Community Forums

Benji2 · 06-03-2015, 12:32 PM

Heading to the grand cayon end of the month and would like any information on the best route to take from central Massachusetts. So if anyone has gone to the grand cayon from Massachusetts would like you're help. Also camp grounds along the way. Many thanks for any help.

cowrv39 · 06-03-2015, 01:37 PM

Benji2,
First that is a great trip that you have planned. I think you going to have to do some research and know the answer to the following questions:

1. How much time do you have?
2. How many hours per day do you plan on driving?
3. Do you want to stop at truck stops, reststops or walmarts or others.
4. Do you need to stop and see any relatives along the way?

I use gasbuddy.com to plan my trips. This gives me the total hours but more importantly the number of fuel stops needed. I like to know the fuel budget ahead of time. It's easier on the wallet and less of a schock. If you do decide to use the gas buddy trip calculator, have the the city and highway mph and the size of your fuel tank. You can put the info in manually. It will calculate the distance and a route. This will give you an overview of the route gasbuddy uses. I don't know what metric they use for mapping. But it's nice to have an idea on the routing. There are other planning programs and apps out there. Others here on the forum will chime in. As far as must see sites, I can say you will need to research and see what interest you along the way. Enjoy you trip!

-Brian

Benji2 · 06-04-2015, 07:25 AM

Planing on 8 weeks ,500 to 600 miles a day rather spend our time out there and then take our time coming back. Rest stops or walmarts are fine and a campground about half way. Many thanks for your help. Benj2

doc · 06-04-2015, 10:25 AM

About 26 hundred miles! Many of these some of the most boring miles I have ever driven. If you have plenty of time, then break it up and spend a couple of days on side trips. Oklahoma had pretty bad roads a few years back and I have avoided I-40 since. Trailer Village at GCNP needed repair, but it was adequate with FHU. We did not tow a car and relied on the park bus service. Mistake! Very slow getting around and we had no ability (outside of a rental) to explore the area. Outside of the inconvenience of a boring ride, you will have a ball.

VAParrothead · 06-04-2015, 10:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Benji2

Planing on 8 weeks ,500 to 600 miles a day rather spend our time out there and then take our time coming back.

500-600 miles a day sounds *very* ambitious. Driving eight hours a day, you'll be averaging 62.5 to 75 mph -- that's a wheels-turning average and NOT accounting for any stops. You'll probably average closer to 50 mph (factoring in gas, meals and rest stops), and at that speed, you're looking at 51 wheels-turning (no stops) driving hours. Which is going to mean a week to get out there, and possibly 8-9 days. That's assuming 2560 miles from Springfield, Mass. (Central Massachusetts) to the Grand Canyon. You might want to rethink your trip planning. The Grand Canyon's great, but America has a lot more to offer between there and where you live. Stop and see it. Breaking up the long trip with some side trips, as doc suggested, is sound advice.

nothermark · 06-04-2015, 10:42 AM

People will go stir crazy with that drive out. You can see everything there is to see at the Canyon in 2 days. Add two or 3 more if you want to visit the bottom. That leaves you 5 weeks to kill with your schedule.

There are a couple of ways to get there that Google comes up with with less than 100 miles, 1 hour spread. Seriously consider taking it a bit slower and pick some interesting stops on the way out then do the same on a different route back. Everyone involved will have more fun. You also probably want to hit the Canyon with the wash done and stocked up someplace like Flagstaff.

JFXG · 06-08-2015, 11:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Benji2

Planing on 8 weeks ,500 to 600 miles a day rather spend our time out there and then take our time coming back. Rest stops or walmarts are fine and a campground about half way. Many thanks for your help. Benj2

If you've got 8 weeks there's no reason to race through 500-600 miles per day. Take your time, see the country on a different route each way. If you're not accustomed to repetitive long distance driving, the only thing about this trip you'll remember is how tired you were all the time.

Fulltiming since '12
2002 DSDP 40, FL, Cat 3126