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]

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!

[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

[AZBuck]

I have to agree with Dave and Michael that 3000 miles in six days would be a hard push and doing it in a mere five would be near impossible, even with two drivers and without any detours or stops for historic, scenic or quirky sites. Remember that road fatigue is cumulative; you'll be worn out by day three or four and would benefit greatly from a full day of not driving at all.

The other thing to remember is that Google Maps 'lies'. Their time estimates, 42-44 hours in your case, are based on always driving at the speed limit and assume no traffic and no stops whatsoever. "Your time may vary" is an understatement. It will vary and it will be noticeably longer than predicted. Also I personally would not take either of the two routes suggested by their algorithm. Their northern route, basically I-76/I-90/I-80 is heavily urbanized and sees a lot of trucking in it's eastern portion (Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Toledo, Chicago). That route also consists entirely of toll roads between Philly and Chicago. The southern route (I-76/I-70/I-44/I-40/I-5) would have you driving through the desert Southwest just as things are really starting to heat up. Days in the 80s or 90s are to be expected.

Instead I would split the difference and use I-76/I-81/I-68/I-79/I-64/I-70/I-29/I-80. That would still leave you some tolls (a potion of the PA Tpk), some cities (Louisville, St. Louis, Kansas City, Salt Lake City) and some heat in northern Nevada, but it's a good compromise and is roughly the same length as the two options Google comes up with.

But, again, the primary constraint in your plans is time. I would add a day to pick up, learn and load the RV at the start and to unload and return the vehicle at the end. I'd also, as noted, add another day off somewhere along the way, and finally a day at least for that "family adventure" aspect of the trip. So nine days total. I know it's tempting to want to do the trip in as little time as possible and as cheaply as possible, but you want it to be fun, not a slog through Hades.

Finally, once you decide what works for you, make motel, RV park and/or campsite reservations in advance. Not only will this insure that you'll find a place at the end of the day (June is a heavy vacation month) but will help keep you on schedule. Please let us know what route/timing you choose as we can then offer some attractions/adventures available to you as well as suggest some final tweaks.

AZBuck

[Mark Sedenquist]

If you do end up renting a RV -- here are some pages you ought to read, (the articles are not new, but the information is still current:)

Operating your RV Rental -- Some Tips

Gear Checklist offered by the pro's on this site

[BillyGr]

One thing that you didn't mention - are the kids at a point (age etc. wise) that they would be OK without being with Mom for a few days?

And, if so, would you be OK having the kids and the dog to deal with solo?

If both of those are feasible, you might be able to stretch things out a bit by starting out (with the car or RV, whatever is easier) on Sunday (since that would fit the dance schedule on Saturday), drive (with all of you) at a somewhat slower pace for several days (say until Thursday or even Friday), and set the route such that you end up at a city with a halfway decent airport.

Drop Mom off there, she flies from that point to the destination (that allows her to be there in time for Monday), while the rest of you continue the drive. That way, if you need extra day(s), it's not an issue (or at least based on what you said so far - I can assume that the kid(s), if in school, will be done by the time you leave, and you didn't mention a due date for you), but they are also not being separated for a whole week+, only for a few days.

And, depending on the method of transport, even the single (shorter) flight may still not make it more (or not much) than the cost of the pet transport would have been.