How far do you tow in a day?

[Byron Kinnaman]

How far we travel in a day is quite variable. If I can drive 2 or 3 hundred miles that's goo. Ive been known to drive about 1000 miles in one day. And as little at 25 miles in one day. Generally I drive until I'm tired then look for a rest area to get a few hours sleep.

[redbarron55]

I never drive further than my She Who Must Be Obeyed allows.
Know your limitations and how long SWMBO holds a grudge.

[TZBrown]

Our mileage and time traveled varies wildly.

If we are just getting to a destination about 400 miles tops.

If we are traveling and enjoying all we can find it may be as short as 50 miles.

Wherever we land for the night we usually spend some time on the internet "exploring" local and area sites to visit. A few times we found fantastic spots to check out and did not make many miles the next day.

Sometimes we go by the start by 10 stop by 3 or 4, whatever miles in between are pretty irrelevant. we go more for sites and experiences along the way

[Kai in Seattle]

I, being the SWMBO, carry some grudges literally forever. Others I can't maintain for more than a few minutes. My HWMBC (He Who Must Be Coddled) has no idea what infractions earn what grudges. Literally. If I tell him explicitly, he neither understands nor remembers. So usually I resort to speaking very firmly right away, which others may find harsh, but in our dynamic, spares us both as much as the rest of our lives' resentment. Works for us.

"SLOW DOWN NOW!"
"I'm not exceeding the spe-"
"SLOW DOWN RIGHT NOW!"
"Okay, okay, geeze!"

My best to all--those with a system and those without.
Be safe.

Getting there safe is better than getting there on time!

"K"

Remember: there are few circumstances so bad you cannot make them worse.

[redbarron55]

Originally Posted by Kai in Seattle

I, being the SWMBO, carry some grudges literally forever. Others I can't maintain for more than a few minutes. My HWMBC (He Who Must Be Coddled) has no idea what infractions earn what grudges. Literally. If I tell him explicitly, he neither understands nor remembers. So usually I resort to speaking very firmly right away, which others may find harsh, but in our dynamic, spares us both as much as the rest of our lives' resentment. Works for us.

"SLOW DOWN NOW!"
"I'm not exceeding the spe-"
"SLOW DOWN RIGHT NOW!"
"Okay, okay, geeze!"

My best to all--those with a system and those without.
Be safe.


Getting there safe is better than getting there on time!

"K"

Remember: there are few circumstances so bad you cannot make them worse.

No hope for the Clueless HWMBCs. (Like Me)

[thrifty bill]

Originally Posted by Bryan L.

Being in Kansas and trying to get to National Parks puts me in the minority here. We drive fast and far. Regularly close to 80mph with our Ford Expedition breaking the wind for up to ten hours a day. With limited time off work it's what we have to do.

For the parks I like (Utah and Arizona) you are a lot closer than me sitting here in NC. We drive far, but no so much fast. 70MPH is it as far as speed. But we may go 14 hours or more when we are just making miles. And our stops tend to be very efficient.

Decades of being limited to one week's vacation at one time made us pretty efficient as far as covering miles. In my entire working career, I only had four two week vacations, the rest were a week or less.

[CamperBill]

Our average tow day is 250 miles, most of the time we find a State Park or Federal Park for the night.

Last year when a hurricane was heading in the direction of home, we towed 720 miles in a day. Started at sunrise and arrived at the next campground a few hours before midnight, mostly interstate travel without delays. Our tow vehicle has a 38 gallon fuel tank that reduces fuel stops. Long Day!

[Lee Senn]

Response to Bryan L ( needs 80 mph to get to national parks ) . in the late 70s wife , myself and 4 kiddos lived in Norman Okahoma spent every long weekend and all of our vacations speeding to New Mexico to backpack , camp and ski in the Rockies . Finally decided it made better sense to just move there , did so , loved and enjoyed it for 35 years . Suggestion pick your most beloved spot , move there , enjoy , slow down , live longer. Lee and Norma

[Kai in Seattle]

Lee Senn:

Good suggestion. Find where you most love and move there (if you can!)

I think we already live in our favorite area. WA/OR, the Great Pacific NorthWET.

Canada this weekend for the first time in years...we'll see how it goes. Not sure I can make the drive but we'll know soon.

Slow down, take it easy, live a gentler life. That's my style.

BEST
"K"

[Civilguy]

Originally Posted by MSFrancis

How far do Scamp and other fiberglass campers tow in a day? We are new and soon to get our 13' Scamp. As we plan/fantasize about future trips we've realized that we have no idea how many miles a day (or hours per day) are realistic. Are we right in thinking that it is very different than a road trip in our SUV without anything to tow where we can average 75mph if we wanted? Thanks in advance for the insight!

Hi Mark,

Yes, it's different.

There's been lots of good information posted.

When trailering, we tend to do our own cooking, cleaning, and housekeeping in order to enjoy our "portable cabin", so doing that requires some time at the beginning and end of each day's travel.

There can also be additional time spent on tasks such as setting up stabilizers and leveling the trailer for the night, getting propane refilled, dumping holding tanks, and hitching. So, it's not the same as blazing down the interstate and letting Denny's and Motel 6 take care of everything for you.

Sometimes after spending the morning getting out of the driveway on the first day of a trip, we stop at a fast food place. Occasionally, we indulge in dinner at a restaurant while out on a trip. Likewise, we sometimes have breakfast out when starting the return trip home.

But, in general, we are taking care of all of this cooking and cleanup ourselves. And we tend to enjoy great meals at the expense of being "quick". If we are "travelling" to a far destination and are just stopping for one night, we tend to leave the trailer on the hitch to save time getting started in the morning.

Bottom line, for us anything over 350 miles a day in the west, with our mountains and curves, tends to be a long day in the saddle. In general, we try to keep ourselves to much lower mileages, and/or make stops longer than just one night.

[Steve Carlson]

I am not retired, so time is more important than most other concerns. I have driven as far as 900 miles in a long day if I am doing nothing more than traversing the Great Plains to get to Colorado or Utah. And I go the speed limit too, again fuel costs are a secondary concern.

I look forward to retirement when I can travel at my leisure without significant time constraints...

[thrifty bill]

Originally Posted by Steve Carlson

I am not retired, so time is more important than most other concerns. I have driven as far as 900 miles in a long day if I am doing nothing more than traversing the Great Plains to get to Colorado or Utah. And I go the speed limit too, again fuel costs are a secondary concern.

I look forward to retirement when I can travel at my leisure without significant time constraints...

I still have time constraints. DW limits trips to one month max. Meanwhile I like to visit places that are far away. So this means either less time at the destination, or covering more miles on driving days.

Last trip my wife flew home after the destination. I probably will do this again.

[Karen in CO]

We have towed our 25’ Bigfoot for 600 miles for several days in a row but it is exhausting

[Uplander]

I have been towing a travel trailer since 1983.....have covered just about every state and most of the National Parks including a few that most folks do not even know exist.
All this traveling has resulted in a simple plan...set a target of about 300 miles a day on long trips.....enjoy the journey. I normally get on the road at about 9:00 AM and pull into a campground at about 3:00 PM. That averages about 50 miles per hour on the road.
Years ago an over the road trucker told me the best you can average is about 50 miles per hour...he was right. The 50 miles per hour allows for traffic, construction, rest room stops, food stops, gas stops etc.
Enjoy the trip...it is not a contest......and...Happy Camping.

[Len S]

Not sure if this is distance "bragging rights" or a "speed bragging rights" question. To us it boils down to where we are going and how much time we want to spend on the road. Life's too short , why rush it.

[Grant J.]

We have a 17ft 1979 Boler and average 600km-700km per day at 100km per hour we used to travel longer days but now we have shortened our travel days to no more then 6 hours a day.It is totally different towing then not as there is more to watch out for and you can't travel at higher speeds.

[Peter10]

We have the same trailer and tow with a Nissan Frontier and it is perfect!
We do about 400 miles and then stop for the day until we reach our destination.

[computerspook]

Normally I do about 300+ in a day with one driver. To get to an incident site I have done dual driver straight through pretty regularly. I have done 500-600 about once year about every year. Some things to think about.


how comfortable is your tow vehicle? Mine is pretty comfortable. Going along with that is what kinds of roads. You can go a long farther on interstates and not just in hours, but also in expended energy.

Another issue will navigation on the route. How hard will it be get out onto the road. That should be reasonably easy, but some times this has issues and plan for them. Then how hard will it be to get to your destination on the other end. That will have a lot to do with fatigue. Hopefully you have reservations. If not finding a place and doing all the things with regards to getting signed in can take an hour or two.

Then there is take down and setup. When I first got my camper it too a couple hours to get setup properly and an hour to get it ready to roll. You might even want to practice this at home a couple of times. Also are you going to a camp ground. Setting up at a camp ground takes much less time than at some from of dry camping. And this can take more than just time. It can be pretty tiring and this can factor into how many hours you can drive. And at least starting out you may want to make sure you leave and arrive in daylight. Now I can setup in 30 minutes in the rain at dark if I have to. But that will take some time.

So kind of what I am saying it that it has a lot to do with you, and then also it has to do with your experience level.

[Doctor Harold]

Ten days, 57 great replies, and yet no response from the OP.

[floyd]

I have never liked reservations, but they are getting more and more necessary. Often reservations can affect both speed and distance traveled.
Weather sometimes conspires with reservations to either impede or encourage daily speed or distance.


And then there are distractions along the route leaving you with the necessity to make-up time to make reservations.


Going to Florida in Jan/Feb and home in March can really cause a lot of daily planning and affect speed and time on the road.