Unless you live on an island, and a small one at that, you’ve probably had occasion to drive at least a few hours non-stop. On a proper road trip, perhaps your driving stints go as long as six hours, assuming you’ve got a co-driver to switch off with.
But what about really big solo hours? Not necessarily alone in the car, but a single driving session where you didn’t relinquish the wheel? Perhaps you’ve gone eight or ten hours.
Or even longer?
Mind you, I’m not trying to determine who among us has the biggest fuel tank and/or bladder. Ya gotta stop for gas and the call of nature, and while that may count as a leg-stretching, it’s not a proper break if you just gas up, hit the head, and grab a snack that you only unwrap once you’re back on the interstate. Side note: If you’re picking up a brisket sandwich at Bucc-ee’s, I recommend you just take the extra 15 minutes to eat it in the parking lot or else you’ll be wearing it.
The longest I’ve gone with only quick gas and/or drive-thru stops is about ten hours, in an effort to make up time when the first two legs of a Dallas to Newport, RI road trip took longer than expected. After that much wheel time, I’m just too tired to keep going. I don’t really fall asleep, but my brain does this weird thing where there’s a lag between what I’m seeing and what I’m doing. Maybe it’s a sleeping-with-eyes-open thing. Anyway, that’s when I ask my wife to take over or ask Waze to find a motel.
Your turn: what’s the longest you’ve gone/can go in a non-stop driving session?
Top graphic image: DepositPhotos.com
I’ve done around 18 hours a couple times. Most recently was Humboldt -> Portland -> somewhere in Montana for a 45 minute nap. That was probably around 17-18 hours. Then on to Fargo, ND after the nap where we finally got a motel room. That was probably another 12 hours or so.
Fremont, CA to McMinnville, OR, on PCH 101. 14 hours for 700 miles or so. It was a Hertz Pontiac Grand Prix. There were four of us, and I found out the others were not licensed to drive about 3 hours into the journey. After I was convinced to ‘take the scenic route’.
Fog, rain, bad drivers on the undivided sections (including a local cop who was straddling the double-yellow) made the drive miserable. We made a couple of stops for gas, and one unscheduled pee stop in a sketchy rest house.
Who am I kidding? I’d do it again. Probably in a different car, but the drive was beautiful and we were surrounded by nature in all its glory.
Made it to my college at 4 AM, to my find myself bolted out of my on-campus apartment by my safety-conscious roommates. Slept in the rental, and showed up for class at 8.30 AM.
Seabrook Island, SC back to Boston, MA. Didn’t set out to do it all in one go so we didn’t even leave until around 8:30 am. Got caught trying to get around traffic in DC by trying to take 301 but got jammed up with an accident for at least an hour just before the Harry Nice bridge. Bailed on our original plan to find a place to stay over south of Philly around 8-9pm, figured it would have been rougher attempting to get a few hours of sleep because we needed to be up early AM anyway to beat the NYC traffic Saturday AM. Drove straight through with zero interruptions the rest of the way. Arrived at 2:12AM the following day. I am looking at the picture I took of the dashboard that night: 973 miles, 16:50 hours, 58 mph average, 23.6 mpgs (was in our old ‘21.5 Atlas 6 cylinder). Two adults, two kids and one amazing tether to T-Mobile to power the kids tablets (first time allowed in the car – no tears over the course of over 2k miles driven that week). I drove the whole time. Planning on a similar trip later this month. Will split the drive down into two days, drive home likely in one go – because I know it’s possible and I am driving as the solo adult this time while the other adult takes to the air due to other scheduling reasons.
I covered the ~1300km drive from Calgary to Winnipeg, solo, with exactly one 10 minute stop to fuel up halfway. The CVT Impreza I had at the time was ruthlessly efficient
Longest time-wise, solo, was the 2014 Atlanta Snowmageddon.
The office had blankets, food and drink, but traffic LOOKED like it was moving, from out my office window, mid-afternoon.
12 hours to drive 35 miles. I did think to bring bottled water and peanuts. My Focus with a stick and traction control sauntered past many stuck 4WD vehicles.
You say “non-stop”, but I’ve just recently completed a 6000 mile road trip from Detroit to the Oregon coast, north to Washington, and back home across the northern route down from Michigan’s UP in a 4Xe Grand Cherokee. I did this in the span of two weeks. Depending on my plans for each day, some drives were short while others were quite long. The most miles I had driven on that trip was, oddly enough, 666 miles with stops for gas and an hour break for a late lunch.
I’ve road-tripped to, from, and through 48 states from Detroit as my starting point now. The longest non-stop trip I’ve taken now is likely a tie between the two following:
After a family trip to New Orleans, my wife and kids were convinced that we could make it back to Michigan in a day. We did with the only stops being for gas, snacks, and bathroom breaks. Roughly 1200 miles and 18 hours in a Dodge Charger 5.7L.After spending a month in California for the winter, we were heading back home during another “storm of the century”. It was a straight-line storm that stretched all the way from the northern to the southern border of the US. While we followed the storm through desert dust storms, we were eventually stopped in Gallup New Mexico for two days to ride out a massive dropping of snow along all routes. This set us back and had us strategizing our route back carefully. We drove through a lot of two-track snow paths that were once state highways in Texas until we called it a night somewhere in Kansas after white-knuckeling the steering wheel all day. However, from there the next morning, we drove about 1300 miles straight home on a mostly clear path along the Eisenhower until we rolled my salt and icicle covered 392 Challenger into the driveway sometime late in the evening near midnight.Flying is for suckers.
Edit: I should add that the driving was and still is all me. We don’t switch off driving between my wife and I. It’s just me and we both enjoy it that way.
20 hours from Pittsburgh to Dallas. Got within an hour of Dallas and I couldn’t take it and had to pull over and park in a lot for an hour to nap, then drove the last hour in and slept several at the hotel once checked in. Friend was -supposed- to split the driving with me, but fell asleep instantly, and I rather that they did that from the passenger seat as opposed to while driving, so I just drove it all myself.
Was it better in the 80’s? – Mid 80’s, after finishing Uni I lived in Sydney and I had a girl friend in Brisbane roughly 900kms. The New England “highway” was the better road between the two. As most Australian highways it was a single lane in each direction with a constant procession of trucks. I would leave after work on Friday night and arrive about 10 hours later. Leave again on Sunday night in time for work Monday morning. Went well for about 5 months until the Nissan Pulsar ET decided to defy gravity and fly, tuck and roll. Those early turbos were fun until they weren’t! Truckie I had just past stopped to pick me up and dropped me at the next servo. Mr. Plod who came to pick me up took me back to car. Appropriate stories were agreed and then I was dropped off at the train station to catch a train back to Sydney in time for work. I caught the bus until they repaired that car although it was never the same again.
About 30 hours straight driving from Lawrenceville, GA to SLC, UT. Part of an ambitious 48 hour non-stop trip to pick up my wife’s “perfect” truck. Left home ~3am to get flight out of SLC. Signed paperwork & was on the road out of ATL area by 1pm local. By the time I hit Denver I knew I’d push the last 8 hours home. Got home a little before midnight the day after I left.
Regularly do the 20 hours from SLC area to northern MN family in a single push. College days I’d drive 12 hours after work Friday to spend a weekend with my girlfriend then back late Sunday just in time to get to work Monday morning.
I did 30 hours once, and never will again. After 24 I was seeing shit that wasn’t there. But by then I was in North Dakota or eastern Montana, there wasn’t anything to see anyway.
The 12 hour college days were across MT, ND, & MN. Other than Theodore Roosevelt NP there isn’t a lot from Big Timber to MN. I’ve done that drive more than my fingers & toes can count.