Tips for a long Trip

[Dropthejacks]

As folks have said, if you are traveling 95, there are several large stations in the center of the highway in FL you can exit to the left into and out of. Start looking at half a tank so you don't have to sweat finding a place. Don't know if you have a diesel, but I installed an auxiliary, gravity-fed RDS tank in the bed so I can pull upwards of 13 hours without having to worry about fuel. I wouldn't go that far, about 7-8 is my max at one clip. But 7 hours without refueling isn't an issue. Then when we stop to overnight somewhere and unhook, I can go anywhere and shop the cheapest fuel instead of paying those gouging prices at Flying J and other big rig stops. If you have a gasser, an extra can to dump in at a rest stop isn't a bad idea, if nothing else for piece of mind. Enjoy the trip!!

[TXGREEK]

Originally Posted by KHBama

A little less than 2 months out before we load up and hit the road for an 8-9 hour trip to Disney. Any advice/tips for(for me seems like a looonnng trip) a longer than normal trip? My biggest fear is running out of gas or not being able to get into a normal gas station. Will be our 1st long trip with our new 5th wheel. I plan on taking a 5 gallon gas can for just in case...we have made plenty of 2-3 hour trips and had no issues, not a newbie by any means. But this trip has me a little more than nervous

Well hello fellow Disney goer, just got back from a long trip there with the family. First off, relax! Southern states tend to have an enormous amount of diesel stations available versus mid and northern regions, I was shocked that there were 9 out of 10 stations with diesel on the way back home to Spring TX from Florida. Bringing a 5 gallon fuel tank won’t hurt but make sure to add it to your fuel tank before taking off to head home because of the nasty stuff settling on the bottom which always caused my exhaust to blow out white/light blue smoke on take off after I dumped it in a week later. Use your google map or map quest app to find the stations that sell diesel and route them out and call the gas station to make sure they’re still open and selling diesel. I always filled up from a quarter to half a tank just to make sure and never regretted it. Good luck!

[nbenn3]

We traveled from Maryland to Myrtle beach the last 3 years. It’s about 9 hours. I don’t have the luxury of taking 2-3 days so I do it one shot. We stop every 2 hours and stretch. Take a minimum 15 minute break. I have a diesel so I use the truck stops. I have the pilot rv charge card. It’s awesome. If you don’t have that you just have to go in and prepay. Other than that just take your time. I spent many days scouting my stops ahead of our trip. Google maps are great for this. Hope this helps and have fun.

[mrt_1111]

Bring and drink lots of water, that way you will have to stop every two hours

[momdoc]

I would head south and the 10. If your only option is to do it in one day then leave very early in the morning (like at dawn). That way by the time you stop for lunch (even with a couple of breaks before) you will be well over half way there and the afternoon will go quicker

[hohenwald48]

Originally Posted by KHBama

Well coming from Alabama. Will be either going down and hopping on I-10 and then I-75 or going through Georgia and catching I-75. About the same distance either way

We make pretty much the same drive coming from Nashville to Orlando. I don't get on the interstates at all once we reach Montgomery. In Montgomery I pick up 231 to 84 to 27 to 98 and then 50 into WDW.

Of course, I'm never in a hurry but we sure love those secondary roads. No traffic and plenty of places to stop. It's a pretty east trip no matter which route you take.

We do take precautions against the space aliens and the bugs don't bug us.

[WeatherTodd]

Originally Posted by KHBama

Well coming from Alabama. Will be either going down and hopping on I-10 and then I-75 or going through Georgia and catching I-75. About the same distance either way

Tons of places along I10 to gas up. Very busy truck road... same with 75.
Stay in the right lane when possible. 10 is only 2 lanes in some areas so keep that in mind.

If staying at Ft Wilderness... bring a golf cart or rent one. Worth the cost!

[fluffybunny]

we did our first long trip picking up the RV. Drove from Dallas to Little rock, about 6 hours, we did it over 2 days. It was a route I have done too many times to count so I knew which gas stations we could get to and which we couldnt.

We did another long trip just a few weeks ago, 1200 miles one way Little Rock to Washington DC. We were on I40 a lot of the way, the biggest thing for us was using the pilot flying j app and fueling at flying J because of there RV lanes. Made things so much easier. I would get on the app in the morning and confirm there was a stop for us up ahead. I think everytime except for once when we passed a flying J we stopped. Made things very simple.

On the 1200 mile trip our longest day was 450 miles, and we knew that was going to be a long day we were trying to get home a day early. In general most days we kept it to 300-350 miles. at that pace you dont have to rush in the morning, and get off the road before dark with a couple of stops during the day.

Also on travel days when we knew it was just stop for the night get up and drive again we stayed at cracker barrels. Lots of people suggest walmart, which is fine but cracker barrels just worked out for us, there were a couple of nights though if we got there an hour after we did we wouldn't have had anywhere to park but at those same exits there were walmarts close by that we could have stayed at.

For your particular drive I agree with the previous poster go through Montgomery then take the route he suggested to get to Disney. very easy drive with lots of options for gas, or pull offs if you want to take a break. We are going to cape Canaveral in a few weeks and will do that route ourselves.

Good luck on your trip and have fun!

[JBDISCOVERY]

AGREE WITH THE BUG COMMENT.
Love Bugs in Florida are a real problem. Try to travel when they are not about.
Nasty.
JimB

[Robmat]

I've got a long day coming up with a Christmas drive. The only way to reduce the stress is to plan for the gas stops and rest stops. If you are a member of Good Sam you can plan your route and show all the rest stops and Pilot/Flying J stations. If not you can do the go to the Free Rand McNally Tripmaker Rand McNally - TripMaker and show the rest stops along the route what are the mileage between them. Then go to the Pilot/FlyingJ website and use their trip planner and plan your route and select to show only those stations with RV lanes. Unfortunately only the Good Sam trip maker shows both, however you can insert the addresses of the Gas stations into the Rand McNally Tripmaker as stops. Plan for enough time to walk around, get a bite to eat or take a nap. Stops seem to work out to be about every two hours. While driving a full day is not something we like to do or even do on a regular basis there are times that it happens due to scheduling or conflicts and I find planning makes it doable. I would leave as Early as you can in the morning as I just find it better to drive then and time seems to fly by quicker.

[gruse]

Many of our trips are at least 9 hour days, generally with 5 kids aboard, and I'm currently doing all the driving. Class A, not a fiver; so you may have some different considerations than we do.


I figured out that I really enjoy audiobooks while driving. Really seems to pass the time. I can play them up front, and others can do whatever they're doing farther back in the bus. I generally get CD's from public library, though there are lots of online/download options now depending on your preference and ability to connect and play devices in your vehicle.


With the kids, we try to plan food breaks with a playground or something where they can get out for a while. Could be a restaurant w/ playground (seem to be harder to find than several years ago), or a public park or field. We keep a football or Frisbee or something handy kids can grab and take out for a few minutes. A lot of times my wife will pre-make sandwiches or something easy to eat so we can stop when/where convenient for breaks. We can easily cover at least 900 miles on a tank of fuel so we can avoid busy/slow truck stops and have more flexibility of when/where to get fuel.


Longer days can make it harder to time traffic if you're going through cities or busier areas, so that requires better planning to help avoid extra delays.


We also tend to time our drives so that we're going later into the night. The older kids seem to find it relaxing, and the younger kids still in car seats can spend a lot more of the time sleeping rather than being awake while strapped-in.


For our long trips, we generally are overnighting at a Walmart or Casino or something like that so we aren't campground constrained. Because of that, we'll often start our trip in the evening after work/school; drive 4-5 hours, sleep for the night; then wake up and drive another 2-10 hours to reach a destination. Helps break up the driving without adding extra days that we generally don't have to give at this point.


And, if the day gets too long, stop and take a short (or long) nap.


A lot of our days in the RV are more like a bus line than a camper. With 7 people, flying is a hassle and expensive. Big SUVs/Vans and hotels get old fast on long trips. We bought our coach w/ this in mind so seating/sleeping/living configuration on top of the Country Coach chassis makes long days more enjoyable.

[C.Martin]

I like to plan ahead...when Possible. Of course, I’m up to entertain spontaneous traveling as well.

I have a Garmin RV760... you might have some type of Garmin too. It allows me to create a route, even add a date, target arrival or departure time, and stopped time. I start with the Start and End points. You can then do searches along route for gas stations and rest stops. With dogs...I stop at least once every three hours to let them stretch and go. I add a 20 minute delay for rest stops and fuel stops. Then...I check google earth...and take a screen shot of my destination and stops. This allows me to be a bit more familiar of the approach and departure paths. Backing up with a toad isn’t something I want to do. If your a Good Sam member..,they have a free travel planner online for you to use as well. Sometimes I tinker with the route using the travel planner...print it out...then go out to the coach to load my route into the Garmin. Get plenty of rest...make sure that you and your RV are ready for a long trip. And take your time. Stay alert...stay hydrated...stop when you need to.. and be aware of the insidious nature of fatigue. It can lead to impairment of response time...so leave plenty of room between you and other traffic.

They are changing a lot of the roads on Disney Property. GPS units usually do a lousy job of navigating to the Fort. I would use Google maps or Waze and actually study the route a little. You may have to ignore the GPS at times to travel the best route.

We come up from the South on Floridas Turnpike...but maybe someone who visits the Fort frequently from your direction can give you some routing tips to get into the Fort.

Have fun at the Fort!!!

[Waiter21]

When we're traveling, we burn about 8-10 gallons per hour. We have a 72 gallon tank, so end up stopping about every three hours. I ldon't like running down past 1/2 tank.

[Full.Monte]

Just remember, at any gas station, you need to know BEFORE you commit to entering, which pump you will use. And you need enough room on the exit to make any necessary turns without dragging a gas pump along with you! Turn wide...very wide!