How far will you drive?

[bama_ed]

Hello,
We have a 31 foot TT that we tow with our older Suburban. Older, like maybe ten years. We live 15 hours from DW. For those of you that tow 15+ hours to FW, what kind of vehicles are you towing with? Are you all driving newer vehicles? Should I be nervous to tow (well, not me, my husband would be driving ) with an older vehicle?

I have an older Suburban that I use as my tow vehicle. Granted, I am pulling a popup and not a 31' TT. But as long as you are not anywhere close to your tow limit (most 1500 Suburbans our age can pull 7500-8000#) it should continue to be a workhorse for you.

Older Suburbans have a well-earned reputation for being tanks AS LONG AS you keep up with routine maintenance (true for most vehicles too). I took my Suburban/camper on a 1,000 trip to Key West two years agon and it pulled just fine. Bama ED's Key West Trip Report

Just get it checked out at your favorite car guy before you go, don't be in a hurry, and drive with your ears.

Have fun and I hope to see you at the Fort!

Bama ED

 

[rajak73]

Hello,
We have a 31 foot TT that we tow with our older Suburban. Older, like maybe ten years. We live 15 hours from DW. For those of you that tow 15+ hours to FW, what kind of vehicles are you towing with? Are you all driving newer vehicles? Should I be nervous to tow (well, not me, my husband would be driving ) with an older vehicle? Would we kill it? That is a long way to go. We have not camped further than 3 hours from home. If it matters, I would plan FW to be "part" of the vacation, not the destination - i.e., stopping along the way multiple times for a couple days each direction. So maybe a 2-3 week vacation, summer time. What do you think?

We drove 1500 miles down last year with 35' fifth wheel, 1995 Dodge 2500 v-10 truck. Had the truck serviced before we left and no problems whatso ever. This year another trip, just not to disney, but to Daytona 500, bought a 2008 2500 Silverado Diesel in June, curious to see how this one pulls down. We drive about 400-450 miles a day so days are not to long. Took a 3 week vacation last year.

 

[rajak73]

We tow with a 2007 Toyota Tundra.......... Plus, last spring on the way back from WDW my DH got hit with a 24 hour bug

I had that a few years ago heading back from Yellowstone! Don't know if it was something i ate, (I blamed it on the food at the Indian Reservation leaving Little Bighorn, LOL, but it could have been just a 24 hr bug) Stop every 100 miles during the day and puke and was good for another 100 miles! DW did offer to drive but I wasn't that bad.

 

[allaboutthemouse]

Thanks for the words of encouragement Just talked to hubby, I was thinking Big Red (how we affectionately refer to our fire engine red 2500 camping burban - our other newer every day burban is Black Beauty)was only about 10 and a couple years old! He is actually a '94, so a bit older than I was thinking! But just reading up there someone took a '95 that far gives a bit of encouragement! Would love to do it, but we will see. Would definately have it looked over for sure. Have a lot to think about. Thanks!
Love the Key West report!

 

[erbeaman]

I just booked a trip for spring break this year . Our first time at FW, and our first time towing a camper more than 150 miles. We don't even have our new camper yet, but have narrowed our purchase down to a couple of different pop-ups. I am so excited, but now that I look at this thread I'm nervous our 6 night stay won't be worth our 2200 mile round trip drive. We have driven before without the camper for that amount of time and had a great time! Is it that much more taxing towing a camper? Am I making a mistake? Btw, we will be towing a large pop-up with a Traverse.

 

[DL55]

I just booked a trip for spring break this year . Our first time at FW, and our first time towing a camper more than 150 miles. We don't even have our new camper yet, but have narrowed our purchase down to a couple of different pop-ups. I am so excited, but now that I look at this thread I'm nervous our 6 night stay won't be worth our 2200 mile round trip drive. We have driven before without the camper for that amount of time and had a great time! Is it that much more taxing towing a camper? Am I making a mistake? Btw, we will be towing a large pop-up with a Traverse.

If you drove to Disney before and had a great time, you should be fine this time.
150 or 2200 miles, towing is towing, just more fill ups and setting up and breaking camp. We think the traveling getting there is part of the fun.

Personally, since it takes us 4 days of straight travel, we stay for 10 days. We've only driven once and it took us longer since my DH likes to check out golf courses on the way.

 

[jenny2]

We drove from MA - it was a 24 hour drive in a car, longer while towing a camper. But soooo worth it! We had a great time!

 

[tabbytrekker]

This probably has already been covered, just thought I'd add my two cents.

When I was younger (like twenty years ago) my parents would pull the pop-up camper down from Michigan. Usually they would drive all night too. That was about a 24-hour drive I think.

 

[loislane]

We'll be towing from Upstate NY, pulling a popup. Haven't decided yet if we are stopping overnight on the way or taking shifts and driving through as much as possible with some rest stops. My husband is more than happy to stop in a parking lot and let everyone sleep in the car for a few hours. So, we'll see how it goes.

We'll be staying for 11 nights to make the drive worth it.

 

[jeffrey66]

We'll be towing from Upstate NY, pulling a popup. Haven't decided yet if we are stopping overnight on the way or taking shifts and driving through as much as possible with some rest stops. My husband is more than happy to stop in a parking lot and let everyone sleep in the car for a few hours. So, we'll see how it goes.

We'll be staying for 11 nights to make the drive worth it.

We are also from upstate NY and planning on pulling our new to us hybrid down to the fort in 2014.
Curious if you will take 95 the whole way or maybe an alternate route? We traveled 95 the entire time last trip and ran into a lot of slow traffic until we got south of Richmond. We are considering a route to the west since our trip will take place after the snow stops.

 

[articfox676]

To us making a few interesting stops along the way make the trip more pleasant. We always included some fun and some historical stops from PA to FL. Age is also a factor. When we were 20 years younger the miles traveled per day were different then they are now. Most important don't over due or you spend the next day recovering. Safe travels.

 

[CDNCruiser]

We are also from upstate NY and planning on pulling our new to us hybrid down to the fort in 2014.
Curious if you will take 95 the whole way or maybe an alternate route? We traveled 95 the entire time last trip and ran into a lot of slow traffic until we got south of Richmond. We are considering a route to the west since our trip will take place after the snow stops.

We normally take I-81 all the way to Virginia and then catch I-77 to I-26 and finally hit I-95 in South Carolina. It's a nice route, no big cities and no heavy traffic!

Another option is I-81 to I-64 which connects with I-95 at Richmond.