No way! That's a 12 hour day driving a car, about 16 or more
towing a 5er.
Since you have about a week on either side of your class I would suggest maybe 300 or so a day. If you push too many miles you will be beat by the time you get to the class. If you can work it, it would be nice if you could drive for a couple of days, then take a day off and do some sightseeing, a little R&R. 4-5 days of straight driving gets old for everyone.
AC09 wrote: Thanks for the replies. Just to give everyone a little more info the class I need to take is 5 days long and because of the way me leave is scheduled we would have 6-8 days to get ther and about 7 1/2 to get back. I have a 1 year old daughter and an 11 year old son that would be along for the ride. We have DVD players for them in the truck to keep them entertained and of course we would stop frequently.
Since you have 6-8 days to get there and 6-7 to get back, I think your trip would be doable. With kids I don't think you're going to be able to make a lot of miles each day. Maybe 300, if you're lucky. Young children will put up with that much driving for a day or so, but 5 days straight? You're asking for trouble. Our rule of thumb when the kids are with us is no more than 350 miles in a day and no overnighting in Walmart. At the end of the day my kids need to get outside and walk around and maybe swim in a pool to get their energy out.
We took a long distance trip in 2007 with my DD, then 14, and DS, then 12, in a TT. The DS is developmentally disabled, on the level with a 1 yr old(*in diapers, nonverbal, the whole baby thing.) The kids are pretty good travelers, but even the 14yo began to get cranky after a couple days on the road. We found that we needed at least one day of rest for every 2 on the road. We also planned some special outings for DD to keep her in good humor, things like a day at Six Flags, a trip to a drive-in movie, and Breakfast-for-lunch at Denney's.
Be sure you build in sick days to your trip. Nothing is worse than having a sick kid in the car and you can't take the time to stop and let them rest. DH & I split the driving most of the time. One time on a long trip DH got really really sick with pneumonia and we had to pull off the road for about 4 days to let him recover. After that it was all me driving for about 3-4 days and I'll tell you, that was exhausting. We had to reallly take it slow for about 2 weeks and thank goodness we had built that time into the trip because we would have been really upset.
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AC09 wrote: Thanks for the replies. Just to give everyone a little more info the class I need to take is 5 days long and because of the way me leave is scheduled we would have 6-8 days to get ther and about 7 1/2 to get back. I have a 1 year old daughter and an 11 year old son that would be along for the ride. We have DVD players for them in the truck to keep them entertained and of course we would stop frequently.
Are you by any chance military? If yes, are you familiar with the website for military campgrounds - www.militarycampgrounds.us? Maxwell AFB has a military campground if that is where you are headed.
Dave & Kathy
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and must be in western Kansas etc. where nobody is on the road. an average of 65 mph, with I assume at least one stop? let us know where you are driving so we can avoid that stretch of road.
bumpy
You also mentioned that you have kids with you - may I suggest that you plan to stop diving by 2pm every day, find s CG with a pool or something, and let the kids blow-off some energy. I think they'll get pretty amped-up and cranky spending lots of hours in the car.
To answer you initial question, we get burned out (2 of us driving with a dog) after about 300 miles towing our rig. Goes much slower than a car - and remember to stop for meals & potty breaks.
I'll tell you how we've always traveled; in the early days in order to keep our son happy and eager to go. Short days. 300-360 miles max and every third day was a "layover" day. No getting up early, no scrambling to get "hooked up and on the road". The "layover" day...sightseeing. This is a huge country with lots more to see than the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone or the Tetons (great places to see, but, not the only "sights" in this country worth seeing). I made the mistake onetime of "busting $!#$" to get to Disneyworld. We didn't have much time and I figured we could rush down, spend a couple of days having fun and then rush back. What a disaster. Kid was a basket case, wife was fuming, nobody had any fun at Disneyworld. Never made that mistake again. If we couldn't get to a place leisurely and enjoyably, then we didn't go until we had the time to do it "properly" (for us).
Now that we're retired and have all the time in the world... Read the above again
We actually have reduced it a bit, 250-300 miles per day and we still never drive more than 2 days in a row without a layover. Leave leisurely, arrive early. Setup, get comfortable, have a glass of wine and wait for the "rushers" to arrive. They roll in at 5-6:30pm (or later), bust hump to get setup and some food on the table, rush to bed and bust camp at 6-7:00 am to do it all over again.
To us, camping and RVing was/is meant to be relaxing, enjoyable and memorable for all and rushing through the process of "getting somewhere" usually penalizes somebody. You may be able to drive 14 hours and, maybe actually enjoy it (I do; I love to drive), but, at what expense to the wife and kids. It is a great country, every square inch of it, not just the "major attractions" (some of my most memorable sights have nothing to do with "major attractions" and they were seen by asking any local "Where's a good place to spend a few hours?").
You, as you have stated, have the time...ask your wife and your 11 old what they would like to do...travel hard (still only ~350-400 miles) for a day or two then rest a day (even if there isn't anything to see, but, there usually is) hit the pool, take a hike, play catch, etc. or take all leisurely days and have pool time and relaxing time everyday. You may find that they have their own ideas at what would make a good trip (that's how I found out that even though I didn't mind 14 hours on an interstate, my wife and son both preferred 5-6 hours on less traveled roads). It may actually encourage the "desire" to say "Road Trip! Yippee!" as opposed, to "I've got to sit in the truck for how long?"
Lots of posts...lots of food for thought. Above all, enjoy your trip (not necessarily the class, but, that's another story...). The best part of any journey is not always the destination, but, the getting there.
My 2 cents, your mileage may vary...
Don
Bronwyn
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AC09 wrote: the class I need to take is 5 days long and because of the way me leave is scheduled we would have 6-8 days to get ther and about 7 1/2 to get back. I have a 1 year old daughter and an 11 year old son that would be along for the ride.
Since you have some extra time, and if you will be driving on I-10 through TX, then I would once again recommend the state parks along your journey. Despite what some people state here, there are a number of possible places for you to stay overnight and that are quite near the highway, and these places will be nicer than a commercial RV park and will have more things to do. State parks are also often cheaper to stay at than a commercial RV park.
To give you an example, if driving west to east on I-10, you can overnight at Balmorrhea SP in far west TX, then S. Llano River SP in the western part of central TX, then Palmetto SP in the eastern part of central TX, then Stephen Austin SP just west of Houston. From there, you can easily get to the LA border in one day. All of these parks are but a few minutes off of the highway, and I believe less than five miles as well. Surely five minutes or five miles will not be a hardship for you. You will have better scenery and more things to do in the state parks than you will have in a commercial RV park, especially if you stay an extra day or two.
If you care to give yourself an extra 60 miles or one hour of driving away from the interstate, you will open another half-dozen or so parks as well, and this doesn't even count the US Army CoE parks that might be along the way.
BTW - if you and your son like to fish, the SP's in TX that have fishing areas will often have equipment to lend, and as long as you stay in the park boundaries, you don't even need a fishing license. Also, many of the campsites in TX SP's have pull-through sites, which might be helpful to you.
I usually like to go about 400 to 500 miles in a day with some leisurely stops along the way. I like staying in both Walmarts and truck stops. Be sure that the Walmart you pick allows overnight stays.
AC09 wrote: Also suggestions for overnight stays? Walmart??
If you stay at a Walmart, what are you and your kids going to do once you are parked? Are you going to let your children run around a parking lot with all the other cars and trucks? There is nothing to do at a Walmart parking lot that will keep children intersted. You will have to keep them cooped up in the trailer, and what fun is that? Also consider the fact that most (if not all) WM's are located on a busy street, where you will listening to vehicle noise well into the night, if not all night. Also consider where you will be hooking up (you aren't). Lack of hookups won't be a problem if you have big water holding tanks and a generator, but I would not want to listen to a genset if I could help it.
You've spent a bunch of money on something with which to have fun. Why not do something fun with it? Spending your (ample, as it turns out) non-driving time in a parking lot is not fun, and when children are involved, is a pretty bad idea.
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