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Old 04-24-2019, 05:49 PM   #21
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Like many others. Driving an RV is not like car. We travel misty at 60-65. Typically about 6 hrs is max. Have done 11 once not again. You must keep safety front and center at all times. With stops we typically make 300 miles or so. While in Alaska Denali is only place where reservations are really required. May not get them in the park at this date. They have a length limit as well. We also start picking campsites after lunch. Milepost is great but they list only places that advertise in them. Church and Church book was our go to book for camp places. Take your time, we spent four months on the Alaska trip.

About handguns no and no. You can have longs guns if you declare them at the border. Do not even try to slip anything by at customs. US return is harder than Canadian entry.

Have fun and watch for the frost heaves. You about them right?
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Old 04-24-2019, 06:34 PM   #22
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Mileage per day

I saw a recommendation that on an extended cross- country trip you should limit mileage to about 250-300 miles per day. But, we do 450 for a day to get to a destination where we will be staying for several days. Seems to work just fine.
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Old 04-24-2019, 06:34 PM   #23
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I left NC on a trip similar to what you describe a while back, except we consistently avoided Interstates, unless it was to "cover ground" we had been through before. After getting in a rush, we decided to never go more than 200 miles a day, just so we wouldn't skip sites or lack for exercise.
Our last circuit we spent 3 months getting from San Luis Obispo to Anchorage....a month of that was on Vancouver Island.
It's a great trip as long as you don't have deadlines, especially on the more northern roads that can have frost heaves or be dirt and gravel in places.
A shotgun with slugs is an awesome anti-bear (or anything else) weapon. Canada Customs can be funny. I told them I had long guns and they didn't even ask to see them. They did take all my fruit.
Your mileage may vary.....
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Old 04-24-2019, 06:39 PM   #24
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Pretty much what everyone above said is good advice. But I have the following:
1. I stop a lot for my 2 Mastiffs, so average speed out west is 55 miles per hour and more like 45 for I95.
2. My last long trip returning from Oregon to DC. I wanted to get home. Alone I drove my 30-foot class A 3600 miles in 6 days. Note I am 70. So like everyone said above IT DEPENDS.
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Old 04-24-2019, 06:57 PM   #25
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A typical day

We went cross country last year -- 6 months, and planned all stops (one way) before leaving. I hate waiting until the last minute for a campground. Nothing wrong with it, but I don't want to spend my time on the road worrying about that stuff -- takes away from my enjoyment! I like to enjoy the scenery, take photos, read about the area we're travelling through.

We planned on a max 5 hours and min 3 hours each day. We love to be able to stop at little "surprise" locations, snoop around in out-of-the-way shops, eat at the local diner and talk to the locals, and just enjoy the adventure, so 3-4 hour day gives us that flexibility. We also don't drive at night if we can help it. And, yes, if we absolutely knew there was nothing to see/do on the way we would schedule five hours between campgrounds.

We also scheduled a double night every week or so to rest, and to provide some flexibility in adjusting our schedule should we have a breakdown, illness or something that would delay us. In that case, we had only to adjust the next few weeks (turning double nights into single nights and adding an hour or so a day) to get back on schedule without having to reschedule a month's worth of reservations!

We also tried to schedule our down time on weekends, and our touring during the week.

Worked well for us, but we always travel in leisure mode! For us, retirements means no rush.
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Old 04-24-2019, 08:01 PM   #26
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I have been following this thread with interest. In our case, with 2 drivers, the answer is zero to almost 700 miles in a day. Zero = we spent another day there.


700 = we spent an extra day there yesterday and spent > 12 hours swapping out driving across 3 states to get home.


It all depends on your needs, desires, endurance and # of capable drivers.
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Old 04-24-2019, 08:06 PM   #27
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There's a great Facebook group which offers tons of help, suggestions, etc just for Aspect/Cambria owners. I highly recommend it: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1834086740146355/
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Old 04-24-2019, 08:34 PM   #28
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Since you are new to RVing and you note that the MH has been sitting around for a while, I would hope that you are scheduling a few multi-day local shakedown trips prior to the excursion up to Alaska. You’ll want to use everything in the rig that you would expect to use on your longer trip ( generator, a/c, heater, outlets, slides, etc, etc). Maybe even load it up with all the gear you plan on taking to make sure no issues with springs, shocks, general handling. If you didn’t have it inspected by a reliable rv inspector prior to purchasing it, you should consider doing so now. Could minimize chance for major disappointment when you do head up to Alaska. Good luck and safe travels.
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Old 04-24-2019, 09:50 PM   #29
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Paul B

Be very cautious of the frost heaves especially in the Yukon and Alaska. Also buy tow insurance even if you usually wouldn’t. You could end up being towed several hundred miles. We enjoyed a trip to Alaska last year. We didn’t need the tow ins until 100 miles from home but well worth it. Gas is expensive in Canada. Campgrounds are cheap. It is the trip of a lifetime of the wild Wild West
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Old 04-25-2019, 01:24 AM   #30
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If you have the time, take it slow

Besides how far you should drive, consider how long you should stay. On our first long trip, we started out driving every day and quickly discovered we were doing little more than driving, setting up, packing up, and driving again. Not fun at all. We tried 2 nights per stop, but found we couldn't enjoy all each area had to offer on the one free day. We now drive no more than 250 miles, and stay at least 3 days whenever we travel. Unless, of course, you're driving through western Texas. 😁😁
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Old 04-25-2019, 02:46 AM   #31
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We have done 800 mile days, just to get somewhere. That was long ago, when I was a much younger driver. Now since we live in the RV, we seldom have to be anywhere most days, we just take our time. We stop as much as we want, lots of breaks make the day go easy.

Our target is less than 200 miles a day, 150 is a great sweet spot. But sometimes there are just no good places to park, for a while, so 250-300 miles do happen. You just have to figure out what works for you.

For the first day travelling, after parked in one place for a while, we try to keep it under 150 miles. Then the next day, it is much easier to go farther.

Something to consider, 10 days at 200 miles a day, is 2000 miles. That is a long ways, anyway you look at it. If your schedule will allow. Try not to be in too much of a rush, and the trip will be much more enjoyable.

My trips to and from Alaska were on way too tight of a schedule, missed seeing a lot, I regret that now, but that was 39 and 29 years ago.
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Old 04-25-2019, 03:18 AM   #32
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Hello! I guess there are as much answers as RV owners.

Well here my opinion: More important than the distance is the time you arrive at your daily destination. Look that it would be not later than 5PM (4PM is good); you can still enjoy a good part of the day without driving. So we often start at 3AM or 4AM if we have to do longer distances (ok we start generally at sunrise --- early birds).

Well sometimes the journey is the reward, enjoying the beautiful roads and landscapes, but sometimes it’s just a boring interstate which you want to leave behind. We've done the distance from Alaska to California or New York State several times (up with the ferry - down on the road). Our “recipe” is to do distances between 100 and 400mls a day (sometimes up to 600mls a day) depending landscape and road or road conditions. But after three, maximum four consecutive days of driving (independent of the distance) we do a break for two days. Visiting attractions or just spend a lazy day on a nice campground, reading books etc.
If you do the trip from Virginia to Alaska I recommend several brakes, means that you travel three or four consecutive days and then take minimum one day off (don't forget that you have a front engine which could be quite noisy and this is tiring).

Just let me add our experience with our children (now they have their own RVs):
We’ve travelled the same way. Small children are not very interested in landscapes etc. For them the “home-feeling” and their small “kingdom to play” is much more important (that’s one of “secrets” of RVing…). So if you stay several days at the same campground it’s no problem to change afterwards and even spend one or two consecutive days in the RV riding long distances on the highways. If you spend then again several days on the same campground the children are happy. What we do not recommend is to change the campground every day if you travel with children.
One of the most extreme was the ride from St. Louis MO to the Bighorn Mountains WY in two days (due weather conditions), guess this were 600-700mls per day. With the children. This was no problem, after visiting Six Flags, the Gateway Arch, etc. we spent then four sunny days at very nice lake.
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Old 04-25-2019, 07:20 AM   #33
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This will be our third year "on the road" 1st year we did about 9,000 miles. Last year 15,000 miles, This year about the same maybe a bit less. I can remember in my younger days (haha 50's) driving straight through to destinations some times 16 hrs with just a few breaks. NO MORE !!! Experience tells me while I have seen the scenery on the long days but I have missed the point of the travel. This year our gotta get to days will be limited to 5 hrs a day. After that we are anywhere from 1 hr to 3'ish hours to our next destination. Now of course however many hours on the interstate covers more than on Rt 66. There is more to experience on the Rt 66s than the I-?. So, here's what I suggest, drive as much as you would like but less than you need. If you keep your daily driving down. You'll arrive more refreshed at your overnight spot, have more time to enjoy the area where you are staying, and in my experience have a better appetite. Yes, at least for me, after a extended day on the road and then getting set up our evening plans just seem to vanish. What was to be a visit to the best local turns into a casadia, a cold beer, and bed. So, my TRIPLE S rule is now S-low it down, S-tay longer, S-ee more. Enjoy!!
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Old 04-25-2019, 07:54 AM   #34
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Originally Posted by pastordon View Post
I am new to rving. Just purchased a 2000 35u with 18,000 miles. It has been setting up for quit a while so I expect I will encounter problems. My question is this: about how many miles should you plan to travel per day? I was thinking about booking reservations as we travel from Virginia to Alaska. Thanks fopr any help
With 60 years "on the road," and over 400,000 miles in a dozen or so motorhomes I can answer that question simply. It all depends on your life style. If you are a drive late person and get up late then your miles will be limited. One of our favorite times of day is to stop early around 3, get a nice camp site, unhook our toed and look around the area, always looking for a local place to eat. If we like what we see, maybe another day is needed. We travel about 250-300 a day. That' a get up early and get on the road schedule stopping around 2:30 or 3:00. Around 10ish we stop either fixin a good breakfast or maybe McDonalds. Regardless it's the travelers choice. With an older coach MAKE SURE your tires are excellent. That's most important. All of us seasoned travlers know we will have a motorhome issue of some sort we just don't know when. Depend on the friend your vagabond friends you meet. Make sure your coach is serviced, pack up your kit bags and hit the road with the wonder of what is around the next curve or the next hill. It is an adventure you will never forget. Good Luck Lee and Margie Biloxi MS heading to Tonapah in mid May.
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Old 04-25-2019, 08:16 AM   #35
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pastordon View Post
I am new to rving. Just purchased a 2000 35u with 18,000 miles. It has been setting up for quit a while so I expect I will encounter problems. My question is this: about how many miles should you plan to travel per day? I was thinking about booking reservations as we travel from Virginia to Alaska. Thanks fopr any help
When we went to Alaska several years ago, we drove about 300 miles per day in Canada and Alaska depending upon the distance between cities with campgrounds. In the US we drove 500 per day to get to the Canadian border, We did not have a reservation and had no problems finding a spot.

The uisual advice is to leave early and arrive at the campgriound b;y mid-afternoon to beat the caravans.
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Old 04-25-2019, 08:38 AM   #36
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For us it is different for every trip. We generally do two 10 day trips (Easter and Christmas) and a 30 day trip in the summer, plus several weekend trips. For the holiday trips it about the destination so we may travel 500 or so miles (8 to 10 hours) with appropriate breaks to get to the destination. For the summer trip the first two days will be 400-500 miles to get out of the area then it is 200 - 300 miles (3 - 5 hours) with an early start and early campground arrival to see things. Sometimes we leave later to catch a breakfast or do early morning sunrise sightseeing. Time plays a lot in what you want to do and if you are going to a tourist destination you'll need reservations so having a realistic driving plan with storm / construction delays contingency plans. I find planning reduces the stress of driving - including knowing the gas stops and rest stops ahead works for me. But as you seen from the answers it is different for full timers, people still working and those just wandering. At some point in your RV ownership hopefully you may experience a little of each style.
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Old 04-25-2019, 08:50 AM   #37
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I noticed you bought a 2000 with very low miles. I did the same a few years back, and so I would like to offer advice.... do not make a long trip until you know all is ok. If the rig has not been driven, you are going to be replacing lots of rubber parts. Mine started with the sewer line...the rubber clamp cracked and leaked. Cheap fix. Replace all the tires. You might not see it right away, but mine had the letters on the tires popping out. Check all the wiring you can...especially back,by the firewall. Mice get in there and you really cant see it well. Radiator hoses, elts etc are probably all dried out.

A lesson learned, the rig looked new, but it sat for a long time.

As for traveling, i get tired, so try to keep it under 400 miles a day.

Goog luck!
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Old 04-25-2019, 11:36 AM   #38
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My wife and I are not in a hurry. We did a 12,,000 mile trip in 2011 and our shortest Distance between RV parks was 3 miles, and longest was 188.


We took no interstate roads whenever we could and averaged 60 miles an hour. We visited a lot of states and entered Canada through Montana and drove through British Columbia and entered the states through Washington State.


We are going to go to Texas this year and then back to Florida via Virginia, with a three to four week stop, then south to our home port Cocoa Beach FL.


Like the short trips you can leave late and still get to your next stop in plenty of time.


We saw a lot of our country and had a great time.
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Old 04-25-2019, 11:47 AM   #39
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Excellent suggestions on this discussion.
Another "rule" we more or less follow is this, the 10-2-4 one.


Begin around 10 am.
Take a break or two inbetween.
Stop at camp site by 2 pm


Be all set up and relaxing by 4 pm!
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Old 04-25-2019, 12:48 PM   #40
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We consider 200 miles a short day and 350-400 a long day. I prefer to plan our stops when we are on a schedule, I make reservations for our stops. Like someone else has mentioned getting a spot to camp in a national sometimes can be hard so camping outside the park and driving the toad in is a easier option, not necessarily better but easier. We have only one driver, me, so we are limited to total miles. Oldest daughter and her husband ran Los Angeles to Memphis in a little over two days, they "hot swapped" so they could do 700+ miles a day. Like some of the others I don't like to drive at night, to hard to see. Bottom line is if you have a scheduled time to be someplace, plan your stops for what you are comfortable with. If you are just wondering about, i.e. retired, do whatever you want, "Stop and Smell the Rose's". Safe travels.
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