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Hi All,
I am looking for advice on routes from central Florida to The Badlands. We have an RV so we would want to drive 4-5 hours a day, stop with the RV at campgrounds along the way and seeing interesting places as we travel. We can spend a 2-3 days at each stop. Is this a feasible trip to make? TYA
Welcome to RTA!
I guess the biggest question one could ask would be: how long do you have for this trip?
By the most *direct route* Orlando to The Badlands (in South Dakota), you are looking at 1900 miles. Driving 4-5 hours per day, that takes you about 7-8 days to go one way. That is the most direct route, though, and not necessarily very scenic.
Interesting places can mean different things to different people. What you might do is open up a US map or atlas and start picking out places more or less between your starting point and ending point and see what interests you. The maps will list national parks, state parks, and occasional fun things, but you may also want to seek out the Map Wizard and other things on this website to see what interests you.
If you want to share with us, what you'd like to see or do on your trip, we can help you. If we know the types of things that interest you, we'll make more pertinent suggestions than just throwing out a bunch of ideas and hoping one idea helps.
Donna
As Donna mentions, you would be looking at 7-8 days, or 7 overnight stops. To spend 2 or 3 days at each would and you could be looking at 3 weeks for a one way trip so if it fits into your time span, or you are willing to juggle your timing to fit, it's certainly feasible. There are many routes you could choose from and if you do have a good amount of time available, you will have the ability to 'wander' along the way if you wish. If it's going to be a round trip you can take a different route each way and then the route and attractions come to thousands of possibilities. Do your research and get a few more dots on the map and then we can make some meaningful suggestions and help fill in the detail. Of course you then need to decide how much time to allow for the Badlands area, there is much to see and do around the Black hills as well while you are up there and if you wish to continue to North Dakota or if that's a typo.
Thank you so much for your advice. Not sure about how long we can be gone, about 3 weeks so I will definitely have to do some research on places to see along the way.
If this is a round trip, to be gone "about 3 weeks" means that you are either going to have to shorten your trip expectations or drive a little more each day. As SWDave pointed out, under the guidelines in the original post, you're at 3 weeks and you haven't turned around to get home yet.
Donna
In Chattanooga, you can spend at least half a day at Rock City.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=krAY8sYIPMU
In Mitchell SD, there is a corny attraction called the “Corn Palace”. I always enjoy looking it over but my wife just doesn’t get it. It might take an hour of your time
https://cornpalace.com/
Just outside of The Badlands is the world famous tourist trap city of Wall Drug. It could take up many hours if you thoroughly explore the place and stop for lunch
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UHM8N5GzjZY
As others have mentioned this is 1900 miles one way. As a long time RV'er we understand that 4 - 5 hours of driving per day is ideal and translate to about 300 miles. We rather not do more than that a day anymore, but sometimes to make it to destinations farther away we will do one to three 400 - 450 mile days in a row, find a campground where we can just pull in and not have to disconnect our tow vehicle and get an early start and get some miles done. We will make several stops where we can relax and eat and then drive a little more refreshed. This really helps on those far away destinations especially if you don't have a lot of time. You might even be able to sprinkle those long days coming and going in different places so as not to miss too many good locations. If you could sprinkle a couple of long days between the places you spend more time it might help in the planning.Quote:
Originally Posted by FLPeach
Utahtea
For planning purposes I don't think you should count on averaging between 60 and 75mph each day. Perhaps on a really good day you could cover 300 miles in 5 hours but I would plan on no more than 250 miles over this period of time.Quote:
As a long time RV'er we understand that 4 - 5 hours of driving per day is ideal and translate to about 300 miles.
We drove 500 miles today. We left at 7:10 am and pulled into our destination at 5:20 pm. We encountered: heavy traffic (normal in the Riverside/San Bernardino area), long grades up, slower restaurant stops than usual (short on help). So 500 miles in 10 hours equates to a 50 mph average.
For the record, we were driving two vehicles: an F250 pickup towing another car on a U-Haul trailer, and a small sedan. That F250 with a car on a trailer (4-up) is the equivalent of driving an RV, as she has to slow down on long grades up.
Donna