Moving across the country

[EngineerAdam]

Hi Everyone! Appreciate any advice you all can provide in advance!

My family and I are moving from Philadelphia to San Francisco in June. We have a senior dog that 60 lbs, so flying is out of the picture and we like the idea of a family adventure to start off our life on the other coast. We looked into renting an RV and costs are surprisingly not as bad as I thought it would be for a one way, ~$4500 plus gas, tolls, campgrounds, etc. Just the cost of having a service transport our pup west was going to be $7k so we're saving money :)

We have never taken a trip in an RV anywhere, let alone across the country so I'm looking for some advice on planning the trip. Mapping the trip, it looks like right around 3000 miles plus whatever stops and detours we make. As much as we want to be able to see some sights, we have a pretty compressed window for getting out west. The notional plan is to leave on a Sunday morning and then arrive in San Francisco that next Saturday (6 days). We would need to return the RV on Saturday morning so really 5 days of driving unless we get an early start Saturday. Is 600 miles per day unreasonable with two drivers?

Just for reference, I have done the trip from Philadelphia to Chicago (730 miles, 11.5 hours) by car, solo in a single day three times now. It wasn't pleasant but I made it work.

[Southwest Dave]

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums!

Doing 730 miles in a single day would be tough, but trying to do 600 miles a day for 5 days straight is a whole new ballgame. Add to that it will be slower in an RV, and by the time you have detoured to your campground, set up camp, walked the pup, prepared dinner etc etc, you are likely looking at 14 to 15 hour days, with minimum rest breaks along the way. In my opinion, you certainly need a full 6 days minimum, and 7 days would be much more bearable. Even then, you would have minimum time for sightseeing detours other than looking around the places you stop over. If at all possible, find more time and make it memorable for the right reasons. (Especially if there are kids travelling) When costing your RV, remember to see if there are one way drop off fees and mileage charges added, and consider that you won't quite get 10mpg in real world driving conditions. Good luck in your new venture!

Dave

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

What do you hope to gain by using an RV for this trip?

RV's can be great if you want to take a vacation and explore the country, especially if you want to explore the national parks and other scenic spots.

They aren't great for making a speed run across the country. 600 miles with 2 people in a car each day isn't a big deal, but that's a lot of miles to cover in an RV, especially on multiple days in a row. They are slower, use a lot more fuel, and it takes time to get set up and to get back on the road, especially when you are still learning how to operate the RV. Most people I know with RVs tend to limit themselves to 400-500 miles in a day, and that's on travel days.

Also, if you're renting your RV on Sunday, you probably can't pick it up first thing in the morning - and whenever you do pick it up, there's time needed for orientation to show you how to actually operate it. You'd probably at best end up with just a half day on Sunday, compressing your timeline even more.

With that kind of schedule, I just don't see where you'd get any advantage out of the RV.

Have you considered just using a regular car for this trip - either renting or using your own? I think that would not only be cheaper, but also more enjoyable and give you more time to actually stop and do a little exploring.

[EngineerAdam]

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

What do you hope to gain by using an RV for this trip?

RV's can be great if you want to take a vacation and explore the country, especially if you want to explore the national parks and other scenic spots.

They aren't great for making a speed run across the country. 600 miles with 2 people in a car each day isn't a big deal, but that's a lot of miles to cover in an RV, especially on multiple days in a row. They are slower, use a lot more fuel, and it takes time to get set up and to get back on the road, especially when you are still learning how to operate the RV. Most people I know with RVs tend to limit themselves to 400-500 miles in a day, and that's on travel days.

Also, if you're renting your RV on Sunday, you probably can't pick it up first thing in the morning - and whenever you do pick it up, there's time needed for orientation to show you how to actually operate it. You'd probably at best end up with just a half day on Sunday, compressing your timeline even more.

With that kind of schedule, I just don't see where you'd get any advantage out of the RV.

Have you considered just using a regular car for this trip - either renting or using your own? I think that would not only be cheaper, but also more enjoyable and give you more time to actually stop and do a little exploring.

Thanks for the welcome! The RV approach is primarily to get our dog from coast to coast. The cost of the move for her by a transport company is $6-7k alone, then add in the cost of flights for the family and it is way less expensive to go by RV. We also figured we could bring along tons of clothes and some other things ahead of when the movers would get out west.

Renting a car is certainly an option we could consider. In my head the cost of the one-way rental, hotels, and pet fees was going to be more expensive, but maybe not!

Big forcing function on the schedule is existing schedules. The kids have their dance recital on the Saturday before we leave and my wife's first day is the following Monday.


EDIT: Looked up the cost of a one-way rental with a big SUV and it is $1400 one way. That may be a much better option! Figure 70 MPH average, we could do 8.5 hour days (we are early risers) and get where we are going by afternoon to have some time to hang out and explore. Hotels are the next factor to explore...

[Midwest Michael]

Figure 70 MPH average, we could do 8.5 hour days (we are early risers) and get where we are going by afternoon to have some time to hang out and explore. Hotels are the next factor to explore...

For your planning purposes, it's basically impossible to average 70mph in a full day of travel, unless your cruising at close to triple digits. By the time you factor in minimum stops and slow downs for gas, food, traffic, etc, covering 60 mph is making good time.

In your case, adding a dog and kids to the mix, which means longer and more frequent stops, I'd plan for 600 miles to take about 11-12 hours on the road.

[Southwest Dave]

I do think that in this situation you are better off renting a car and use lodgings, but as Michael has said, that will still equate to 11-12 hours on the road if you plan to cover 600 miles per day. If you can't find more time I think you have to accept this is going to be a very much work-like trip. My biggest concern is that if the Kids (age?) and pup aren't use to long multi day road trips, they could get tired and restless and create stress. Not a good combination when "working" 12 hour shifts.

The advantage with the car you can pick it up early, which would give you Sunday to Saturday. (6 full days travel and return car Sunday am perhaps?) And if you could pick the car up Saturday and pre-pack it for an early departure Sunday, even better. Six days averaging around 500 miles per day would get you closer to 8.5 hours travel time (with stops for lunch and a stretch etc) and give you time for some free time at your destination each day, or allow time for a couple of short detours.

Dave

[EngineerAdam]

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums!

Doing 730 miles in a single day would be tough, but trying to do 600 miles a day for 5 days straight is a whole new ballgame. Add to that it will be slower in an RV, and by the time you have detoured to your campground, set up camp, walked the pup, prepared dinner etc etc, you are likely looking at 14 to 15 hour days, with minimum rest breaks along the way. In my opinion, you certainly need a full 6 days minimum, and 7 days would be much more bearable. Even then, you would have minimum time for sightseeing detours other than looking around the places you stop over. If at all possible, find more time and make it memorable for the right reasons. (Especially if there are kids travelling) When costing your RV, remember to see if there are one way drop off fees and mileage charges added, and consider that you won't quite get 10mpg in real world driving conditions. Good luck in your new venture!

Dave

Thanks, Dave! 14 to 15 hours would be a drain, for sure. Appreciate the advice on costs, that's an all-in cost with mileage and fees. I think they quoted 7 MPG. Yikes!