How fast do you drive with camper on? .

[silverbullet555]

Curious how fast y'all drive with camper on.

No speed limits.
Smooth freeway.
No safety concerns.

Dry?
Rain?

I'm mostly interested in how speed impacts the longevity of the camper and rain water intrusion at speed.

[Grit_dog]

covered wagon wrote:
I merged onto a highway late at night one night with two trucks tailing each other both ended up behind me when I merged in front of them but, they came within 6 or 8 feet tailing me at 5 over the speed limit of 65. going up to 80 miles an hour would not get them to back off. When the one lane turned into two lanes for a passing lane I did not hesitate to get over. Problem came when I slowed down gradually to the speed limit to let them pass, one of the trucks failed to get over to and almost hit me. I never have seen a truck swerving like that having such a hard time regaining control after avoiding me and getting over. These two drivers were nuts. I was almost killed.

After going up the hill in the passing area, back on flat land I clocked them both at over 80 miles an hour in a 60 zone for big rigs.

You merged onto a single lane, limited access divided highway? Interesting. Not sure I've seen that beefo.
But anyway, great story....

[mountainkowboy]

specta wrote:

covered wagon wrote:
I clocked them both at over 80 miles an hour in a 60 zone for big rigs.

I wish my work truck would go 80 mph. :B

Red will go that fast.......at like 4 mpg.

[jimh406]

specta wrote:

jimh425 wrote:
They just don’t want to.

I totally disagree with this.

Most privately owned trucks and some larger companies don't govern the speed of their trucks, HUGE companies do.

I said most, not all. Also, I can easily pass other vehicles going the same speed as me if I go 2 mph faster for a very short time. It doesn’t take miles unless you are going essentially the same speed.

On my latest trip, a truck pulled over in front of me way before he had to. If he would have waited 2 more seconds, I would have been by him. Instead, he pulled over and attempted to pass the other truck. They were going the same speed for most of the time. Eventually, he made the pass. That was not the governor. That was the operator. Btw, I’ve seen everything from small cars, trucks, and RVs doing the same thing. Not hating on the truck industry. The fact is there are a lot of new truck drivers out there that are very bad at their job just like there are bad/iconsiderate regular drivers.

No, all trucks don’t drive like that one. Some are super considerate and I experienced them as well on the same trip. I try to hurry by them if it is obvious they are catching the truck in front of them. I do the same for cars.

[specta]

jimh425 wrote:
They just don’t want to.

I totally disagree with this.

Most privately owned trucks and some larger companies don't govern the speed of their trucks, HUGE companies do.

The Volvo that I drive doesn't even slow down 1 mph climbing grades fully loaded and has plenty of power but still wont exceed 68 mph.

I see semi's that put their brakes on when going down small hills because they are continually tracked and penalized for exceeding what ever the speed the company has limited them too, generally close to 65 mph, some as low as 62 mph.

[jimh406]

Sounds like you cut the truck off (probably just a shorter distance than they are used to) and they didn’t like it.

But, I agree if the point is that most trucks can do better than barely faster than the one in the right lane. They just don’t want to.

[specta]

covered wagon wrote:
I clocked them both at over 80 miles an hour in a 60 zone for big rigs.

I wish my work truck would go 80 mph. :B

[covered_wagon]

I merged onto a highway late at night one night with two trucks tailing each other both ended up behind me when I merged in front of them but, they came within 6 or 8 feet tailing me at 5 over the speed limit of 65. going up to 80 miles an hour would not get them to back off. When the one lane turned into two lanes for a passing lane I did not hesitate to get over. Problem came when I slowed down gradually to the speed limit to let them pass, one of the trucks failed to get over to and almost hit me. I never have seen a truck swerving like that having such a hard time regaining control after avoiding me and getting over. These two drivers were nuts. I was almost killed.

After going up the hill in the passing area, back on flat land I clocked them both at over 80 miles an hour in a 60 zone for big rigs.

[specta]

People impede traffic for different reasons.
Some because they are ignorant to their surroundings, don't know the laws that pertain to impeding traffic or because they are that they only care about themselves and some because they have no choice, like the Walmart truck in the picture.

I took this picture Monday heading south on I-15 in an 80 mph zone.
I had my cruise set at 88 mph and when I saw the truck signal to change lanes so he could pass the other truck I applied my brakes and flashed my headlights signaling him that he could change lanes.

The Shaffer truck was most likely going 63 or 64 mph and the Walmart truck was going 65-66 mph. It took a few miles for the Walmart truck to get past the Shaffer truck and I'm OK with this.

If either one of those two trucks had to slow down it could take them MILES to regain the speed they lost. In my car it takes only seconds to get back up to speed.

The people that pi$$ me off are the people in the slow lane that wait until the last minute to change lanes to pass a slower moving vehicle and make me slow way down. Why don't they yield to the faster moving traffic or speed up themselves?? Those and the ignorant people.

Everybody is on the road for different reasons. If you're holding up traffic please pull over the first chance you get. You are not the only one out there.

[Reality_Check]

JoeChiOhki wrote:
yada.... read above, no need to repeat it all... yada

You have lot's of good points I guess. A very detailed and windy explanation for behavior, no doubt supporting a pattern of driving that you are comfortable with. Perfect.

I've driven 14... and 14A. 'pucker factor' comment leads me to a better understanding or where you're coming from, and I think I'll just leave it there.

[JoeChiOhki]

jimh425 wrote:

JoeChiOhki wrote:
If the five to ten minutes it takes out of their day for me to safely reach a pullout or a section of road where they can pass impacts their schedule that much, they didn't plan their travel very well.

If the 5 or 10 minutes it takes you to get back up to speed impacts your schedule, you didn’t plan very well.;)

Not saying that anyone’s mind is changing … I just thought your comments were funny. 😄

It has no impact whatsoever on me, my goal is to be considerate and pull out as soon as it is safe to do so. Jumping onto the first bit of barely there gravel on the side of a pass or shoulder that's not wide enough to accomadate a large vehicle is by no definition safe :).

I'm more than happy to get out of folks way, I plan my travels around 200 or so miles a day on long trips so I can compensate for travel delays, including needing to pull off regularly to allow traffic to pass, but those same folks that are frothing at not being able to 80 in a 55 zone are going to have to give me a moment to find a place I can safely get out of their way where my merging back in afterwards is not going to cause an even greater safety issue and larger backup due to the cost of getting moving again, hence why I usually wait till I'm not on the side of a 7% grade if that highway section has no passing lanes, where I'm going to be going far less than 45 mph for a good ways till I can wind it back up to as fast as it will go.

I try my best to plan my routes to take "roads less traveled" to avoid becoming a major obstacle on the high-traffic routes where climbing major grades will drastically slow my forward speed down.

Reality Check wrote:

JoeChiOhki wrote:

Grit dog wrote:

JoeChiOhki wrote:
45-55 mph. For me, its more than fast enough and I'm usually meandering on two lane back country away from the main routes more than I am on interstates. Plus, the truck is old and powered by a naturally aspirated small block V8 gas engine. Even with 4.10s, she's not going to be winning any races :p.

On my bigger trips, I normally only drove about 200-300 miles a day at tops, as I was more interested in the journey than just the destination.

If we're on flat lands, I usually pull off to let folks get around, or when we reach the top of a grade if we're climbing one, pulling out before then just means the next batch of folks will be stuck behind me going even slower because I'll have lost my momentum and will be starting again on a hill, so instead of going up the hill at 45, they're now doing it at 30.

On most quality roads, there are usually passing lane segments that come up and that's when most folks can safely get around.

So you’re mostly speed limited by the capability (power and age) of your truck.
Aka, one of the vehicles on the road that frustrates other drivers who are trying to get somewhere before their weekend is up or their next birthday comes around!

If the five to ten minutes it takes out of their day for me to safely reach a pullout or a section of road where they can pass impacts their schedule that much, they didn't plan their travel very well.

If you're adding 5 or 10 minutes to someone's day because of the time it takes you to pull over....you are a hazard beyond comprehension. What if there were two or three of you on the same section of highway? Seriously?

But...I suspect you meant that you'll usually pull over within 5 or 10 minutes. That's not as bad, it's just selfish and creates stress in others where it shouldn't. I'd ask? why, who made such a person God to decide what is bad planning on someone else's part? I'd be rethinking my habits and decision making process a bit. I'm can be pretty ornery, but can't hold a candle to that attitude. Just food for thought.

Its not an act of God to realize that if you only have X amount of time available for your vacation, you're going to have to accept realistic expectations of how far you can realistically travel overland within that time window, and trying to exceed that by behaving recklessly and then blaming someone else for disrupting a poorly planned endeavor is the true case of selfishness there.

I learned this very early on that if my destination is going to take x amount of hours of driving in ideal conditions and I only have four days of total weekend to enjoy, I'm going to either A.) Have to reduce how far I am going to try and go by changing my end destination B.) Find a means to gain extra time for travel, because ideals and reality rarely met up with any regularity in my personal experience.

I do my best to stay out of folks way, as I mentioned above. I use less ideal routes that might add more distance to my own journey, but will keep me from blocking a larger arterial route if there's any gradients that have to be climbed, not be as easy a drive (US-14 was a pucker factor ride all the way down the east side of the mountains in Wyoming, but I encountered a whole five cars during the journey and didn't slow down the folks racing to and from Yellowstone), and when I can safely get out of folks ways, I do.

BradW wrote:
This thread makes me remember jPonder and his throttle stick. 🙂 🙂 🙂

I miss Jponder to this day, he was a Man amongst boys with that throttle stick and took no guff :p.

Let me also clarify for folks here. I avoid interstates when I can, especially with the camper. When I can't avoid them, I keep myself camped in the far right lane and out of folks way if at all possible. The only times you'll see me stay a lane to the left of far right is in states who do not invest proper maintenance dollars into keeping their truck lanes in good shape and are so rough that the ride is extremely unpleasant.

Interstates generally are very boring alot of the time, and follow the routes to major metros, which unless there's something there I'm going to see there, I avoid like the plague.

I'm generally found on two lane back country highways, the blue highways if you will.

The speed limits on these roads are generally lower, 55-60 has been my experience across the northern states from Oregon to Ohio vs the 70,75,80mph of the interstates and unless I can't avoid it, they're normally not major thoroughfares, so the amount of traffic I'm sharing the road with is usually fairly low.

[covered_wagon]

deserteagle56 wrote:

covered wagon wrote:
When most everyone is going 90 in an 80 speed limit how much room, on average are they leaving in front while behind another vehicle? I haven't seen those kind of speed limits at all so I am curious. Thanks in advance.

Keep in mind that in rural areas of Nevada traffic is relatively light, even on the interstates. I'd say most times there will be only 5-10 cars per mile. I've gotten used to the light traffic so those few times a year when I have to go to Reno and get into traffic that's bumper to bumper at 65 mph I'm terrified the whole time. Not used to that! On secondary roads traffic can be so light it might be miles before you see another vehicle.

You're looking at about 25 miles of highway here. How many vehicles do you see?


* Adjusted image size by using width=640

Very nice thank you.

[specta]

deserteagle56 wrote:

covered wagon wrote:
When most everyone is going 90 in an 80 speed limit how much room, on average are they leaving in front while behind another vehicle? I haven't seen those kind of speed limits at all so I am curious. Thanks in advance.

Keep in mind that in rural areas of Nevada traffic is relatively light, even on the interstates. I'd say most times there will be only 5-10 cars per mile. I've gotten used to the light traffic so those few times a year when I have to go to Reno and get into traffic that's bumper to bumper at 65 mph I'm terrified the whole time. Not used to that! On secondary roads traffic can be so light it might be miles before you see another vehicle.

You're looking at about 25 miles of highway here. How many vehicles do you see?

Its like that for me along I-70 going into town. Maybe not even 5-10 per mile and the speed limit is 80 mph.

60 second video link, Rush Hour Traffic

I generally take the old HWY to town and back.
I did this video back in Aug 2011 and things haven't changed.
The guy on the ATV and the tractor both waved.
Its a pretty friendly place here where I live.

[deserteagle56]

covered wagon wrote:
When most everyone is going 90 in an 80 speed limit how much room, on average are they leaving in front while behind another vehicle? I haven't seen those kind of speed limits at all so I am curious. Thanks in advance.

Keep in mind that in rural areas of Nevada traffic is relatively light, even on the interstates. I'd say most times there will be only 5-10 cars per mile. I've gotten used to the light traffic so those few times a year when I have to go to Reno and get into traffic that's bumper to bumper at 65 mph I'm terrified the whole time. Not used to that! On secondary roads traffic can be so light it might be miles before you see another vehicle.

You're looking at about 25 miles of highway here. How many vehicles do you see?


* Adjusted image size by using width=640

[covered_wagon]

When most everyone is going 90 in an 80 speed limit how much room, on average are they leaving in front while behind another vehicle? I haven't seen those kind of speed limits at all so I am curious. Thanks in advance.