Maximum miles and time frame for road trips?

[foxfirev5]

While working I drove over 2m miles constantly on the road. I also flew a lot so I was burned out by both. DW has relieved me of the decision making and we usually fly if it involves an overnight road stay. For example we're going to travel Detroit to Greensboro on Friday. Flying even though it's only 600 road miles.

[KCGeezer]

Growing up in the Midwest I got used to long car trips at an early age. My personal endurance record would probably be New York to Lake of the Ozarks in one looong day, I think it took 21 hrs. Google maps says just under 1200 miles.

DW’s parents were in Palm Bay Fl and we did that 1300 miles a few times. Trading off driving we did do that once without an overnight stop.

Now, I’d say 8-10 hrs would be our max.

[ivinsfan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ronstar On our recent trip, we took 3 days to get from Illinois to Arizona, 3 to get home. About 3300 miles of the 3900 total miles were driven in these 6 days. We drove 716 miles from Hays, Kansas to South Chicagoland home yesterday - which was our biggest mileage day. Yesterday was about a 12 hour day driving with 4 or 5 - 20 minute stops. This is a little too much driving for us in one day (DW drove about 3 hours yesterday) - I like to do a max of 9 hour or 550 miles in a day. On this trip, we stayed near Phoenix for 6 days and Sedona for 6 days. We have a 3600 -3900 mile summer road trip to Yellowstone/Grand Tetons/Glacier planned. We'll do that one in 9 days with a few days of 700 miles driven per day. Tricks to make driving more enjoyable for us - make a lot of stops.

Can I ask why you planned a few days of 700 miles by car if you prefer 550. I really dislike bolting food and eating meals while driving, my stomach doesn't like that at all. Granted in summer you get a more daylight which helps a lot IMO.

[ivinsfan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by KCGeezer Growing up in the Midwest I got used to long car trips at an early age. My personal endurance record would probably be New York to Lake of the Ozarks in one looong day, I think it took 21 hrs. Google maps says just under 1200 miles. DW’s parents were in Palm Bay Fl and we did that 1300 miles a few times. Trading off driving we did do that once without an overnight stop. Now, I’d say 8-10 hrs would be our max.

You reminded me of back in the early 80's in August we'd bale straw all day get in our full sized van with a 3 and 5 YO and START driving the 1100 miles to Utah at 7PM. we'd pull over and sleep for a few hours and then stay only about 5 days in UT and do it again. I think that would kill me now!!!

[Lewis Clark]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ivinsfan Any tricks or solutions you do to make the driving more enjoyable?

I would recommend breaking up the trip into shorter days of driving. Then, you will have time each day to do a touristy thing to fill up the rest of the day. Makes the driving more tolerable.

[EastWest Gal]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Freedom56 Road trips along the coast of California are breathtaking. We stop occasionally to rest, snap photos, and eat. We limit road trips to about 600 miles to our destination. For longer destinations it makes more sense for us to fly and rent a car at the destination.

There is much to love about the Oregon coast as well.

[PaunchyPirate]

My “retirement celebration” vacation in 2019 was a solo 17-day, 6800 mile road trip from NW Pennsylvania out to Washington, Oregon, and Northern California and back. On most driving days, I would drive up to 6 hours. Sometimes more. Sometimes less. There were only a few days that I didn’t significantly drive. I don’t mind driving a lot if there is something of interest along the way and/or a destination goal in mind. I camped in a tent about 1/2 of the nights and a hotel the other half. I enjoyed the trip immensely. Don’t get me wrong, I’d rather road trip with a compatible traveler. But I’m not afraid to do it solo either. I can enjoy it either way.

Most of the time, however, I will fly in to a nearby city and then rental car around in a loop seeing sites or drive to a second city and fly back home from there.

[38Chevy454]

Thought of one thing to add, I try to do all my driving in daytime. I may get up and hit the road before sunrise, but try to be off the road for sure by sundown. After a whole day driving, it is much harder driving at night when already tired. Long summer days make it easier to put miles in.


Also on snacks, avoid high carb or sugar stuff. I will take some nuts, jerky or similar. To paraphrase what was said earlier by previous reply, you don't make miles unless your wheels are turning. Just this past October I helped a friend go pick up an old car, approx 4200 miles round trip in 5 days. We took turns driving so we could put some serious miles in, even towing a trailer with car on it. I will admit that was a lot of driving in short period of time. No real time for anything except driving and sleeping.

[KCGeezer]

Just tallied it up. Best Buddy and I spent about 10 weeks camping and wandering around on a loop from KC to West coast in the late 70’s. Amazingly we made it back alive after about 6k miles. Did it in his 68 Shelby mustang convertible. Fun times that my kids are almost old enough to hear about.

[txtig]

Most of our road trips now are in our 38’ motorhome towing our Jeep Wrangler behind us. While it’s not that difficult to drive, it does take more out of you than just driving a car. So, I rarely drive more than 250 miles per day, about 4 to 5 hours per day. But hey, we’re retired. I’m not in a hurry. We’re usually set up in our new destination by late afternoon, sipping on an adult beverage and thinking about our dinner options.

[lajolla]

H and I returned 10 days ago from a 3,300 mile 17 day ski road trip here in the west. We don't like to have any days where we travel more than 450 miles especially since it was a winter trip and a lot of time was spent in the mountains. Our 2018 Tundra is very comfortable and we can pack more than we need for our road trips. We spent 8 days skiing and many days just driving and stopping along the way to see sights and take pictures. This was our third winter doing a trip like this and we are already thinking about where to go next year to ski. Besides the great skiing we had in New Mexico and Colorado there are many National and State parks we visted along the way that are empty this time of year.

[Dtail]

Longest trip one way so far is 1,100 miles, when I drove my brother down to FLA to live with us.
I don't really have a set limit now, but can't go over 5k miles, as DGF needs to stop just about every hour for 10 minutes and it just adds too much time and hotel expense.

[audreyh1]

When we lived in the motorhome, we rarely did more than 250 miles in a day. Needed time to break camp, make the new location, setup camp and have time to good off before it got dark. Only occasionally, when mostly highway driving with good rest areas, would we make over 300 miles.

In the car we occasionally do over 500, but prefer 450. We can’t do 1200 miles in 2 days. Too hard.

[Ronstar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ivinsfan Can I ask why you planned a few days of 700 miles by car if you prefer 550. I really dislike bolting food and eating meals while driving, my stomach doesn't like that at all. Granted in summer you get a more daylight which helps a lot IMO.

The few days of 700 miles are always in the flatlands where we find few places that interest us, or places we have already been. I like to save minimal mileage travel days for the scenic areas and areas where we have a lot of interesting places to visit.

[ivinsfan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ronstar The few days of 700 miles are always in the flatlands where we find few places that interest us, or places we have already been. I like to save minimal mileage travel days for the scenic areas and areas where we have a lot of interesting places to visit.

That makes sense, sometimes where it's less populated think Western Colorado dropping South into Utah you have stop too early or drive too long to find a place to stay...Western Nebraska can have this issue as well.

[skyking1]

We have not ventured past Montana to the east and central California to the south on pleasure trips.
We are usually towing a 5th wheel and I do the driving when towing, and DW will drive the bare truck when we are exploring after getting set up.
I try to stick with 300~350 miles in daylight. We used to do more " get off work Friday and go go go" weekends, but now we'll sleep in our beds and head out in the daylight.
Our tricks are to research things of interest along our route, and be prepared to modify that route for more fun, and less worry about maximum speed and miles in a day.

[Bamaman]

In my working years, I never drove less than 1,000 miles a 4 day week--250 miles a day. When going on vacation, we drove as fast and far as we could--wanting to see as much as possible. I had perpetual motion in me--and couldn't stop.

In retirement, we might fly across the country, rent a car and drive 1,000 miles to scenic places. But that's very seldom due to the rising costs of hotels, gasoline and restaurant foods. Heck, you can spend $35 at McDonalds for breakfast and $20 for a Coke stop mid afternoons. We always have 1-2 grandkids with us--since we're raising a 10 year old.

We now travel seldom--and slowly. After being on the road so many years, we don't really have desire to see many places in this country. Been there, done that.

I'm now finishing up a great nap after driving 225 miles home from our fifth wheel trailer in the Northeast Georgia Mountains. It's hard to imagine that that nerve wracking drive with traffic jams is less than my average day's drive while I was working. I'm just thankful that we live in a very interesting region and have so many great cities and travel sites within a 2-3 hour drive. Otherwise, I'm not planning on going anywhere in the near future.

[Retired Expat]

Was planning a trip recently and it was turning into 3000 miles round trip inn 12 days. Found a flight close to my first real stop for $65 each. My Audi SUV gets terrible mileage and is already up there in years and miles so found a reasonable one way rental. 1/2 the driving and gas expense, wear and tear on the car and the flying will save a day and a half of driving.

Generally I try to not do more than 250 miles a day of directional travel. Getting from one place to another. Sightseeing or scenic drives are another story.

[6miths]

Longest straight, solo drive with only bathroom/gas stops was Vancouver, BC to Minneapolis, Minn (1800 miles/28 hours).

We frequently drove 'non-stop' Toronto to South Florida (1500 miles/22 hours) almost annually from 1986 to 2012 or so and occasionally since then.

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ivinsfan Quote: Originally Posted by W2R Last September we evacuated for Hurricane Ida, and went to Arkansas. The trip about 3/4 did me in. That experience sure drove home that I'm not a kid any more. But hey, being old sure beats the alternative. Before ER, we used to drive from New Orleans up to Springfield, MO for fun. The first day we'd drive to Jonesboro (Arkansas), and then the next day we'd finish the trip and get to Springfield by lunchtime. That was the road trip to end all road trips for you two. My issue is we have to drive about 3100 miles RT to get from home to warm weather and back. So you can't even really call it a road trip. Throw in Vail Pass and it's just a lot.

You remembered that road trip of ours! I guess I should have mentioned all those weeks in the ICU in Arkansas, with Covid. It wasn't just the length of the trip, but also that (blankety blank) virus draining every last bit of strength out of me. You're right - - that's hopefully going to be our last road trip, forever. He's 67 and I'm 73. He feels the same way I do about future road trips. I think in a sense that trip to Arkansas was harder on him than me since he did not know if I would make it or not.

Your trip sounds really long and exhausting, most definitely a lot of miles for sure. If it was me, I'd cancel it and instead go somewhere just an hour or two from home. You can have fun and not wear yourself out.