How many (max) miles do you like to drive?

[escape artist]

Hi: All... "Thanks to the Interstate system it's possible to travel coast to coast without seeing anything". Charles Kurault Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

[Kountrykamper]

It depends on if you are retired or still working. If your retired 300 miles a day might be ok but if your still working and on a schedule its whatever meets your schedule. We have drove 650-700 miles on the first day many times just to get many miles behind us. Once we did 950 on a return trip from Colorado but we were much younger then. We are planning a trip out west in August and since we only have 2 weeks vacation to travel 3600 round trip miles we will be doing several 600 mile days.

Someday maybe we will be able to do the 200-300 miles days and smell the roses but until then we do what we have to.

The DW and I have a saying we both use on vacation.
We came, We saw, We went!

[cpaharley2008]

Although retired, I still act like I'm working. Making the annual trek to Osoyoos, similar to the ritual of salmon returning to lay their eggs, I like to get a big jump the first day. I get plenty of rest, go to bed while day light and leave at midnight. I enjoy night driving, less trucks and traffic in general. Normally night driving is not too dangerous, as long as you avoid deer mating season. I always have a good set of fog lights which illuminate the side shoulders well. I'll drive till the next evening, maybe 8-900 miles and then stop, at a cg, for some deserved rest and a good meal. Next morning, up at dawn and drive maybe 500 miles, stop for rest. We had to avoid the daily storms in the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma last year. Weather is another issue. After that big jump, we can then take our time, drive 8 hours a day for next 2 days and arrive at our destination relaxed.
Thus we will hurry to our destination and stay a week and take our time traveling home, another week. I enjoy staying at the same cg's we like and avoiding the ones we did not like. Two to three weeks though and I'm ready for home, I'm not comfortable leaving my home for any length of time longer than that. Grass cutting, bill paying, feeding the goldfish, seeing the cats are all waiting for our return. I'm not trying to escape my home and always look forward to returning to it. As for our other trips, other than Osoyoos we normally will take 7-9 days, or a week with both weekends.

[Steve R]

Originally Posted by Patandlinda

Steve with all that beauty surrounding you , you don't have far to go . Can't wait to get back up there soon . Kids want us to move there , maybe we will run into each other . Pat

I saw a 2015 survey that ranked Deception Pass State Park the best campground in Washington. And that's just 12 miles from our home!

[Steve R]

Originally Posted by keager

When I was working we would drive many hundreds of miles per day to get some place so we could be there for the weekend and then more hundreds of miles a day to get back for work. The longest was a shade over 700 miles in one day with our Casita trailing along behind because, well, had to go to work the next day.
No more.
We received some good advice from some folks we know who have been full timing now for a few years. They call it the 2-2-2 rule and now that we are retired (and full timing in our Escape 21) we are finally beginning to adapt to it, and like it ...
2-2-2
200 miles per day
Off the road by 2pm
Stay for 2 nights (so you can actually find out something about where you are, and rest up for the next drive ... )

Excellent!

[Patandlinda]

Originally Posted by Steve R

I saw a 2015 survey that ranked Deception Pass State Park the best campground in Washington. And that's just 12 miles from our home!

Pat

[msweet]

Originally Posted by Brian B-P

For me, it's not really either distance or total time - it's time of day; I just can't drive too late. That means that with an early start a 13-hour day covering 1500 kilometres (900 miles) of highway (not towing) or maybe 1200 km (750 mi) of highway (towing, or driving the motorhome) is no problem. We have driven between Edmonton and Vancouver in a single day several times, but not with an RV. Three or four brief stops are appropriate for that kind of full day.

We typically prefer the drive all day and enjoy the destination for longer approach. I grew up on the prairies and have done that Edmonton to Vancouver drive in one day quite a few times. That was before we decided to buy a trailer though!

We are planning a road trip through Alberta, Montana, Idaho and Washington at the end of August. Thinking of hitting Yellowstone end of August (crazy?) but that's a topic for another thread! What kind of average speeds do people use for trip planning while towing a trailer? Say mountainous terrain like the Coquihalla versus flat land terrain like Drumheller? Our tug is a 5th Gen 4Runner.

I need to get from Vancouver to Calgary in just over a day on the first day of our trip. I am leaving Friday after work (maybe 3pm) and hoping to make Sicamous or Revelstoke for the first night. Is it reasonable to think I can drive 500 km over the Coquihalla and through Kamloops and Salmon Arm in 6 to 7 hours to arrive before a campground closes?

[James Gang]

When i was 48-50 years old I did 600+ miles the first day pulling a travel trailer two different times. Later years usually no more than 350 miles. Although this past May I drove 400 miles from Silver City, NM to Fort Stockton. I was beat afterwards, but I am glad I did it because I got to see Charlie and Lucy's 5.0TA in Fort Stockton. Next August (2017) I will drive to Chilliwack to pick up my trailer. Hopefully my son will be home from the Persian Gulf and he and his girlfriend will help me drive. The plan is to drive to Yellowstone, stay a few days and then on to Spokane. They will take a plane home and I will continue to Chilliwack. And then 3-4 weeks returning to Austin. In Austin the traffic is horrible from 6:30 am to about 8:00pm Monday thru Friday and Saturday and Sunday from noon to 8pm. Those of you that have driven in both Austin and Seattle let me know which one is worse.

[Steve Clark]

Not counting longer meal stops, but only quick rest and gas stops, I find 50 mph is about right for planning purposes. Any other longer stops can be added to the travel time...ymmv

[AK snowbiker]

A lot also depends on the road conditions. If I’m towing the trailer the 228 KM stretch of highway between Destruction Bay and the Alcan border crossing just destroys me. For that stretch of road I take a whole day. Scott

Scott and Lori
I like bikes!

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by msweet

We are planning a road trip through Alberta, Montana, Idaho and Washington at the end of August. Thinking of hitting Yellowstone end of August (crazy?) but that's a topic for another thread! What kind of average speeds do people use for trip planning while towing a trailer? Say mountainous terrain like the Coquihalla versus flat land terrain like Drumheller? Our tug is a 5th Gen 4Runner.

Flat land speed - assuming a reasonably straight road and not accounting for heavy traffic or being held up by exceptionally slow vehicles on two-lanes roads - is a matter of stability, tolerance for fuel consumption, and headwind. Anything up to 100 km/h is reasonable to me as a sustained speed, with a trailer.

Mountains means slowing for curves, and my guideline in B.C. is to carefully follow the posted corner speeds, although I routinely exceed them (substantially) when neither towng nor driving the motorhome. There are lots of curves worthy of reduced speed on the Crowsnest Highway, not nearly so many on the Trans-Canada, and very few on the Coquihalla.

The big slow-down in mountains is climbing grades, and on the Coquihalla it seems like you spend half the time climbing and the other half coasting downhill. The downhill speed on that highway is limited only by stability (given the effectively lack of a speed limit), so I don't think an average of 80 km/h would be at all unreasonable.

Originally Posted by msweet

I need to get from Vancouver to Calgary in just over a day on the first day of our trip. I am leaving Friday after work (maybe 3pm) and hoping to make Sicamous or Revelstoke for the first night. Is it reasonable to think I can drive 500 km over the Coquihalla and through Kamloops and Salmon Arm in 6 to 7 hours to arrive before a campground closes?

Based on the distance and the roads, this seems quite reasonable... except for the uncertainty of the first part. If "Vancouver" means somewhere out in the Fraser valley, okay, but from North Van you could burn a third of that time just getting out of the city. New Westminster is somewhere in the middle of that (and misses the worst of city traffic), but I don't know if home and work are in the same area, and I'm not the one to accurately guess this anyway... just identifying the variable that I would be most concerned about.

[Vermilye]

Originally Posted by escape artist

Hi: All... "Thanks to the Interstate system it's possible to travel coast to coast without seeing anything". Charles Kurault Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

And, years before him, John Steinbeck: "When we get these thruways across the whole country, as we will and must, it will be possible to drive from New York to California without seeing a single thing."

[Vermilye]

For trip miles, thousands - the longest so far 304 days, 15,905.6 miles. As to daily travel, I shoot for 150 miles, try to stop by 1:00PM. While I have done a couple of 300 + miles per day, at that point it is just getting there, usually on interstates, and not much fun. I far prefer exploring the secondary roads...

[msweet]

Great points. I will plan on averaging 80 km/h as a cruising speed. Obviously gas and food stops, traffic, construction, slow vehicles towing trailers (particularly ones not using pull-outs in the mountains when they are holding up other travellers - a pet peeve of mine), etc all can have a huge effect on reducing your average travelling speed.

Originally Posted by Brian B-P

Flat land speed... anything up to 100 km/h is reasonable to me as a sustained speed, with a trailer.

Originally Posted by Brian B-P

The big slow-down in mountains is climbing grades, and on the Coquihalla it seems like you spend half the time climbing and the other half coasting downhill. The downhill speed on that highway is limited only by stability (given the effectively lack of a speed limit), so I don't think an average of 80 km/h would be at all unreasonable.

Agree on the effective lack of a speed limit! I have been passed by a minivan loaded with bikes and towing a tent trailer at >130 km/h - that looked scary! I have also been passed by transport trucks at high rates of speed in white out conditions. I hope the new variable speed sign corridors will help.

Originally Posted by Brian B-P

New Westminster is somewhere in the middle of that (and misses the worst of city traffic)...

You are right that the Lower Mainland traffic is the biggest variable in the whole trip. Unfortunately New West doesn't miss the bridges over the Fraser - the 80 year old super-narrow Pattullo or the Port Mann at $6.50 per direction when towing - or the long stop and go drive out through the Valley on summer weekends which can easily add an hour to the drive!

[bdornbush]

Are you traveling alone or with another driver? My wife and I find that we average about 50 mph (80 kph) through any terrain and we trade off driving every 2-3 hours (same in metric ;-) ). We aim to go no more than 400 miles (640 km) per day but sometimes go as much as 450 miles (720 km). Less is better but if the goal is to get somewhere, going longer may be preferable to taking more days for us.

We prepare a sandwich lunch and find that we can minimize stop time that way. We stop for gas, restroom, and to eat our lunch, all at the same time if possible.

[cpaharley2008]

On our trips to Osoyoos and because we travel with 2 older dogs and only average 13-14 mpg towing, after approximately 175-200 miles we combine stops into walking the dogs,gas,restroom,and paraphrase Smokey and the Bandit, some choke and puke, and in 10 minutes get back on the road quickly. We will stop and turn off the motor for a 30 minute rest area lunch during the day and at night for a 4-6 hour snooze and get up and go before dawn looking for coffee and gas. This allows us to average 14-16 hours driving @ 50, so 700-800 miles on the initial 24 hour period. We stop at a cg the second 24 hour period after maybe 500 miles for a longer rest and repeat the longer miles the next day. Weather can play havoc with you in areas and we are so vigilant as to storms. The return trips are always a bit more leisurely as we do not want to hurry home.

[Ruthe]

Last summer we pretty much followed the 2-2-2 rule (give or take) but decided that from now on it needs to be 2-2-3

200 miles
Get there by 2:00
Take three days to see where you are.

Sometimes when we're just driving our car and Terry is complaining bitterly about traffic and we're only going to be in the car for an hour but we can't wait to be out of it, I find myself wondering how and why we pull a trailer for our vacations. But somehow when we get into trailer mode, there is this calmness that settles over us -- we know we'll be out of the traffic eventually, we know that we'll be in the car for several hours so we might as well just enjoy it
and we're like different people.

[Charlie & Lucy]

Originally Posted by James Gang

When i was 48-50 years old I did 600+ miles the first day pulling a travel trailer two different times. Later years usually no more than 350 miles. Although this past May I drove 400 miles from Silver City, NM to Fort Stockton. I was beat afterwards, but I am glad I did it because I got to see Charlie and Lucy's 5.0TA in Fort Stockton. Next August (2017) I will drive to Chilliwack to pick up my trailer. Hopefully my son will be home from the Persian Gulf and he and his girlfriend will help me drive. The plan is to drive to Yellowstone, stay a few days and then on to Spokane. They will take a plane home and I will continue to Chilliwack. And then 3-4 weeks returning to Austin. In Austin the traffic is horrible from 6:30 am to about 8:00pm Monday thru Friday and Saturday and Sunday from noon to 8pm. Those of you that have driven in both Austin and Seattle let me know which one is worse.

Hi Barton!
We enjoyed meeting you and talking about Escapes in general and showing you our 5.0TA!
The day we met you had been a rather long drive from Houston - one of our longer days. When we are driving across the country to get to a specific place fast we tend to go farther, but for the most part we have been driving 250-375 miles per day.
We came back from our criss cross up and down trip from NH on June 24th. It seems like we were all over the place stoping at points before Osyoos: Whitehouse Station, NJ; Asheville, NC; Norman,OK; Houston TX (yes we had to back track there from OK); Tempe, AZ and then up through NV, ID, OR, WA.
After 5 great days at the rally and meeting so many great people we headed to Sonoma CA. After 5 days visiting with friends we headed across the vast state of NV, then visited with some folks in UT - who we met on our trip in the fall on the OR/CA border (right after we had picked up in Chilliwack) and then amazingly bumped into again on our way to California. They invited us to visit them on our way to Yellowstone... so we stayed with them for 2 nights and then drove up to W. Yellowstone for 3 nights and toured the park. (Next time we will get into Fishing Bridge CG for less driving while we are there).
A lot more driving between there and home. I'll save that trip report for another time.
Barton... so glad that you are getting an Escape. We know that you'll love it! Between now and when your build sheet is due you have plenty to think about... and before you know it August will be here and you will be going to pick it up! Feel free to PM us! Would love to meet you again on the road - as an Escape owner!

Lucy