How far do you tow?

Sjm9911

DIS Veteran
Joined
Feb 11, 2019
Ok, so i wanted to do nj to disney in 2 days. 1st half would be a 11.5 hour drive to about savanna georga. Some old timers told me i was crazy. Will this be too much for the TV or the camper? I know it will take about 4 hours longer for bathrooms and food breaks. So , 15.5 hours? Thoughts good or bad welcome.
 
It's 1191 miles door to door for us, 20 hours with fuel and bathroom breaks (us and the dogs). We are in an RV so food break is not an issue.
That being said, you know your equipment, and yourself, better than anyone else.
Are you splitting the driving with someone? Do you have the opportunity to leave the night before and get a couple hours under your belt?
 
I don't own a RV... although I tow an enclosed dual axle trailer with motorcycles on some pretty long trips.

I agree with tigger92662... only you can make that call.
I would guess the TV and camper can handle it - assuming they're safely within their operating limits (ie. gross weight) and are in good condition.
I would be more worried about you pushing yourself, with the added risk of towing, and having your family on board.

We went to Florida (minivan) twice (coming from just north of Philly)... I can't stand the drive. 95 is a white knuckle drive for me most of the way. However, others do it in one day!...

If you do go for it, I'd suggest leaving very early in the morning... makes all the difference in the world if you can get well south of DC before rush hour starts. I find if you start the trip very early in the morning (and don't drive too late) it's a lot less exhausting and you have a lot more stamina for the next day). That was our biggest mistake, not leaving early enough, and then driving late at night - I was totally out of it by the time we got to Florida, and I needed a day to get back to normal.

Good luck... and be careful.
 
If you are comfortable towing and don't mind long drives, I'd say NJ to WDW is do'able in 2 days. If you don't tow often or think a 6 hour drive is "long", take 3 days and arrive in a good mood and ready to enjoy the Fort.

j
 


I’ve made the drive FL to CT in 2 days multiple times. However, they are long exhausting days. Can it be done, yes, but I do NOT like it from a “fun” stand point. It’s one of those just put my head down and do it because the vacation schedule demands it. I have done it exactly the same each time (once from Disney and twice from Venice FL). Drive to RV Resort at Carolina Crossroads (Roanoke Rapids, NC)...pull into the very easy pull throughs at front of park that I reserved ahead of time (we always arrive after hours, but they post your site number with your name on office door), plug in and go to bed. Up and out early next day after a final emptying of the tanks before home. Two long days to be sure, but gets it done.

I will say that going south I always seem to leave mid day on day 1, so we make it a 2 stop drive south. Day one just north of Richmond, and day 2 FL/GA border or Jacksonville area.
 
pull into the very easy pull throughs at front of park that I reserved ahead of time (we always arrive after hours, but they post your site number with your name on office door), plug in and go to bed.

This ^^^^

I don't think its the driving so much as getting to a campground after dark, exhausted and having to setup, even minimally. One trip growing up, may have even been down to WDW from Pittsburgh, we pulled into the site and forgot to put down the stabilizers in a pop up. Well one person too many on one side and yes we tipped to the back. :scared1:

One other thing while towing I tend to be more tense driving which could even be worse if having to get to WDW with a reservation I made 2 years ago. :)

We bought a Travel Trailer a year and a half ago and would like to drag it down to WDW at some point. From Pittsburgh its 15 hours and if just driving we do two days and depending on when we leave we do one day a few hours more than the other. If towing I think we would do 3 days. Maybe more if we want to really stop somewhere for a day.
 
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Ok, so i wanted to do nj to disney in 2 days. 1st half would be a 11.5 hour drive to about savanna georga. Some old timers told me i was crazy. Will this be too much for the TV or the camper? I know it will take about 4 hours longer for bathrooms and food breaks. So , 15.5 hours? Thoughts good or bad welcome.
Remember you are pulling your new rig. Be careful what ever you do. We need you to make it to the fort safely and not be a basket case upon arrival.
 


When I am towing my pop-up, Sjm9911, 600 miles a day is my functional limit. Sometimes conditions will warrant an extra 100 miles but things really have to line up for that to work. That equates to about 9 hours from pull-out to pull-in including all stops.

Personally, I don't like towing into the evening after towing all day because by that time I am tired. So I plan my stops to arrive before dark.

Also depends on what cities I have to tow through. Going to WDW from Alabama, the only "big city" I have to drive through is Tallahassee and fortunately I-10 is about 5 lanes wide in each direction at that point. So unless there is a traffic accident or road construction, I just cruise along and eat up the miles. But when I tow north up I-65 towards my old home town in northeast Ohio, you're bound to run into trouble of some sort in one of the big cities: Nashville, Louisville, Cincinnati, Columbus. It's gonna be rush hour somewhere.

With my Aliner I can do the quick overnight stay and remain hitched up and drop the rear stabilizers then simply pop the roof and plug in. It literally takes less than 5 minutes. This is what I do at Lake Louisa SP the night before arriving at the Fort. The thing I have learned I don't like is to arrive later at the Fort (say 4-5pm), unhook and do the set-up, breath the Disney air and pay $150 for that night's privilege. So I like to arrive at the Fort before lunch time even if I have to wait.

If this is your first attempt at the drive, I think you should not bite off more than you can chew. So do the drive down in two days and arrive at the Fort on the morning of the third day after a short drive. Maybe home run it back home in two full days. It also depends on if you are travelling on a weekend day (less traffic in metros?) or weekday and may experience morning/evening commuting times.

Mechanically if you have the right tow vehicle that can handle your trailer, time on the engine is not the issue. Driver fatigue and passenger experience is more important. Do a little sight-seeing along the way ("look kids, the world's biggest ball of yarn"). Give your family a good experience travelling and they won't mind making future trips to WDW.

Bama Ed

PS - I do all the behind-the-wheel time so mine is a solo driving opinion. If you have someone to split the drive time, that helps.

PPS - be careful taking towing advice from Teamubr - he flies low-to-the-ground and has hundreds of hours in the cockpit. I hope to attain his level of experience in my remaining lifetime. :)
 
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We are at 1500 miles, we do a 3 and half day trip, around 450 miles average. Last year with the DS and family, due to their time constraints, first night from Nebraska to Paducah, Ky, about 670 miles towing a 35' fifth wheel, second night at Valdosta, Ga, around 610 miles and last day to Disney around 200 miles. DW and I will not go like that again, too long of a day for us, (we used to drive like that when we were younger) We stop at rest stops, bathroom break, Doggie break, just to stretch our legs and eat. I will agree with everyone on here, depends on how comfortable you feel driving that far. And we hardly ever unhook the fifth wheel when we stop unless the site is that unlevel we need too, just put down the stabilizer jacks.
 
We do 1750 miles and normally do it in 2.5 days. That’s pulling a fifth wheel and stopping every 200 miles for fuel and bathroom/ fast food breaks. That being said: joe is an OTR truck driver so it’s just “another day at the office” for him.

I will say that the trip in our old “Rolling Turd” when we took about 4 days to get there and even stopped in Kentucky for a cave tour - that was our best trip ever. If you can take the time, and sightsee along the way, it can make for some amazing memories!
 
Ok, so i wanted to do nj to disney in 2 days. 1st half would be a 11.5 hour drive to about savanna georga. Some old timers told me i was crazy. Will this be too much for the TV or the camper? I know it will take about 4 hours longer for bathrooms and food breaks. So , 15.5 hours? Thoughts good or bad welcome.
Ok- I’m going to be the dumb one that asks: why does the distance you travel affect your TV?
 
Ok- I’m going to be the dumb one that asks: why does the distance you travel affect your TV?
Ok, so i wanted to do nj to disney in 2 days. 1st half would be a 11.5 hour drive to about savanna georga. Some old timers told me i was crazy. Will this be too much for the TV or the camper? I know it will take about 4 hours longer for bathrooms and food breaks. So , 15.5 hours? Thoughts good or bad welcome.
When I am towing my pop-up, Sjm9911, 600 miles a day is my functional limit. Sometimes conditions will warrant an extra 100 miles but things really have to line up for that to work. That equates to about 9 hours from pull-out to pull-in including all stops.

Personally, I don't like towing into the evening after towing all day because by that time I am tired. So I plan my stops to arrive before dark.

Also depends on what cities I have to tow through. Going to WDW from Alabama, the only "big city" I have to drive through is Tallahassee and fortunately I-10 is about 5 lanes wide in each direction at that point. So unless there is a traffic accident or road construction, I just cruise along and eat up the miles. But when I tow north up I-65 towards my old home town in northeast Ohio, you're bound to run into trouble of some sort in one of the big cities: Nashville, Louisville, Cincinnati, Columbus. It's gonna be rush hour somewhere.

With my Aliner I can do the quick overnight stay and remain hitched up and drop the rear stabilizers then simply pop the roof and plug in. It literally takes less than 5 minutes. This is what I do at Lake Louisa SP the night before arriving at the Fort. The thing I have learned I don't like is to arrive later at the Fort (say 4-5pm), unhook and do the set-up, breath the Disney air and pay $150 for that night's privilege. So I like to arrive at the Fort before lunch time even if I have to wait.

If this is your first attempt at the drive, I think you should not bite off more than you can chew. So do the drive down in two days and arrive at the Fort on the morning of the third day after a short drive. Maybe home run it back home in two full days. It also depends on if you are travelling on a weekend day (less traffic in metros?) or weekday and may experience morning/evening commuting times.

Mechanically if you have the right tow vehicle that can handle your trailer, time on the engine is not the issue. Driver fatigue and passenger experience is more important. Do a little sight-seeing along the way ("look kids, the world's biggest ball of yarn"). Give your family a good experience travelling and they won't mind making future trips to WDW.

Bama Ed

PS - I do all the behind-the-wheel time so mine is a solo driving opinion. If you have someone to split the drive time, that helps.

PPS - be careful taking towing advice from Teamubr - he flies low-to-the-ground and has hundreds of hours in the cockpit. I hope to attain his level of experience in my remaining lifetime. :)
I agree totally. We always plan to pull up short of fort at Ocala Sun RV just off I-75 the day before we check in. Only 50 min north going down 495 and in the west side. Easy in early next day and rested. The park is full hookup and only $35.00 with Good Sam.
 
Driven to Disney twice from NJ, First time drove to Ga/Fla line the first day and than proceeded to the Fort. Second time I drove straight through and it was ok, but rather stop. A lot depends on when you leave etc, because traffic can be mentally draining. Basically depends on the driver.
 
It totally depends what you are comfortable with.

We're in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada and drive to Florida and back every year (around 1500 miles each way depending on where we are going in Florida). When we can, we try to do it leaving the in late afternoon / early evening on a Thursday or Friday (e.g. 4-5pm) and drive until fairly late (our kids are 14 and 9 so we usually don't drive any later than 9 or 10pm), followed by a long day (probably solid 13-14 hours on the road) and then we get to Orlando early afternoon the following day. But we've also done it in two straight days several times. In a day of driving, I'll typically do 600-800 miles.

We're travelling in a motor home and I do all the driving (ON requires a CDL (although they don't call it that) to drive our RV and my wife doesn't have one)
 
It took us about 9 hours to get to Savannah South KOA in Georgia. I think that was our limit. Next day it took us about 5 1/2 to get to the fort.
 
Wow great advice from all. Seems i hit a stride with this post. Ive done 8 hours driving in the pop up , no problem for me , my daughter however was on the restroom sightseeing tour. So an 8 hour drive took about 12 hours to do. Lol. Just me driving, was planning on a 4 am start point and try to get to the koa outside of savanna, for an 11.5 hour drive. Im thinking it might be better to just wing it and see how it goes. I can definitely leave a day early. So i might do that and relax a bit on the way down. Decisions, decisions! Right now new TT is in for break check up and repacking of bearings, i find i have no time to do it. Plus they checked out the WDH, i had no idea how to adjust it. Lucky it didnt need adjusting.
 
Wow great advice from all. Seems i hit a stride with this post. Ive done 8 hours driving in the pop up , no problem for me , my daughter however was on the restroom sightseeing tour. So an 8 hour drive took about 12 hours to do. Lol. Just me driving, was planning on a 4 am start point and try to get to the koa outside of savanna, for an 11.5 hour drive. Im thinking it might be better to just wing it and see how it goes. I can definitely leave a day early. So i might do that and relax a bit on the way down. Decisions, decisions! Right now new TT is in for break check up and repacking of bearings, i find i have no time to do it. Plus they checked out the WDH, i had no idea how to adjust it. Lucky it didnt need adjusting.
Do leave that day early and stop short before fort. Get in a bit earlier for time to set up the new TT, relax and enjoy the day.
 
Well lot of good advice, and I will add mine.

First I am a driver and enjoy it. I have done a lot of long drives pulling trailers. Currently I pull a 28 ft. Airstream. I am planning a CA to DW drive for 2021. Plan is 5 days. I have done the DW to CA in 4 and half days. (for those keeping track its a 50 hour drive.)

If you like driving you can do it. However, if you feel yourself getting tired, its time to find a campground and rest up. ( I have also done this, some days you just don't feel it.)

Leave early. On my big drives I pull out around 3 or 4 in the morning. (this also stops the family running around trying to do last minute things and delaying me even more, they are still asleep and just crawl into the truck and go back to sleep.) I will go to bed the night before about 8 or 9 so that I have a good 6 or 7 hours (my usual) sleep.

Watch out for traffic and weather. Both can take a plan to drive 800 miles down to a drive of 400 miles. If this happens, go with it. Have the number of the Fort and any place else you are staying so you can give a quick call to say you were delayed.

Have fun.

John

P.S. As a younger man, not pulling a trailer, my brother and I drove from Marco Island FL to Philly in 19 hours. We traded of the driving.
 

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