Speed limits on freeway |
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podwerkz
Senior Member Joined: 11 Mar 2019 Location: Texas Online Status: Offline Posts: 966 |
Topic: Speed limits on freeway Posted: 27 Mar 2021 at 11:40pm |
Yes, travel at a relaxed pace and guess what, you will arrive at your stop at the end of the day....relaxed.
At every fuel stop and every meal stop I always walk around the rig and check the temps...feel all the tires and hubs with the palm of my hand, and feel the brake drums with the back of my hand, and if tires, brakes, and hubs are warm (not overly hot), you are good for another few hundred miles. Then check again, repeat many times each day. Soon you will get a feel for the normal temps. Of course, at every fuel stop, check your tow vehicle's oil level, visually check the coolant reservoir, etc, and visually check trailer lights, wiggle the safety chains, observe bolts and fasteners on and around the hitch area, etc. You can do some of this at the pump, or pull off to the side before you leave, maybe after you grab a roller dog, a bag of chips, and a 44 OZ Pepsi for the road! This all might seem off-topic but it relates to the reason for slowing down and taking your time...its not a cross country race. BTW...Just kidding about the Pepsi... |
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r・pod 171 gone but not forgotten!
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StephenH
podders Helping podders - pHp Joined: 29 Nov 2015 Location: Wake Forest, NC Online Status: Offline Posts: 6326 |
Posted: 28 Mar 2021 at 8:56am |
After a 10 hour trip turned into a 16 hour trip(before R-Pod days) followed a week later by a stroke, I do not do extended driving unless there is no other choice. I'm on an anticoagulant now to help prevent another stroke. We can by no means do the extended driving. If we cover 300 miles in a day, we count it good. We can do more, but no 500 to 600 miles. As has been said, you will learn what works for you.
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StephenH
Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,... ouR escaPOD mods Former RPod 179 Current Cherokee Grey Wolf 24 JS |
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lostagain
Senior Member Joined: 06 Sep 2016 Location: Quaker Hill, CT Online Status: Offline Posts: 2595 |
Posted: 28 Mar 2021 at 9:14am |
Yikes! a 44 oz Pepsi for the road? Shoot, with all that caffeine and sugar, I'd be a nervous wreck and wouldn't make it 50 miles before needing the first of several pee stops. The hotdog sounds good, though.
We usually drive between 55 and 60 (I really mean I drive, since my wife doesn't) and I don't find it especially stressful. Our virgin trip with our F-150 was from Las Vegas to home, a distance of about 400 miles, in high winds all the way and a mix of rain, ice, and snow for the last 1/3rd of the drive. Though it was a bit tedious, I arrived home without being especially tired. Most of the time it's quite comfortable driving, even in the desert winds we often encounter. I personally think that driving with a well balanced rig with adequate power and weight capacity is the key. Driving on the edge of the weight capacity of your TV and with inadequate power makes it very stressful. We were much closer to the TV capacity and power limits when we towed our 172 with our Dakota. It was much more tiring to take long trips. We're leaving around the 1st of May to go to NY and are tentatively planning on 5 nights on the way. I guess one of the nice things about traveling with your own hotel room in tow is that if you find that you don't want to go as far as you planned, you can always stop earlier along the way. We'll see how it goes. With all the folks who have gotten their vaccines coming out of their isolation, I suspect there will be traffic jams with cars and trucks with travel trailers in tow in the middle of Nowhere.
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Never leave footprints behind.
Fred & Maria Kearney Sonoma 167RB Our Pod 172 2019 Ford F-150 4x4 2.7 EcoBoost |
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EchoGale
Senior Member Joined: 10 Mar 2019 Location: FL Online Status: Offline Posts: 463 |
Posted: 28 Mar 2021 at 10:24am |
When driving without the pod I go from Jacksonville Fl to Bath, Maine in two22 hour days (about 750 miles and 500 miles each varying due to traffic in the NE) by myself, so I'm good with long days. With the pod I don't go over 60 mph (tires are rated for 65 max) and I keep it between 250-300 miles per day. As the days wear on get tired quicker and I try to be always cognizant that a 7-8 hour day can become a 10 hour day with traffic or some other delay.
I do try to have food prepared and gear stowed in such a way that there is minimal work once I stop so I find this much easier than a hotel. No checking in, acclimate the dog, carrying stuff or sleeping in a strange bed. One of the best things about the free camping website is you don't need reservations so you can drive until you are tired and then stop because everyone is right, you'll find your own pace. I think it's best not to push. Welcome to the forum. There's lifetimes of learning here. :)
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Julie
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Pod_Geek
Senior Member Joined: 04 Dec 2019 Location: Colorado Online Status: Offline Posts: 261 |
Posted: 28 Mar 2021 at 10:31am |
Went > 10,000 miles towing the 195 last year.
60-65mph and 350 miles with arrival timed to be in daylight seems to be the sweet spot. Best drives were on good two- and four-lane state highways...less stress than interstate driving. YMMV.
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2020.5 R-Pod 195 Hood River
2018 RAM 2500 6.4L |
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EchoGale
Senior Member Joined: 10 Mar 2019 Location: FL Online Status: Offline Posts: 463 |
Posted: 28 Mar 2021 at 10:40am |
+1 to Pod Geek. Many of us have noted in the past that while the state highways seem like they'll take longer, if you are slowing to the recommended 60-65 in practice they don't.
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Julie
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Tars Tarkas
Senior Member Joined: 14 Jan 2013 Location: Near Nashville Online Status: Offline Posts: 1447 |
Posted: 28 Mar 2021 at 11:35am |
This isn't a competition and there are no excuses needed. I just wanted to make the point that there is a wider range of possibilities than those to which one person may limit themselves. I'm old enough to retire but haven't yet, so I have a limited amount of time for vacations. It's really hard to get two weeks off at once. So if I want to go to Cape Breton (from Nashville), and I want to spend as much time as possible in Cape Breton, I feel like I need to put in long days on the road. For me, it's worth it. Maybe not wise, but it's how I want to do it. Same with the Nashville to the Outer Banks trip. I get as far down the road the first day as I can so that we can get to our campsite in Frisco early the second day. We usually stop overnight somewhere in or around Wake Forest, coincidentally. There are certainly other legitimate and more leisurely ways to travel. Maybe when I retire and can take a trip that can be 2, or 3, or 4 weeks long I'll slow down and smell the roses along the way. I have done several trips out west and in Mexico and Canada, sans Pod, with no grand destination. We've followed our noses and had plenty of less than 200 mile days. I like that kind of trip a lot too. By "no destination" I mean we don't head out with an end point in mind. where we stay and from which we'll turn around and come back. There are always a lot of sort of mini-destinations along the way. TT
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2010 176
FJ Cruiser |
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GlueGuy
Senior Member Joined: 15 May 2017 Location: N. California Online Status: Offline Posts: 2653 |
Posted: 28 Mar 2021 at 11:46am |
In California the max for trailer-towing vehicles is the double nickel (AKA 55 MPH). That said, 60 MPH is our top speed. That's partly for fuel economy, partly for safety, and not necessarily in that order. If we get 400 miles in a day, we're good, but that's a long day.
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bp
2017 R-Pod 179 Hood River 2015 Ford F150 SuperCrew 4WD 3.5L Ecoboost |
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offgrid
Senior Member Joined: 23 Jul 2018 Online Status: Offline Posts: 5290 |
Posted: 28 Mar 2021 at 1:52pm |
In VA trailers and trucks have the same speed limit as cars, typically 70. The trucks are usually running at 75 and the cars at 80 here on rural I81. It might feel intimidating at first but I keep to 65 or just below while towing, they just have to go around.
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1994 Chinook Concourse
1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft 2015 Rpod 179 - sold |
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StephenH
podders Helping podders - pHp Joined: 29 Nov 2015 Location: Wake Forest, NC Online Status: Offline Posts: 6326 |
Posted: 28 Mar 2021 at 7:16pm |
When we were in Wyoming on I80 and hit the ice, the trooper asked how fast I was going. I told him 60 mph. Turns out that is the legal towing speed there. If I had been going the 80 MPH that the big rigs were going, I would likely have been cited. Instead, since I was towing the legal speed, the accident was written up as "unavoidable."
It is something not widely known that not all states allow towing at the same speed as when not towing. For the most part, I don't see many RVs pulled over for speeding. However, it is prudent to be aware of, and comply with the towing speed limits just in case something happens.
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StephenH
Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,... ouR escaPOD mods Former RPod 179 Current Cherokee Grey Wolf 24 JS |
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