Travel by car

[Tom Muley]

Last week took mother in-law home, 800+ miles, then rented a car and returned home. Rested one day before headed home, 8:30 am and home at 10pm. I think I could have made better time, but the 101 in northern Cal is slow. What is your limit?

[Grizzly Dave]

I prefer 10 hours at the most, but coming home from Comin At Cha, did 15 hours with two drivers. Don't know that I would have done it if it was just me.

[J. Mark Flint #31954 LIFE]

800 miles in one day in my limit unless I have a second driver with me and I am now old enough to say that I cannot repeat a trip of this length the following day. I've gone farther, but it is so highly unpleasant after the 1000 mile mark that I'd as soon not try and repeat the experience driving alone.

[Blackwater 53393]

Schoolmarm and I left Nashville, TN at midnight July 4th morning and watched the fireworks in Spearfish, SD that night. I drove on to Gillette, WY before we could find a room!!

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

Nashua, NH to Colorado Springs in 38 hours.

 

Somewhere south of Charleston, SC to Hudson, NH in 14 1/2 hours. I used I 81 and stayed out of the I 95 corridor.

[Grizzly Dave]

Back when I was much younger, Miz Grizz and I went from Lake Bemidji, MN to Lafayette, CO which is about 1000 miles, in the middle of July, with no air conditioning and I did all the driving. That was a long hot haul, I would not do that again.

[Greeenriver SASS #38681]

I normaly plan on 700 to 900 miles a day for travel alone, and 500 to 700 when the wife and little yappy dog are with me.

I will plan most trips to arrive about midmorning so I often stop a few miles short and catch a nap before arriving, regardless of distance, but if I've got the travel trailer and can get setup by dark, I will do so. I never get an early start for ant trip, usualy don't get started till about noon if the wife is with me, so that affects my travl distance a bunch. Home to kid's in NC is 845 miles. Comming down, short nap about 3:00 am and get here midmorning, NC to home leave midmorning and home that nite. Home to Shady Creek Shootsts about 475 miles, ond day each way. Home to Fandango is about 750 miles, stop close and get some sleep in way over, home in one day. So you see it varies from trip to trip depending on many factors, but have driven straight to Tucumcari, NM, from home in MI with only a short nap on the way, and that's over 1500 miles.

 

I would guess EOT from home to be a two day trip.

 

Greeenriver

[G. P. Cobb]

1600 miles one time in the car alone. Several trips in a Peterbuilt with reefer, Oxnard/Salias CA to Quebec City Canada, fifth morning delivery at 4:00am delivery, lost four time zones as I remember. Surley as a pinch younger. Ah the good ole daze.

[Spooky Joe, SASS #24061]

When my son was in college I made frequent non-stop trips between Leesburg, VA and Chicago. Always scheduled the trips to coincide with a hockey game.

 

Made 4 trips between NYC and Sebring or Daytona non-stop.

 

One non-stop trip from Texarkansas, Arkansas to Las Cruces, NM, a little over 1100 miles.

 

A lot depends on the seat in the car. Many are not really conducive to long stretches behind the wheel. SAAB, BMW, and Mercedes have very good seats. I've driven almost every make of car and the best seat I've found, bar none, was in the original Ford Taurus SHO. It had enough adjustments to fit virtually every driver.

 

Worst seat, discounting just some thin padding found in a Lotus 7 or Morgan +4, was in a Ford Pinto. One trip between McLean VA and NYC convinced to spring for a Recaro. Original seat was a chiroprator's dream.

 

After two hours in Ann Tique's Toyota Matrix I'm a wreck. No amount of adjustment or auxilliary padding solves the problem.

 

Non-stop isn't really as almost every long distance ride involves refueling and/or pit stops.

 

Two-driver trips much longer. Original Cannonball was NY to CA, almost 48 hours. Made a promotional trip for Chrysler driving a Simca 1000, NY to CA, change oil and return. Was scheduled to take the same car from Miami to Anchorage. Trip was scrubbed when equipment required for the Alcan Highway at that time by the RCMP would not all fit in the Simca.

[Springfield Slim SASS #24733]

The longest trip lately was from San Jose in northern California to the Mojave Desert area to pick up a motorcycle sidecar. 1/2 an hour loading it up and talking a bit to the guy and then drove home. About 14 hours total. Saved a bunch of shipping that way, plus got to see it in person before buying. Works great on my old beemer.

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c262/mwh...MWsidecar-1.jpg

[Mack Hacker, #60477]

Two years ago, my grandson graduated from high school. The after -graduation celebrations in this small town are well known. Some times it takes days to find all the graduates. There is usually heavy experience with alcohol and tatoos. I told my grandson that the truck was leaving that night to go to Canada for a fishing trip. Riding shotgun was to be his graduation present. I drove from here to somewhere in eastern KS. He took over in the middle of the night and drove to Council Bluffs IA. From there we split time into Fargo. It was probably about 1200, and well worth it.

 

The next four days were a fantastic return for my investment in time and money.

 

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd29/re...en/DSC00171.jpg

[Utah Bob #35998]

I have friends who like to brag of the miles they can put under their belt in one day.

500-600 is my limit. I've found that pushing it beyond that is pointless and uncomfortable.

[Smoken D]

Longest strech fer me in one drive was Phoenix Arizona to Kansas City Missouri. Toyota 4-Runner pulling a trailer. In the vehicle was bride to be, 6 parrots (Macaws), 2 wolfs, and stuff. Around 1300 miles 28/29 hours. Amazon on my shoulder all the way.

 

Now today, its snowing, ain't going nowhere. Bout as far as I go

[Allie Mo, SASS No. 25217]

Alone, seven hours.

 

With someone to keep me awake, maybe nine.

[Smuteye John SASS#24774]

In a 4 wheeler?

 

The 2002 run back home from EOT '02. Tempe, AZ to the Greater Smiths Station, AL Metroplex with only stops for gas (around 1800 miles). Then I went to sleep for 12 hours and got up to go to work. 30 mile commute, logged 450 miles in a Freightliner on my shift at the test track and drove back home.

 

In a big rig, San Diego, CA to B'ham, AL in about 56 hours. Would have been sooner but the truck was governed at 68 and I took a nap just outside El Paso, TX.

[DocDisaster # 45431]

My longest drive in one stretch by myself was from Fort Benning Ga to Miami, Fl. the kicker was that is was after injuring my right knee in Basic Airborne School. I was out processed at 15:00 hrs and arrived home the following morning at 02:00 hrs I had to drive with the seat as far back as it would go, my right leg propped up in the passenger compartment and driving with my left leg. That was an interesting drive to say the least.

 

Doc

[Cash Duckett]

California to Arkansas, 2,000 miles, 24 hours straight. (when I was younger) Only stopped for fuel, bathroom break. Tried to sleep on side of road, but didn't ever fall asleep.

Cash

 

p.s.-In a 1964 beetle!

[Deacon Will]

From my driveway to my son's driveway in St. Louis, MO area is 1,000 miles. If I drive it in our BMW. I stop once for gas and twice to eat and ocassional pit-stop. If we drive the Merceedes, two stops for gas. Drove home from MO the day after Christmas and averaged 64.4 MPH according to GPS in MB SUV.

 

[Guest Hoss Carpenter, SASS Life 7843]

In April 1978 I left Redondo Beach, CA at King Harbor Marina at noon on a Thursday alone in my new 1978 Z 28 Camero. I was sitting in my parent's home in Greenwood, MS at 2 PM on Saturday having a Bud. I spent Thursday night in Phoenix and Friday night in East side of Dallas, TX. The drive from the motel in Phoenix to the motel in Dallas was well over 1000 miles. I did have a CB Radio and ran across Texas at about 85 mph for hours.That was then; now 400 miles and I am ready to stop the night!

 

Hoss

[el Gato Gordo - SASS #15162]

I have friends who like to brag of the miles they can put under their belt in one day.

500-600 is my limit. I've found that pushing it beyond that is pointless and uncomfortable.

 

 

eGGzackly! We used to push the miles each day, but I found I enjoy it more taking our time, taking the backroads and breaking up a trip. We once took a week to get to Great Falls from Colorado Springs for the Montana State Championship at Sun River ~ followed the Oregon Trail across Wyoming, visited the Museum in Cody, and tracked pie across Montana (hey, the guidebook says this restaurant has good pie! It's only 50 miles off course.....) and another week to get home, via Glacier NP, the Bitterroots, Bannock, MT, Yellowstone and Grand Teton NP's.

 

We plan on taking 3 days to get to Winter Range, via Petrified Forest NP and visiting a favorite niece along the way, and two days to get home.

 

When I die, I seriously doubt I will regret ANY days I missed from work.

 

Buena suerte,

eGG

[ShadowCatcher]

Last week took mother in-law home, 800+ miles, then rented a car and returned home. Rested one day before headed home, 8:30 am and home at 10pm. I think I could have made better time, but the 101 in northern Cal is slow. What is your limit?

Well - a long time ago when I was a little younger, I'd try and do iron butt runs on a dare. Then I got into motorcycles

and learned that if you ride for an hour, then walk around for 15 minutes, over and over, you could do that for the whole

day - 400 - 800 miles depending on where you were and the roads, etc.

 

Since then in cars I've kept it down to an average of 500 - 600 miles at most, and have done 300 mile days and 1000 mile days

when needed.

 

From here in the Puget Sound region I get as far as Butte, Mt., Twin Falls Id. or Medford Or. before I call it a day.

 

When we road trip I like to drive for a day, or a day and a half, and then have twice as much time at the stopping point to 'not-drive', before

we take off to the next destination. I prefer to have time at the place we're going to - even intermediate stopping points, and make a grand

tour of the whole trip. Otherwise you might as well take a bus or fly - you're missing everything anyway.

 

It ain't fun if my butt hurts, it's even less fun if mama is in a bad mood . . . .

 

Shadow Catcher

[Chief Rick]

When I was stationed in Virginia it was 1,107 miles from the base to my driveway in MS. My best time for that trip, and I made it fairly often in the last year, was just over 15 hours. I was on my motorcycle and stopped seven times for just over 50 minutes total. I've been making this same run for most of 20 years and my average time, motorcycle or cage, is 17 hours. I only stop for gas/beathroom breaks and eat while I'm filling up.

 

Believe it or not, I am more comfortable on the motorcyle as I have the ability to stand on the pegs and stretch my legs. I also have heated liners (pants & jacket) and heated gloves.

 

I don't set out to make these kinds of rides for fun, but I like to maximize my time at my destination. With my family.

 

I ride ~250 miles one-way every Friday afternoon now to get home and then back to the coast on Sunday evenings.

 

400-600 miles is as far as I like to ride in one setting anymore, but I'll extend that as long as I am not tired and the destination is worth it.

 

If I am towing the camper in the van, that's another story! 300-400 miles in one day is all I enjoy. I want to start and stop while the sun is still up and I can see what I'm doing.

[Matthew Duncan]

3 hours to take wife (very pregnant) and grandmother to O'hara airport

 

3 hours to Father-in-laws to pick up his truck

 

12 hours to North Carolina for sister-in-laws graduation and load up the truck

 

12 hours back home

 

3 hours back to the airport to pick up the wife

 

Stopped in Chicago to visit friends

 

3 hours back home

 

I don't remember much about the graduation or visiting with the friends. Either the wife drove us home or I had the cruise control set...of course I was younger back then.

[Three Foot Johnson]

A few years back, I drove to SLC to pick up a lathe, and made the ~1000 mile round trip in about 16 hours.

 

I have friends who do a lot of RVing and they have a "Rule of Twos"; Never drive more than two hours at a time, never drive more than two hundred miles a day, and be off the road and in a campground by two o'clock.

 

Anymore, I'm ready for a break after two hundred miles, but when I was in the Navy in the 70's, I would routinely drive ~750 miles home from Whidbey Island, stopping just long enough to gas up.

[Deadeye Doug Dalton SASS#65449L]

DOT allows 10 hours of driving time out of every 24 hours. This is not counting rest stops, fuel stops, or

 

loading/unloading stops. Speed or distance covered don't matter. Ten hours behind the wheel is a good guide. I have

 

done more, on occasion, but that's pushing it. Guys brag about dong double that, or even more. I don't want to be on

 

the road with fools like that. Something to remember; It's estimated that one in ten big rigs on the road is being driven

 

by a tired driver, or has safety/equiptment issues. Considering that an 18 wheeler can weigh 80,000 lbs, or more, It's

 

a good idea to be sharp when you're out there.

 

 

There's an old joke, around truck stops, that goes: Why does North American Van Line have a big arrow, pointing

 

forward, on the side of their trailers? Answer: That's so the rookie drivers will know which end to hook up to.

 

Think about it.

[Jack Houston # 35508]

In '09 I drove to Phoenix for Winter Range in 21 hours straight. 1150+ miles. I was excited to go to my first WR !!

After the worst shooting experiance of my life, it took 2 days to come home!

[Boondock Saint, #70146]

Way back when I left El Paso, TX and drove to Jasper, AL. I stopped at the rest area on I-20 at the Bama / MS state line and slept for an hour. Total time, including the nap, was 24 hours. A tick under 1300 miles.

 

Now days 800 miles would be about all I could stand and 600 would be more like it.

[Dawg Hair, SASS #29557]

The longest trip lately was from San Jose in northern California to the Mojave Desert area to pick up a motorcycle sidecar. 1/2 an hour loading it up and talking a bit to the guy and then drove home. About 14 hours total. Saved a bunch of shipping that way, plus got to see it in person before buying. Works great on my old beemer.

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c262/mwh...MWsidecar-1.jpg

 

 

 

Cute kids, cool Bimmer, where'd ya get it? The bike, not the kids!

[quiet jake]

I usta jest stop fer fuel until getting to wherever I was headed. Drove Boise~LA & slept in the Mohave Desert under a starry starry sky after playing craps in Vegas a while.....pretty long day though. Done in a 1959 220S Mercedes sedan.....impressive comfortable old round-body, 6 cylinder, 4 on the tree. independent suspension, 2-2bbl carbs IIRC.

 

Now Mr. Bladder has a bigger vote on them stops, my own built in version of traveling with that 'yappy dog'.

 

But I'm retirednow and don't need ta get so far down the road as years ago.

[Pay Dirt Norvelle #90056]

Longest one day drive for me was from Boise, Idaho to San Jose, California. I don't remember the hours, but it was a looong drive for sure.

[Curley Cole, SASS #56849]

It once took me THREE days to get to the Grand Canyon..............................And I left from Barstow.! I like to dawdle along the way...

 

curley

[shenny]

Nashua, NH to Colorado Springs in 38 hours.

 

Somewhere south of Charleston, SC to Hudson, NH in 14 1/2 hours. I used I 81 and stayed out of the I 95 corridor.

 

 

I don't know how I-81 is out of Virginia, but from south of Roanoke to Northern Va. it is one very dangerous road. Many fatal traffic accidents.

[Oklahomabound]

Now days, having had back surgery, multiple car wrecks, and things that just happen; driving is done in terms of hours, generally limited to not more than 7 1/2 hours. Being retired, I've learned that I can get there when I get there. But prefer 6 1/2 hours; this is for the 40' diesel pusher with towed or the Suburban....

[blazeafar SASS # 6750]

Lets see, in 2007 drove from southern Brazil to Cusco Peru and back.

14 days on the road and 5629 miles. Longest days journey, 578 miles.

310 miles of dirt/sand/gravel.

Highest altitude, 15731 feet.

 

In 2009 drove from southern Brazil to Ushuaia Argentina and back.

14 days on the road and 7332 miles. Longest days journey, 714 miles.

950 miles of dirt/sand/gravel.

[Marshal Dan Troop 70448]

Me and BlueJeans regulary drive to Illinois, Momence, 50 miles south of Chicago, about 1200 miles straight through. About 15 to 17 hours. MT