How many hours/miles in one day is it realistic to travel if sharing driving

[Unicorn Driver]

Hi,

We live in Mid Michigan and there are lots of places within 500-700 miles we would like to vacaction. So far we take our MH for anthing up to 300 miles but fly and stay in Air BnB and hotels for anything longer.

We both work so limited to 2 weeks away at most.

If we both took 2 hour turns driving how many hours/miles is realistic?

Thanks,

[bamaboy473]

That is completely dependent on your physical stamina, the kinds of roads you're on, and how much you want to put miles behind you. Since both of you drive, that's a giant advantage, IMO. Age is a factor.

300 is about 5 hours of driving, normally. Travel through large cities can slow it down a good bit. Having a pet to walk slows it down, too.

If you really want to get someplace, I'd say that 500 is a reachable goal if it's just the two of you and both of you really want to get there.

[YC1]

I can drive 500 miles in a day by myself. That is a long day but clear freeway travel it is not that difficult. Dead heading to Calif from Central Florida we made the trip in 7 days. The trip was 3200 miles.

I highly recommend stopping every two hours for a tire kick and walkabout. Switch drivers if possible.

[Djwhitesr]

When traveling, we use the rule of 2: no more than 200 miles/day, settled in a campground by 2 PM, and 2 adult beverages before bed.

[tmw188]

You live in a beautiful state you could surely see a lot in two weeks or less. I concur with the the above post.

[Busskipper]

Originally Posted by Unicorn Driver

Hi,

We live in Mid Michigan and there are lots of places within 500-700 miles we would like to vacation. So far we take our MH for anything up to 300 miles but fly and stay in Airbnb and hotels for anything longer.

We both work so limited to 2 weeks away at most.

If we both took 2 hour turns driving how many hours/miles is realistic?

Thanks,

Easy calculation would be say 10 hours with say 2.5 on for each of you as a Max - That would likely equal 500 miles in the RV.

Now a couple things to add into/on a two week trip.

First get loaded and fully packed and leave right after work on Friday - I used to be able to get 6+ hours in on that first night - then Pull in a Wal*Mart sleep and right after breakfast go again for 10 plus to get me pretty far down the Road. -

So with My Calculation it would be 16 hours likely 800 + - Miles by Saturday night, Putting all of YOUR Vacation spots within RV Distance.

Add to that the fact that we start on Friday and go through Sunday it equals 16.5 days not the 14 most count as Two Weeks.

If this is at all feasible the Bonus is that the return trip is the same 16 hours but is divided into Two Full Days. -

While this may not work for everyone it will help you put most of your locations within reach for you Two Week Vacation.

Hope this is of some help,

Note - I'm in the camp that believes a Toad is Critical to RV travel.

[Unicorn Driver]

Thanks all,

Michigan is indeed a beautiful state but would like to take the coach to more mountainous areas. Driving would be on Interstates and would involve traversing a few metro areas.

We would indeed have the coach loaded up the night before and could get in 3 hours driving on a Friday.

Thanks all,

Edit: Busskipper, I will be purchasing a toad in the spring.

[jsmmonaco]

as other say, totally up to you................i do the driving, so we usually limit our days to 300 miles or 6-7 hours................sometimes, i start "getting into the groove" and could put in 4 more hours, no sweat...............and we do have some trips (columbus ohio area to asheville nc) that are 9 hours.......sometimes we break that up into two short days, or one long day........i would suggest you try it out...............have a place where you can stop after 6 hours, but if you feel like it, do more....................as far as the coach goes, it doesn't care, just needs fuel......theoretically, with sharing the driving, one drives, one rests, you could do central michigan to los angeles without stopping at one campground .............hope you find your "groove"..........travel safe

[Unicorn Driver]

Thats a great idea about having a lay over planned 6 hours in and keep moving if needs be. Great idea :-)

[winniman]

Im in agreement with the others on approx. mileage per day. I have done many trips running yourself to the bone to hurry up and get there, so you can relax. I live in cottage country here in Ontario, and every summer weekend, every citiot, { thats an idiot from the city}, drives 100 miles per hour to get to their cottage and relax. Why not make the drive part of the vacation. Break the trip up into sections that can be easily driven, set up in the afternoon, and explore the area. Sometimes you can be driving by lots of interesting stuff, and just dont know it. I dont disagree with hammering down sometimes. When you have to do it, you do. I have driven 52 hours straight with three drivers to go out west on a ski vacation when I was young. Sure we did it, we got there as fast as we could, but were kind of burned out for a few days. The trip back, we took a bit more scenic route, spent two nights in motels to break up the trip. The return trip took two days longer, but the memories we made at the places we stayed at, were as memorable as the ski portion of the trip. Driving ten or twelve hours a day to get there and relax can be done, but I say make the journey part of the destination. You never know what your missing some times. Safe travels.

[jeepfreak]

We have found that the average miles traveled including stops for fuel , lunch , pee breaks is 50 miles per hr.. 500 miles =10 hrs .

[Soppy]

A lot depends on the roads and traffic. If you are mostly on the interstate , 500 miles is a good day . If your destination is 700 miles , you could do it in a day by heading out real early in the morning. If you are traveling on secondary roads , 300 miles is about the limit.

[Unicorn Driver]

Thanks all for the replies, I do appreciate it.

Plan would be leave about 2pm on Friday after work and drive 4 hours, then pull in for the night and get on the road on the Saturday at 7am. Way back we would allow 3 nights.

[Isaac-1]

My wife still works full time, and we often do as you mention, leaving after she works a half day, driving for a few hours, spending the night, then a full 7-8 hour day of driving the next day, though with me driving the whole way. This gives us a practical driving radius of about 500-600 miles with 1.5 travel days each way, though in general I like to limit my planned travel to 300 miles per day, I will push that to 350 or so if needed for a specific destination. The most I have done in my coach on a single day was right at 500 miles, which was pushing it too far, but I wanted to get through a major city on Sunday evening vs on Monday morning.


With shift driving a lot more is possible, a few years ago (2014?) I helped an old friend drive a u-haul truck from Louisiana to western Montana (just shy of 2,200 miles) in 3 days, he along with his wife and kid departed Baton Rouge at 9 am on Monday, picked me up in western Louisiana at noon, and we arrived in Missoula Montana at 9 am on Thursday. I will admit it was exhausting, and I am glad I flew home, instead of turning around and driving it again, though it would probably be nicer in an RV with seats that recline, a bed, kitchen, etc.