How far can you drive in one sitting?

11 plus hrs alone from NC to PA w/ only coffee/ pee stops. After I hit my mattress I'd suddenly wake up... clutching for the steering wheel.

poopshovel wrote:

You sir, are soft.

Nah. I'm just way less of a...um...what's the politically correct term..."copper wire maker" than my dad. I'll crash. Or fly. If you can't afford $60 for a hotel room, wtf are you doing making the trip!?

I hear you. The money isn't the issue, it's traveling with four kids and a dog. When it's just me it's so easy to stop and grab six hours. Most states between here and there require two rooms for six people and then there's the dog and it's damn hard to get any real sleep when it's said and done. I think I need Mongo.

I did 14 hours, roughly how long it took me to get six people from Jeffersonville, IN to Jackson, MS. I could have done quicker, but my parents got bored. Wait... it was a six hour stretch before my first stop. So... the day was 14 hours of driving a measly 600+ miles. I like my naps, I guess.

I did ~850 in one day once on 2 wheels. Yeah, I was tired. When that thunderstorm (understatement) in South Dakota pushed me over 1 lane on the interstate, that's when I decided it was time to stop.

10 hours or so in a good car given enough mountain dew and starting out awake. My time to stop an hour ago point is when my eyes cant keep up with the taillights on bumps and E36 M3 gets jiggly.

when I was 21 I did NJ to Little Rock in one shot, about 1200 miles.

more recently did NJ to AZ solo w/out getting a room, pulled over & napped as the afternoon sun got lower only so my eyes wouldn't be effed for driving all night.

I got an early start on the long haul - as a wee lad I drove from Ft Lauderdale to NJ before I had my license, though a friend & I shared the driving. we drove through insane lightning storms that ignited brush fires all along 95.

I love long distance driving.

I just put in a 13hr day yesterday, driving from northern PA to SC on the way to Atlanta. An hour and a half of that was either crawling or stopped because of accidents or E36M3 traffic - I'm looking at you Charlotte with a an ugly side glance to Virginia.

When I was ready to stop and get a hotel room, everyone was booked. An hour later I finally found a room and I was beyond whacked from dealing with maniacal drivers and biblical rains. At least I was an hour closer to home.

Lima Ohio to Harrisburg Pa to Knoxville TN to Harrisburg PA to Knoxville TN to Harrisburg PA (4 hours sleep) to Lima Ohio.

Chicago to Atlantic City to Chicago. Dropped off a car in PA on the way, picked up another in NJ and another in Toledo on the way back. I was tired when I got home.

Also did Chicago to Rapid City back to Sioux Falls before I had to sleep a couple hours. There is nothing out there on that drive!

All of those were after working all day.

In 2010 I drove from Lincoln NE (Solo Nats) to Loganville straight. Well almost straight, I made it to welcome center below in N. Ga, before I had to stop for a nap. I left Lincoln at 8 am cst and made it home about 3 am est, about 19 hrs (with a hour nap included). That was a bit too much, 14 hours is a good limit for me.

Knowing when you need to nap is important.

The longest I've done in one shot was about 18 hours. I used to have a run at work where I drove about 10.5 a day, but It was broken up in to three pieces so it didn't feel to bad.

I did something stupid like 3000kms straight once. I tried to sleep (twice) in the truck. It didn't work. It was basically sitting there in the truck trying to sleep. The first 'REST" stop was near Seattle Washington, but I didn't sleep for the whole two hours we were stopped. The next stop was somewhere in the middle of nowhere pulled over in Idaho, again, I didn't sleep for the 2 hours we were pulled over. I did sleep for about 2-3 hours from spokane to seattle when I switched out with my buddy.

I was a bit crazy by the time we got back to Edmonton. It was worth it to pickup the rallycar though... wouldn't do it again.

Toledo to Columbus, NE more times than I care to count. At least 2x a year.

Denver to Jackson, WY and back for court.

Phoenix to Jackson, WY. In a TJ rubicon w a 4" lift and 33" MTR's, top was down to SLC. That was tough.

Denver to Toledo with my ex. I wanted to strangle her about midway through Iowa.

Kinda seeing if I can talk a buddy to driving down to Austin from Toledo for the F1 race this year. I could do that in one shot, but I'd rather have a co-driver.

fasted58 wrote: 11 plus hrs alone from NC to PA w/ only coffee/ pee stops. After I hit my mattress I'd suddenly wake up... clutching for the steering wheel.

I hate that, it happens to me after any really long drive or if I drive home tired. Just start falling asleep and then bolt up thinking I'm about to crash, or suddenly find myself wondering if I'm gonna make it home before I pass out and then realize I'm already in bed.

I'm going to attempt Indianapolis to Colorado Springs in one shot on Saturday, leaving around 8pm.

I did 18 hrs a few times when the motivation was right. If I'm not on a schedule, I tend to do 8 and then stop.

Toyman01 wrote: My record behind the wheel is 22 hours non-stop except for gas and restrooms. 12-14 hours was SOP 4 days a week. I was in my 20s at the time. I have woken up on the interstate with two tires in the grass staring at the end of a guard rail. I have driven through towns and not even remembered it. I have zoned out, missed an exit and ended up in another state 100 miles later. Now, at 45, anything over 10-12, I'm stopping for the night. Apparently you do get smarter with age. Or maybe you just start feeling mortal.

+1

I once did 1400 miles in 17 hours, to make it to my mom's funeral. I'm too old for that crap. Hope mom doesn't die again. Oh wait...

Depends on how flat/boring the road is and how many Radiolab, Freakonomics, and TedTalk I can fit on the the MP3 stick before I leave.

Boy, you guys are tough. I think 8 hrs is the most I've ever done and I've done that a lot. I'm sure I could have gone further if necessary when I was younger, but not now.

Denver Colorado to Wayne, NJ 1,800 miles with a short rest in Indiana (too cold to sleep). Never again! 10-12 Hours is reasonable, more than that is risky.

Amateurs.

Last weekend I did 976 miles in 17 hours pulling stuff. I'd say driving hours is different that towing hours.

30hrs one "sitting". Done that 3 times now, Indy to Tucson. It's harsh but you get it over and done with quickly. Normally though we try to keep it down to 10-12 hours at a time.

It depends on the kind of driving. Last week I did DC-New Haven CT-DC, about 640 miles with a stop to pick up a bicycle (a very, very nice bicycle) and a quick lunch at the mid point.

The trip up was about 5 hours including one coffee stop and a pee break 100 miles later. The 525i wagon inhales miles amazingly, and goes forever on a tank so it was nothing.

On the trip back however, Yvonne, my GPS, re-calculated while I wasn't looking and before I knew it, rather than a straight shot around the East side of Manhattan to the NJ tpk I was in the Queens-Midtown tunnel, then across town in gridlock to the Lincoln Tunnel to road construction on the Jersey Turnpike from the tunnel to exit 7 or so.

I'll mention that I haven't had time to install the big-bore clutch slave since the Clutchmasters kit went in, and the car has an INCREDIBLY heavy clutch pedal. So the 7+ hour trip back about did me in.

In easy traffic headed west I could do successive 750 mile days, I'm sure.

I remember a 2 hour trip in traffic in my '62 Sprite that wore me out. I'm only good for about 45 minutes a day in the radical. So it depends.

In reply to Swank Force One:

I70 through Kansas SUUUUCKS.