How much money and how long will it take to drive across America?

Question

Round trip, I'm thinking of taking 80-west from PA to CA, then 40-East from CA to Kentucky then back to PA.

Is 2 weeks sufficient time for a somewhat relaxed trip? If we stop impulsively at a lot of National Parks and curiosities along the way?

How much should we factor in for gas?

I'll probably going to be driving my Ford Taurus station wagon and tenting/sleeping in the car as much as possible, so I'm not terribly worried about factoring in motel costs.

Answer 1

Let's look at the math. To cross the USA is about 3000 miles, 6000 miles roundtrip. Ignore the Kentucky to Penna. part. If you average 50 mph, it will take 120 hours of driving.
This is 5 non-stop driving days.
Now comes the tricky part. How many hours a day do you want to drive? Let's say it is 8 hours. Doing this will require 15 days of driving 8 hours per day at an average of 50mph.
If gas is 3 usd per gallon and you get 20 mpg you will need 300 gal of gas costing 900 usd.
You need to sleep each night in a motel. Let's say you can do this for 50 usd. There will be 14 nights. So that is 700 usd.
Assuming there are 2 of you, meals per day will be at least 40 usd for 15 days which is 600 usd.
This does not allow for things such as souvenir shopping and unexpected car repairs.
The total cost is $2200 using conservative figures.
Bon voyage.

Answer 2

You will have a great time. What are you driving? And when are you going? Go before summer hits and you will get better rates at hotels. If you are driving an economy car like a Prius you will get great mileage. If you are driving a big pickup truck you will not. I have gone cross country many times. I even hitchiked it once or twice. That trip cost me about 15 dollars. This was 30 years ago. Many great things to see if you have never done it before. Email me and maybe I can answer your question better or give you some tips on where to go.

Answer 3

I'm not sure if 2 weeks is enough. It all depends on what route you take. That is alot of driving! And you can never estimate the amount of money it will take because gas prices are high and may vary across the nation.

This will be a fun trip so have FUN!!!

Answer 4

Figure how many gallons of fuel goes into your vehicles tank. Then figure on an average fuel consumption of your vehicle. The distance of the trip.
I usually like to factor in about 25% more for fuel. As well as the cost of a couple new tires and a few quarts of oil. I like to plan for unforeseen events. So they are not surprises when out on the road.
Then if you set a meandering pace crossing the country, figure an average of 50 mph., for all the starts and stops you plan in the day. Then the time spent at each attraction. Should give you a close reckoning of time for the trip.

Answer 5

Two and 1/2 half days by car stopping almost none at all and about $300.00. Not including food if you averge 50 miles and hour. You can average 600 miles for day and it would take 4 days depending on which part of country you will take off from .

Answer 6

yes, 2-weeks is sufficient time for a relaxed trip driving one way. If you are going both ways you will be rushed. 500-miles a day for most people is a great deal of driving.

On gas - depends what you drive, example at 30-miles a gallon -- 3000/30=100 gallons of gas thats $300

Answer 7

I drove from CA to PA over the summer via I-80 and it took us 3 days. So you could be able to do the rest of the trip in 2 weeks. It's a great trip but be sure to not go on I-80 during the winter - the road closes constantly due to snow.

Have fun - it's a blast.

Answer 8

yeah 2-21/2 weeks is good

a couple thousand for gas

Answer 9

--->> Tips---> https://trimurl.im/g90/how-much-money-and-how-long-will-it-take-to-drive-across-america

Answer 10

Hi there, just wanted to say, I liked this discussion. quite valuable replies