Estimating time for travel?

[CampFanatic]

Even though we've traveled from mid Michigan to Fort Wilderness MANY times for the past 40+ years, it would be nice to find a website that figures in speed traveled when estimating travel time. Do any of you have any majic formulas? We travel in a motorhome and usually don't exceed 60 MPH - especially when our daughter and son-in-law are following us with their travel trailer. I usually take the number of miles and divide it by 60, then figure a little extra for dog stops, etc. We eat while on the road, so the only time we stop is to briefly stretch our legs, take the dogs potty and use the restroom on board ourselves. We leave EARLY in the morning and travel to mid to lower GA before stopping for the night, then finish the drive in the morning. I'd love to hear how all of you estimate travel time! Thank you!

 

[sjc011]

Hi CampFanatic! Your trip sounds fun...

I think that's a good way of doing it... Only you know how long you need to stop and how often. From personal experience, last August I drove to move from Northern Indiana to SE North Carolina (an estimated 14 hr trip). We planned on getting to Tennessee or even to just before the Mountains before calling it a night. We didn't plan on being diverted from I-65 because of a multiple semi-truck crash! It through our plans off by nearly 2.5 hours.

The next day, we didn't realize that Charlotte traffic was so awful. Again, another 2.5-3 hours in the car we didn't plan on! I guess I would have to say, hope for the best, prepare for the worst, stay safe, and never be guessing how much is in your gas tank!

That being said, I've hardly been in more than an hour's worth of traffic on I-95. What roads are you taking exactly?

 

[2goofycampers]

travelmath.com

 

[bama_ed]

Even though we've traveled from mid Michigan to Fort Wilderness MANY times for the past 40+ years, it would be nice to find a website that figures in speed traveled when estimating travel time. Do any of you have any majic formulas? We travel in a motorhome and usually don't exceed 60 MPH - especially when our daughter and son-in-law are following us with their travel trailer. I usually take the number of miles and divide it by 60, then figure a little extra for dog stops, etc. We eat while on the road, so the only time we stop is to briefly stretch our legs, take the dogs potty and use the restroom on board ourselves. We leave EARLY in the morning and travel to mid to lower GA before stopping for the night, then finish the drive in the morning. I'd love to hear how all of you estimate travel time! Thank you!

Fanatic,

Here is my general rule of thumb.

Coming from middle Alabama, my route avoids the really big cities so there generally aren't traffic delays (although the unforeseen is always possible).

I break it into two parts: on the road time and meal/breaks time. OTR time is that I end up averaging 5 mph LOWER than my target tow speed. I try to keep it at 65 mph on the interstate but you know with big rigs or towing, you accelerate slower, brake longer, get boxed in sometimes. So if my target is 65 then I end up averaging about 60. We eat breakfast before we go so we have 1 meal on the road (lunch), 2 fuel breaks, and 2 bathroom breaks.

We cover the 565 miles to the Fort in 10 hours door to door. Plus we gain an hour going to the Eastern time zone.

Bama ED

 

[hoosll]

travelmath.com

We use travelmath to estimate our drive time ... we do it by looking at the miles between start and end point dividing by 60 (mph in the RV) and adding an hour for meal/gas breaks per 300 miles.

 

[Teamubr]

I travel (tow) quite a bit for races. The closest track is about 4 hours, but most are 7-8 hours. Nationals is our longest- St Louis to Salt Lake City.

We generally log it with Google Maps and then add 30 minutes for each fuel stop. We have to use truck stops (we tow a 48 ft enclosed, 2 car hauler) and they take a little longer to get in and out of. For a 7-10 hour trip, we seem to get in right when we calculate.

We try to avoid bigger cities near rush hours and generally drive 70-73mph. I'm not sure what avg speed Google uses. I know the Google Maps app on my phone adds/subtracts time for traffic conditions.

j

 

[super_camper]

When towing our toad behind the MH I use a simple average of 50 miles/hr or 500 miles/day for about 10 hours/day and this includes all stops. We start early and drive as long as needed to hit a certain way point.

It's so simple but remarkably accurate for us.