Spartanburg,SC to Casper,Wy

[cotheran]

We will be heading to Casper,Wy in mid June for a mission trip. Here is our plan:

June 10- 24

Spartanburg to Nashville,Tn 1 night at Koa
Nashville to Kansas City,Mo 2 night at Koa
Kansas City to Casper,Wy 6 nights at Fort Caspar Camoground
Casper,Wy to Estes Park,Co 2 nights at Yogi Bear's Jellystone Camoground
Estes Park,CO to Topeka, Kansas 1 night at Koa
Topeka,Kansas to Paducah,Ky 2 nights at KOA
Paducah,Ky to Spartanburg,SC

We will be traveling with our 3 children (11,9 and 6). Is there any must see places along the way? We are going to the Kansas City Zoo and Rocky Mountain National Park. I know this trip involves alot of driving,but we drove to Rapid City,SD last summer. This year we are going to be pulling a camper. We have thought about taking I-85 to I-75 to I-24 to get to Nashville to bypass The Saluda grade on I-26 in Asheville. Any thoughts on that? Also has anyone stayed at campgrounds along this was before? I just booked KOA's to be on the safe side.

[glc]

If you have a properly equipped tow vehicle, there's no reason to take a detour that adds a lot of miles to a trip. Just take it easy and stay over in the truck lane.

Nashville to KC is going to be a long day, and it's impossible to go from KC to Casper in one day, it's over 800 miles. Estes Park to Topeka is another long day as is Topeka to Paducah and Paducah to Spartanburg. You are not leaving any time for sightseeing enroute unless you shorten the legs considerably. The kids are not going to be able to handle days of that duration cooped up in the vehicle.

Campgrounds in state parks should be considerably cheaper than commercial campgrounds.

[cotheran]

I think it's only going to add about 30 extra miles but wasn't sure what I-75 and I-24 was like. We haven't planned on really sight seeing enroute. Thankfully my kids are great in the car. We have driven straight to Key West before and last year we drove from Omaha,NE to Spartanburg,SC in one day. 12 hours is a piece of cake to them..lol. We travel to Disney every few months.

[glc]

Not a problem, except KC to Casper is NOT possible in one day. I can't emphasize that enough. That would be about an 18 hour drive if you are towing. That is extremely unsafe, and illegal for professional drivers.

I-75 and I-24 also have their share of hills.

[cotheran]

When I use google maps and mapquest it shows from Kansas city,Mo to Casper,WY 11 hours and 29 minutes. Is that wrong? We have puled our camper to PA and it only took 1 hour longer than what our map had said. So we are thinking about 13 hours. We drive to Fl every few months so 13 hours is not that long for us.

[cotheran]

I-75 and I-24 also have their share of hills.[/QUOTE]

Thanks! Thats' what I was needing to know.

[glc]

KC to Casper is over 800 miles. No way are you going to do that in 13 hours without driving at grossly unsafe speeds. I've done 800 miles in 13 hours, and I was driving at 85 mph for about half the trip. We recommend no more than 550 miles a day. People who pass me on the Interstate with a trailer in tow doing 80 mph scare me to death. When I tow, I will not exceed 65 mph under any circumstances.

[Midwest Michael]

When I use google maps and mapquest it shows from Kansas city,Mo to Casper,WY 11 hours and 29 minutes. Is that wrong?

I'm not sure where you're getting that information, but when I plug KC to Casper into Google, it comes up at 824 miles and 12 hours 54 minutes of driving. An 11 and a half hour estimate would mean covering that ground at an average speed of 71 mph - which is only possible with a police escort and spending most of the trip traveling at speeds in excess of 100 mph, or driving a car that never needs fuel, and having a driver that never needs to take a break - neither of which are possible.

But even in a car, Google's 13 hour estimate would be a virtually impossible time to meet. That requires an average speed of 63 mph, and to average those kinds of speeds over a full day of driving - just factoring in the bare minimum of stops - you have to be sitting at a cruising speed of 80-85 mph. The last time I covered that kind of one distance in one day (in a speed run, after learning of a family emergency while on the road) it took 15 hours, and I certainly wasn't pulling a trailer.

I agree with GLC that you really need to cut back this leg. Traveling at a safe speed and lawful speed while pulling a trailer (remember, even when the speed limit is 75 for cars, vehicles with trailers still have a 65 mph or lower limit.) this will very likely take you a minimum of 16-17 hours, and that's if you make it a slog where you don't stop to enjoy anything. When you consider the extra alertness you need because of your rig, that's really far too much to be safe.

[Foy]

But even in a car, Google's 13 hour estimate would be a virtually impossible time to meet. That requires an average speed of 63 mph, and to average those kinds of speeds over a full day of driving - just factoring in the bare minimum of stops - you have to be sitting at a cruising speed of 80-85 mph. The last time I covered that kind of one distance in one day (in a speed run, after learning of a family emergency while on the road) it took 15 hours, and I certainly wasn't pulling a trailer.

.

Not long after first finding RTA's forums and beginning to participate in same, I took a RoadTrip speed run from Raleigh, NC to Port Hueneme, CA (Ventura, a little above LA) with my US Navy son, for the purpose of co-driving his pickup from home, where it'd been while he was deployed, to his homeport, where he'd serve another year on active duty. It was essentially I-40 all the way.

I won't say exactly how long we took over how many days, etc, as I'm not particularly proud of it. But, we averaged 67 mph on the basis of "beginning of day to end of day", we economized on stops, combining the truck's 350 mile fuel range with bathroom stops and food, encountered essentially no urban-area or construction slow-downs, and enjoyed bluebird skies and dry highways the whole way. We were not towing, either, just a Chevy pickup with a young sailor's seabag and his Dad's luggage in the jumpseat. We ran a solid 80-85mph practically every step of the way while under way in order to "achieve" that 67mph beginning to end of day average. We touched 90 more than a few times.

Towing? If you average 50 mph from beginning to end of day, you're pushing very, very hard, IMHO.

Foy