If your band has had the hope of touring and you have tried to make that hope a reality, even by setting up two shows in a row, you know that setting up a tour takes a lot of work. For most bands planning a tour route is a lot of fun and easy, trying to get that route to work around the shows that you can actually book is much harder. Many bands booking a tour for the first time will start with the best of intentions getting out a map and setting up reasonable driving distances between shows.
My rule of thumb, after many 12+ hour drives is that 6 hours drive time between shows is a good limit to start with. Ideally, I think shows 2 - 3 hours apart would be the best but that is rarely how things work out. On 6 hour drives you can switch between 2 drivers, each driving a reasonable 3 hour shift. No one gets burnt out.
Please keep this rule in mind when you are trying to book shows. From my own experience when I could not find a show 6 hours from my previous shows I would start to branch out. A 7 or 8 hour drive is tough, and a 12 hour drive is getting insane considering that you will always be late, probably get lost, and will spend a ton of money on gas driving 12 hours from show to show. Now I realize that young bands have to pay their dues, sometimes with 12 hour drives, but also keep in mind that sometime it is better for the band moral and your wallet to take a day off rather than kill yourself with a crazy drive. Remember, you may have to do a few 12 hour drives, but like anything prepare for those and try to keep them to a minimum.
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