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Old 04-01-2018, 10:29 PM   #1
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How far do you go on a weekend trip

My wife made reservations a couple months ago for Memorial day weekend (so it is a 3 day) at Lake Wappapello corps campground with a full hookup site which is great! The part I am hesitant about is it's just over 200 miles and just over 3 hours driving. That is current traffic conditions right now (10:30pm on a Sunday night) not Friday Memorial weekend leaving at roughly 5pm (we both work) and heading through St. Louis to get there. I am expecting 5 hour or so drive time each way. So what are your limits for a weekend get away.
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Old 04-01-2018, 10:31 PM   #2
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3-5 hours on the road is better than 3-5 hours at work.
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Old 04-01-2018, 10:50 PM   #3
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We break for 5 to 10 minutes every 1.5 hours or so, give the tt and tv a once around. Makes a small difference in transit time and a large difference in how we feel on arrival. Our bright orange leveling blocks can be used for marking the sides of the site when backing at night.
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Old 04-01-2018, 11:53 PM   #4
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We typically don’t travel for more than an hour-ish on a regular weekend trip. If we leave on Thursday we will go a little further. But I agree with leaving on fridays at rush hour you’ll be wasting most of the drive in traffic.
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Old 04-02-2018, 06:59 AM   #5
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I will travel anywhere from 70-200 miles round trip for a weekend trip...but I don't have to contend with traffic. I've got about 275 miles to the north (Portland), and about 325 to the south (Sacramento) until traffic comes into play.
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Old 04-02-2018, 07:26 AM   #6
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we are fortunate that our favorite 3 campgrounds are all within a 2 hour maximum drive from home and our fav. is only 30 minutes from home
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Old 04-02-2018, 07:29 AM   #7
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We have developed this rule of thumb over the years- for every hour of driving you must stay one night. So, if you drive three hours then you need to be setup there for at least three nights to make it worth it.
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Old 04-02-2018, 07:34 AM   #8
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For our weekend getaways as long as we can make it to the campground before sunset we are good to go!
So early in the season and in the fall means leaving our house around 4:30pm gives us about 90 minutes of travel time to arrive, check in, setup before it gets dark.
In the middle of summer we can extend our travel time to 2-1/2-3 hours if we find someplace that far out that we really want to try.
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Old 04-02-2018, 07:40 AM   #9
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It may depend on where you live but we don’t drive much more than a couple hours (one way) for long weekend. Only one hour for a regular weekend.
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Old 04-02-2018, 07:42 AM   #10
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We have no problem doing a 3 drive for a weekend, especially if it's a long weekend, but I don't do "work to 5 then leave". Ever. When we go on our trips, either short or long, if we're leaving on a work day, I either book it off, or at least book a 1/2 day. DW's shift work is done at 2:00, so she leaves work, goes straight to the kids school and pulls them out an hour early and then home. In the meantime, I would have wrapped up my work by 12:00, gotten the trailer hooked up and be waiting to hit the road as soon as they're home by 2:30.

If you work till 5, chances are you're not going to be ready to hit the road until at least 6, if not 7, then a 3 hour drive, you're pulling into the campground at like 10 PM. That's just too late for me, especially having kids who normally go to bed at 8.
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Old 04-02-2018, 08:06 AM   #11
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That part about can't leave until after 5 PM on the start of a holiday weekend would be a deal breaker for me.

I'd rather go the weekend before or after the holiday- even if it meant just 2 nites there.

Once you've done this you'll be able to answer your own question whether it's worth it or not.

Good luck!
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Old 04-02-2018, 08:11 AM   #12
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Setting up on a Friday night late and leaving Sunday morning to get home is for the birds. I wouldn't drive more then an hour to do that. With extra time off id go farther for each extra day off.
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Old 04-02-2018, 08:12 AM   #13
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We have 2 trips booked for long weekends back with family in Indiana. It's about 1200 miles round trip. Going for Memorial and Labor Day weekends. But for that we'll usually Leave Thurs and then leave Monday or Tuesday morning.

For true short weekends leaving Friday and back on Sunday I prefer to stay within 1 1/2 to 2 hours. I hate getting anywhere after dark to setup. I've only had to do it once, but luckily I got the camper backed in as it was getting dark and then finished setup after getting the kids fed with some quick dogs on the grill.
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Old 04-02-2018, 08:32 AM   #14
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Anywhere between 2-3 hours for us on a regular weekend.
We've been doing this for 40 years and have stayed at just about every campground in a 150 mile radius. If we want to go to new places, we'll have to expand our area and get off work earlier Friday. That (work) is soon coming to an end though!
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Old 04-02-2018, 08:42 AM   #15
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Two hours at max for long weekend !
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Old 04-02-2018, 08:59 AM   #16
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Before we moved to northern MN permanently we used to drive 200 miles to get here from the Twin Cities every weekend. I just looked at it like I could either sit in my chair at home and watch tv on Friday nights or sit in my chair and drive. On memorial and labor day weekends we always took that Friday off and drove up thurs night. At least we only had to deal with holiday traffic on the way home.
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Old 04-02-2018, 09:01 AM   #17
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  • For a standard 2-night weekend, I really try to keep within 2 hours (100-130 miles).
  • For a standard holiday 3-night weekend, I try to keep within 3 hours (150-200 miles).
  • For anything longer (4+ nights), I blow the doors off and will travel up to 8 hours.
I don't typically stop unless I need gas or food ... which means 3+ hours before the first stop. For the type of camping I do, it's more about the destination than the journey.
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Old 04-02-2018, 09:08 AM   #18
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Spent a lot of time at lake Whappapelo as a kid. My uncle had a house In Poplar Bluff.

We made the drive from there to south St. Louis on Sunday after the party 100 times in the 60's. The drive from the lake to the highway(67?) was the scariest part. Narrow lake roads with sharp turns. A little too fast and the crew will not be happy stomach wise. St. Louis is no big deal On the weekend.

Neat lake. Sort of a locals only lake. Great choice. There was a sand bar in the middle of the lake! 3' deep in the middle of the lake.

Have fun. The drive is no big deal!
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Old 04-02-2018, 09:28 AM   #19
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Berkley Springs

Our "weekend" ideally runs from Thursday through Monday so we sometimes push the distance. Usually though, we limit ourselves to 200 miles but there are times when we will leave on Thursday and spent a night on the road (at a CG) then camp Fri, Sat, and Sunday and then reverse the trip home. Next week we are headed out to Berkley Springs WV. The camp we will stay in is only about 1.5 hour or so away (Happy Hills CG) from home base. We will stay from Thursday afternoon and head home Sunday and do spas, restaurants and distilleries for three days.

That's the plan.

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Old 04-02-2018, 10:30 AM   #20
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100 mile limit for regular weekends. Plenty of choices for us so it hasn’t been an issue.
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