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Author Topic: Driving cross country  (Read 954 times)

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Driving cross country
« on: May 08, 2010, 08:10:07 AM »
I am planning a trip across country for a wedding.  It is in Las Vegas this summer in July.  I plan to drive I 80 to I 76 to I 70 to I 15.  Anybody ever do this and have a better route?  Also I have never driven so far and not sure how much to plan on making it per day realistically.
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Re: Driving cross country
« Reply #1 on: May 08, 2010, 11:11:12 AM »
That sounds like a good route.

How far you want to go each day depends on how much you want to "push it".

You should be able to do a minimum of 600 miles a day, it starts to get rough after about 800 miles.

But it depends if you have someone to swap driving duties with. With 2 drivers, you should be able to do 1,000+ per day.  8)

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Re: Driving cross country
« Reply #2 on: May 08, 2010, 07:30:34 PM »
Are you planning to do all the driving yourself, Parts?

What is the longest drive you have ever made before and how many hours a day were you able to drive then?

I think that your route sounds reasonable, but if you drive ten hours a day it will take about four days to drive that distance, so I think you might want to plan for five days to drive it just in case, if it's going to be just you doing the driving and you aren't going to be travelling with kids.

I think Scrapheap's estimate about the maximum distance you would want to drive per day sounds about right, somewhere around 600 and 700 miles. 

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Re: Driving cross country
« Reply #3 on: May 08, 2010, 07:38:42 PM »
It will probably be going with my oldest son and that's it that way we both can drive.  It will be his high school graduation present
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Re: Driving cross country
« Reply #4 on: May 08, 2010, 07:47:53 PM »
You can often get good deals on airline tickets to Las Vegas.  Do you hate to fly?

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Re: Driving cross country
« Reply #5 on: May 08, 2010, 08:36:06 PM »
You can often get good deals on airline tickets to Las Vegas.  Do you hate to fly?

Yes,  I have done it many time though but have never driven that far
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Re: Driving cross country
« Reply #6 on: May 08, 2010, 11:03:29 PM »
You can often get good deals on airline tickets to Las Vegas.  Do you hate to fly?

Yes,  I have done it many time though but have never driven that far

It's usually a lot cheaper to fly. You end up spending a lot of money eating at restaraunts. Figure $10-15 per person per meal, and that's nothing fancy. $90 a day for food + Hotel + gas + pecan log from Stuckey's= $$$$

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Re: Driving cross country
« Reply #7 on: May 09, 2010, 12:03:47 AM »
You can often get good deals on airline tickets to Las Vegas.  Do you hate to fly?

Yes,  I have done it many time though but have never driven that far

It's usually a lot cheaper to fly. You end up spending a lot of money eating at restaraunts. Figure $10-15 per person per meal, and that's nothing fancy. $90 a day for food + Hotel + gas + pecan log from Stuckey's= $$$$

Plus you'll probably arrive tired, and on top of that be at a wedding around lots of potentially annoying relatives. Fly in, fly out. I imagine the plane trip wouldn't take very long anyway.

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Re: Driving cross country
« Reply #8 on: May 09, 2010, 06:07:17 AM »
You can often get good deals on airline tickets to Las Vegas.  Do you hate to fly?

Yes,  I have done it many time though but have never driven that far

It's usually a lot cheaper to fly. You end up spending a lot of money eating at restaraunts. Figure $10-15 per person per meal, and that's nothing fancy. $90 a day for food + Hotel + gas + pecan log from Stuckey's= $$$$

Plus you'll probably arrive tired, and on top of that be at a wedding around lots of potentially annoying relatives. Fly in, fly out. I imagine the plane trip wouldn't take very long anyway.

And then, if the relatives are getting on your nerves, you can make your escape by saying you don't want to miss your :plane: !
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Re: Driving cross country
« Reply #9 on: May 09, 2010, 01:06:59 PM »
I really don't want to fly.  Driving at least you get to see stuff and I have never been further west than Atlanta Ga and that was only the airport.  I don't want another state that I see is from the air
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Re: Driving cross country
« Reply #10 on: May 09, 2010, 01:35:20 PM »
I really don't want to fly.  Driving at least you get to see stuff and I have never been further west than Atlanta Ga and that was only the airport.  I don't want another state that I see is from the air

Just be prepared to spend $350 a day getting there and back. You can probably do it for less, I'd just plan for that as a worst case scenario.

What kind of gas mileage does your car/truck (whatever vehicle you're taking) get??

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Re: Driving cross country
« Reply #11 on: May 09, 2010, 03:17:31 PM »
I really don't want to fly.  Driving at least you get to see stuff and I have never been further west than Atlanta Ga and that was only the airport.  I don't want another state that I see is from the air

Maybe you should plan to take longer for the trip and stop and see lots of stuff along the way then.

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Re: Driving cross country
« Reply #12 on: May 09, 2010, 06:23:34 PM »
I really don't want to fly.  Driving at least you get to see stuff and I have never been further west than Atlanta Ga and that was only the airport.  I don't want another state that I see is from the air

Just be prepared to spend $350 a day getting there and back. You can probably do it for less, I'd just plan for that as a worst case scenario.

What kind of gas mileage does your car/truck (whatever vehicle you're taking) get??

About 30 mpg on the car

I really don't want to fly.  Driving at least you get to see stuff and I have never been further west than Atlanta Ga and that was only the airport.  I don't want another state that I see is from the air

Maybe you should plan to take longer for the trip and stop and see lots of stuff along the way then.

That was the idea for the way back

As much as I don't want to fly thinking more about it.  Then renting a car and driving around out there for a week to see stuff
« Last Edit: May 09, 2010, 06:26:04 PM by parts »
"Eat it up.  Wear it out.  Make it do or do without." 

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Re: Driving cross country
« Reply #13 on: May 09, 2010, 06:33:58 PM »
You would pay somewhere around $300 just for the gasoline to drive that far, so you would probably come out cheaper to fly and rent a car there.

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Re: Driving cross country
« Reply #14 on: May 09, 2010, 06:44:24 PM »
I am planning a trip across country for a wedding.  It is in Las Vegas this summer in July.  I plan to drive I 80 to I 76 to I 70 to I 15.  Anybody ever do this and have a better route?  Also I have never driven so far and not sure how much to plan on making it per day realistically.

Where are you driving from?  It's kind of hard to say if that's a good route if we don't know your starting point.
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