 miles if it is nice easy interstate driving, many less miles if I had to be in congested urban areas with lots of traffic.

 

[JohnDar]

Even without pulling a trailer, 1000 miles in one day will wipe you out. And you can plan on driving almost 18 hours to make it. We drive to Myrtle Beach from Flint (about 950 miles) without hauling a trailer, have been for many years. In the beginning, we would drive back in one day, since we were working and trying to maximize vacation time. At about the 3/4 mark, somewhere around Cleveland, we just wanted to get out of that (expletive) car. After that drive, the next day you feel like crud and really don't want to be in a vehicle. Now, we take two days both ways. And it's still a long day.

 

[SueJean]

My "two cents"

Greetings & blessings from Texas!

I just had to chime in on this discussion having just completed our first "maiden voyage" around the U.S. as "newbies". The map you see on our blog was completed on one, long 4 1/2 month trip that covered 15,000 miles. On our first day, we drove nearly 850 miles in Texas, most of it through stormy, windy countryside. It was NOT a good day for us.

Now we had a personal motivation in taking this trip that overrode the wisdom you see here expressed by other wiser RV-ers, but the bottom line is I've learned and I recommend "quality over quantity" any day. I'd prepared for this journey by reading lots of other travel logs and blogs, but the reality of life on the road somehow slips through the cracks and somewhere along the way I remember realizing that there are a lot of challenges to be faced in the RV lifestyle. Some of them just aren't all that much fun.

We're currently "resting up" in Texas and trying to restore our "Nest" from the rigors and hazards that we encountered along the way. As I think Bobcat recommended, just Texas alone is a big undertaking and is worthy of lots of exploration time on it's own.

I would consider with the time you have and your starting location making the east coast the focus of this first trip. There are plenty of interesting things to see and do along that coast to keep one busy for a season. Just my thoughts anyway. Wherever you go, enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!

 

[Tom of Ypsi]

You could plan a trip to the 2011 Heartland Rally in Goshen, Indiana for a week then head south from there or head into Michigan, Wisconsin area across Ontario, Canada then head back home. Less driving, lots of forum friends to meet personally and great northern scenery. Any left over time can be spent on three or four day weekend camping trips closer to home.

 

[sjarrell]

Thank you all for the input, I really love this forum because newbies such as myself get good advise and are not laughed at. I understand the 50mile an hour average as I drive from CT to DE / WV alot and congestion and breaks kill your time. For this vacation / Trip I am planning 21 full days. My last trip was in April when I picked up our Fiver in OH, I did tow it to NC, TN and then one day from WV to CT (680) Miles. That day was long and hurt. I was thinking the first two days would be 500+ just to get to my real starting point in FL, I was planning on 2 days to rest and site see, then I was thinking no more than 8hrs at a time of driving and 1-2 days at every location. I did plan it out on MS Streets and maps and my total driving based on 8rhs a day is 8.5 days. I know it is a lot but over 21 days it is bareable. I was looking st staying at National parks, and my end point has been changed to padre Island, the ?Mustang national park. I am sure it will change more as the time goes by. The reason I am not concentrating on the East coast is because I grew up in DE and have been to all the states on this side. I know I have not seen everything but I really like the idea of visiting the gulf coast. Now perhaps I will not make it all the way to padre Island but plans can change if we find other things to visit and see. Keep the ideas comming I am loving the fact there is so much experience here. If anyone has been in this area and know of some must see's please let me know. Also I will keep the Goshen Rally in mind, I would love to make that as well. I can actually telecommute for work so if I need more time and can get a wifi connection I could extend it a little if need be.

 

[jmgratz]

While traveling in Texas, if going through Houston you have got to visit NASA Space Center. They have an excellent visitors center. Not far from NASA is Kemah Boardwalk with great restaurants, shopping and several amusement rides. Then there is the Moody Center in Galveston which is wonderful as are the beaches and Old Town. The Confederate Air Force museum is there also. In Houston is the national Funeral Museum which is interesting, and the Museum of Natural Science, Children s Museum and Hermann Park where the Zoo is. Wow, I guess you could spend you whole vacation in the Houston/Galveston area because I forgot to mention Gulf Greyhound Race Track and the Sam Houston Race Track (horses). There is even the Texas Prison Museum in Huntsville (60 miles north of Houston). There are numberous RV parks in the Houston area.

 

[sjarrell]

Wow Jim, that is a lot of stuff. Thank you, this is the stuff I am looking for. I will tenatively put down three days for this area. Thank you,

Steve

 

[Gary Steeves]

That's the reason Stella is Navigator and Director of operations !

 

[jayc]

And believe me, she does both very well. She reminds me of this all the time.