How far to you typically travel each day?

CCC · July 2022

I am now 67 years old. For years, my brother and I would drive from north of Atlanta to Sidney, MT or thereabouts 1,775 miles or so starting at 5 AM , stopping the first night at 12 or 1 AM, getting up a 6-7 and getting there before dark the next day. To hunt sharptails and pheasants. Did not go last year due to the drought. New owner of a 2022 320 S Boondock. I am taking a month off from Labor Day to drive out to southern Utah to see the sights, fly fish and work my way up to MT or ND to bird hunt. I am curious to see how I travel. I have done that trip to MT a couple of times by myself and could do it with a few naps but now I'm looking at a much shorter day probably 500 miles or so through Albuquerque and Monument Valley. But who knows, haven't been that way before and might just stop somewhere. But I like to get to where I'm going and then stay awhile. I plan not to drive after dark though but I might get up early and get going. I suspect I will do a short day to get past Memphis and 8 hr days after with a nap. And then stay put for a few days at a time.

N7SHG_Ham · July 2022

Enjoy the journey as much as the destination is my motto. I don't plan trips where I am trying to jam too much in too short of time. That forces you to go like heck in the travel days and no room for error if anything goes wrong, while schedule is blown. That drives a lot of decisions on time and distance in a day. I usually plan for no more than six hours on the road and generally look at 250-350 for miles. That is also about a tank of fuel with some reserves. Passenger vehicles towing usually take it out of you. When I drove commercial I was less tired at end of day than in my pickup towing a 400.

GigHarborTom · July 2022

Believe it or not, I am 82, and the state of Washington for the first time, had me renew my drivers license through the mail, and for 8 years. Well I only drive dang little. My bride this year, insisted on a new car and trailer. Guess who sits back and enjoys the scenery.
Drove long haul one year way back. I too had a GoldWing and made some nice trips.
These days Dena says we may do 2 to 250 Miles. Anything different is going to be in some pretty nice hotels. From Gig Harbor to Wenatchee River County Park with the TAB, leaving the 5th in a couple days.

elbolillo · July 2022

This past December we left from Chisos Basin in Big Bend and in order to beat a big snow storm brewing we drove the almost 1500 miles straight through. Took us 26 hours but we were able to avoid driving in any snow to get back to Minnesota. That’s a tough haul. Generally though about the 500 mile range is preferred.

CharlieRN · July 2022

dgrovebees said:

My wife and I just purchased a T@B400 Boondock and Gas powered Toyota Highlander (5000lb tow capacity). Planning to drive Pittsburgh to Glacier National Park in 5 or 6 days. Is this crazy? I will drive alone most of the days, with occasional break from our 19 and 16 year old drivers.I know there is a range of duration out there--very entertaining and informative to read all the posts! Thanks for sharing!

We've done Phila to Big Sky, roughly similar both in mileage and geography to what you've planned from Pittsburgh to Glacier. We break things into into 400-500 mile daily segments, which is about 10 hours each day, including fuel and pit stops for us and the dogs. This was during the winter however, so without the T@B behind the car, though with some pretty substantial weather challenges (high wind, heavy snow, very cold temps.)

We keep to the same 400-500 mi limitation for all of our annual Rockies ski trips, which are usually to the SLC area, but for summer trips in our T@B 320, we shorten things to 300 or so miles. Winter or summer, I do the bulk of the driving and find that towing is a bit more tiring, so stops are more frequent. More importantly, we prefer to get to our daily destination with plenty of time to get the camper set up and the shorter day facilitates that.

As to towing, the 320 is almost unnoticeable behind our Telluride. Though the 400 is about 1,000 lbs heavier and a bit larger, I suspect that you will not have any difficultly towing it with a Highlander. It's still a modest load at under 3,000 lbs dry, well within the Highlander's capacity. The specs for both vehicles are similar in other important ways too; both have V6 engines with sufficient torque and relatively long wheelbase. If the Highlander is AWD, so much the better, particularly for windy days or low-traction situations. I'm going to guess that the greater weight of the 400 will announce itself more forcefully than is the case with our320, in some situations, such as when you start up from a stop, or encounter hills. Once underway though, I suspect that things will be similarly serene.

I'll also mention that I use a "cushion hitch trailer ball" aka rocker ball, that does a good job of smoothing things out when starting & stopping and seems to also attenuate the noise from the hitch movement when the road surface is rough or bumpy.

rcarlson1957 · July 2022

It varies for us. I used RV Trip Wizard for all our trips and it lets you customize 3 separate mileage radii. I set it a 150, 250 and 350 miles. If it's 1st day heading out I may drive up to 350 miles since we're packed and ready to go the next morning and probably leaving early. After that, depends how long I'm staying at the next stop, but usually no more than 250 miles. If staying more than 1 day at next stop I may drive further. If not, probably less. Like to get to next stop by 2 or 3 if I can so I have plenty of time to setup and explore. But will caveat all that with we're retired and generally don't have to be on a tight time schedule. We don't get up at the crack of dawn each day and hit the road.

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How far to you typically travel each day?

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