Driving time?

[yoopergirl]

After watching and watching we were fortunate enough to snag a reservation at FW in January!!

This will be our first time driving the new motor home directly through from lower Michigan (just south of Flint). According to Mapquest the drive will take 17 hours. We know that time is based on driving a car at regular freeway speed, which you can't do in a motor home. I am seeking opinions on how long it might take us in reality. Figure an additional 3 hours?? 4???

 

[TinCanTee]

I've always figured on about 50 miles/hour with my class A. That's on a good day, no traffic problems and good weather. When we travel, I allow 6 hours driving time to get about 300 miles down the road, but I'm retired so no hurry. Flint is about 1200 miles from FW, right? If timing is critical, I'd allow 24 hours. You will need to stop for fuel, maybe food, maybe some rest?

 

[ruthies12]

Don't forget to take bad traffic jams into account too. We drove from Northern Kentucky to Destin Florida last summer, Google driving directions said it would take 10 hours 56 minutes. We hit bad traffic at Nashville, then again at Birmingham and a little through Montgomery. Took us 16 hours total to get there. However the return drive home had no traffic problems and took us only 12 hours, so only one hour longer than it was supposed to.

We don't usually stop for long, just long enough to fill up the tank. Since we can use our bathroom while going down the road and I have my fridge and can cook while DH is driving, there are very few stops for us.

 

[Teamubr]

We know that time is based on driving a car at regular freeway speed, which you can't do in a motor home.

Google Maps calculates time on "normal driving conditions"(adds for construction, wrecks and current conditions- rush hour) and driving the speed limit without any stops. I'm not sure what "regular freeway speed" means to you, but motor homes are very capable of going the posted speed limits. Around here, "regular freeway speed" is speed limit + 10-15. I agree 80-85 is probably a bit much for a MH. If you aren't comfortable towing at the speed limit, that is a different story, but hopefully you are OK with close to the posted limit. If you only want to drive 50 in a 70, I'd recommend some of the more scenic routes and avoid the interstates.

I tow from Utah to Ohio and Wisconsin to Georgia for the race team. Generally we set the cruise on 72 unless we are in a metro area or traffic is bad. I have found that adding an hour for every 7-8 hours of Google drive time works out pretty well for a guesstimate. I think Google says it is 15 hrs from my house to the Fort. It typically takes us 17-18 hours on the road. We have about an 750 mile range towing so it is usually food and BR breaks that we stop for, not fuel.

j

 

[DQPapa]

We drive to the Fort a couple times a year from Howell Mi . It seems to take us about 22 hours at 65 mph. Although I always seem to drive a little faster once I get into florida

 

[Sundancer330]

And then you have to factor in Old Man Winter, never know when or where he will dump some snow and ice on the roads. I would check the weather for the I75 route a few days before you leave and see what is predicted and adjust your timing.

 

[whiplash]

We leave from the Sandusky, Ohio area and always allow 20 hrs. Two 10 hour days on the road. We drive a 34' Class A and let the traffic and weather conditions dictate speed but usually never go over 70. We stop at rest stops for something to eat (prepared ahead of time), a break for the puppies which also let's us stretch our legs and refreshes us. We usually stay over at a Pilot/Flying J, many have an area just for campers/motorhomes. No charge. Last December we hit that big ice storm on the way home and "hung out" at a Flying J until the roads were safe. Thank you Flying J ! Our moto is "don't get in a hurry, get there safe !" Enjoy your trip, we also will be there in January.

 

[jbrostek]

Even running at 65-68mph on the way to Disney from NoVA, we still seem to average about 50mph through the trip. We tackle about 550 miles in 11-12 hours "road time" leaving us 5-6 hours travel left the next day depending on stops and traffic.

Depending on how many of you are willing to drive you still need pretty much 2 days if not a little more to make the trip down. If you have two drivers and can work it out, you could shorten that but you will likely need off road time for the kids who will get restless.

 

[RandolphNY]

We travel from Jamestown, NY in our current Class C and have tried various routes.

After our most recent trip, I would plan on 24 hours and personally, I would plan to travel two days as we just attempted a non-stop there and it beat us up bigtime.

I'm interested in your planned route of travel. If you go through Atlanta, trust me Georgia is a lonnnnng state to travel through.

We always enjoy different routes of travel, so if you take I77, I would stop at the KOA on the border of SC/NC. (it's in SC)

No matter what, enjoy the travels, drive safe and good luck with the weather.

 

[CampingDad]

We leave from Ingleside IL which is north of Chicago. We're 1250 miles from the fort. My gps tells me 21 hours. It takes me about 22 hours of drive time. We do bathroom breaks and eat when I stop for fuel so that makes a big difference on down time.

We usually leave Wednesday afternoon and get there Friday morning. It all depends on how far you can drive in a day safely. I can usually make it till around midnight the first night about 7-8 hours of driving. Second day I can usually go about 12-13 hours of driving. The next morning I like to get some sleep and have a 1-2 hour drive to the fort then I'm good and rested and ready to hit the parks. I drive a truck with a fifth wheel camper so I'm not sure but a MH shouldn't be much different. But like I said it all depends on how far you can drive safely.

We've been making the same trip for 6 years every March for spring break. Only one year I had a delay for weather. In January it might be much different. You might need to change your ressie for a day early or a day later to beat the weather or wait it out. You can change it without penalty up to 48 hours before your arrival date.

 

[StormyCA]

We tow a TT, so we can't do 'freeway speeds'. DH usually keeps us right at 55 in states where that's the limit, 60-62 in other states. I use Mapquest also and always add 1 to 1 1/2 hours to their time. If you're more comfortable at slower speeds in your MH, that might work for you, too.

A good website is http://www.truckmiles.com

This calculates driving time for a big rig & we've found it to be pretty accurate for our towing times. Sometimes you have to fiddle with it to get your actual route. For our trip from CA to WDW I had to plot it in segments then total the times rather than start to finish since we aren't taking the 'recommended' route. In step 4 you don't have to enter any data since you're only looking for times.

 

[PEC]

A lot just depends on your motor home and driving experience. Some can probably safely go the speed limit and if the Driver is comfortable with it then you would not have to add much time to it. For others you may want to keep it at 60 or less.
I know when I went I was towing my pop-up. I was able to go the speed limit and then + and couple of MPHs when passing somebody was necassary. That was 70 to 70+ on the interstate. I was in a situation that it almost felt like I was not even towing anything. That said I passed a vehicle (that happened to be going to FW) and in every turn the TT got very loose. The driver had to keep it under 60 and much less in the corners.

 

[CamperMomma]

We drove down and back years ago for spring break (stayed in Orlando). Going down we stopped overnight, going back up to Jackson, Michigan we did not. I wouldn't drive it straight through again. This was just with a car and three of us driving, but we were absolutely exhausted. Definitely do it in 2 days.

 

[yoopergirl]

Thanks, everyone! We will be in a class C, not towing anything and there are 4 drivers. We are planning on driving straight through and have nothing planned for arrival day other than setting up and relaxing!!! I figured we would all be in desperate need of rest and showers! We are not complete newbies at driving the motor home, as we just had it down to Savannah and Pigeon Forge TN. I figure driving through mountains was pretty good training. We were able to keep it at about 70 on non-mountain highways.

 

[Teamubr]

We are not complete newbies at driving the motor home, as we just had it down to Savannah and Pigeon Forge TN.

Sounds like a great plan. I wish I had 4 drivers to split up the trip. MY DW and DS can drive, but won't tow anything. And if you have made the trip from MI to TN, you are seasoned RV'ers. Nothing unusual about the trip to the Fort from MI.

j