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
Christmas 2004 – Tucson, Arizona to Fort Walton Beach, Florida (my parents’ house), to Rome, Georgia (my friend/travel partner’s mom), to Taos, New Mexico (mutual friend), then back to Tucson. Ten days, 4750 miles, and I drove all but about 250 miles of it, because I took a nap somewhere in Texas on the way out.
That was also the first time I ever drove out an entire tank or gas without even shutting off the car. I stopped for fuel, filled up, drove away, and didn’t stop until I’d run low on gas again – roughly 350 miles in one shot.
Longest I did was when I bought my 01 XJ in Boulder, CO. I cannonballed it back to Houston, TX only stopping for gas and to use the bathroom. I think it ended up being around 21 hours all in. That included eating all meals behind the wheel.
A retired trucker buddy told me how he would leave Evergreen, Alabama with his load, bound for the West Coast, and he wouldn’t stop until it was time for fuel – in El Paso. Yikes.
Thirteen hours from Minneapolis to Norman, OK. Three gas stops.
About 12 hours straight solo taking my bosses custom ordered F150 with about 720 miles of range. Straight through, no gas stops. From western NY to NC.
With a couple short stops for gas about 20-22 hours straight from NY to just south of Orlando.
In my slightly older age, I try not to do legs of more than 8 hours.
I’ve done some long ones from Texas to Michigan and Florida to Michigan, but my proudest one was 508 miles to Maryland to visit a friend in my Taurus SHO in 8 hours 15 min on a single tank of gas. I stopped for a <10 min sandwich break halfway. I was sweating that last few miles to the gas station, though. No cell phone to tell me where the stations would be!
Not sure the exact time but it was over 24hours and probably close to 30hours when my now ex and I drove from Joliet IL to Vegas to get her dog. Since I had to drive about an hour from where I lived to pick her up and then hit the road plus fuel stops. I was in my 2000 F350 7.3 I had (yeah not the greatest road trip vehicle) and had to take the northern route through Salt Lake since there was a road closure in Colorado due to an avalanche. Since I drove both the northern there and southern route back I drove through 11 states.
I drove straight to Vegas without sleeping and she did not take over until we were a bit way into Arizona on the way back and she only took over for a few hours. So I would say total in a 3 day weekend I drove over 50hours. It was very stupid of me but then again I was young and stupid at the time. Oh and she did not drive much as she had not gotten her license back yet since she had a recent DUI so also not smart.
Side note and mentioned on here before I was also driving to and from Chicagoland to DC area every other weekend back in 2023 into 2024 before I decided not to move to VA.
TLDR: I don’t recommend driving another over 20hrs straight haha.
I’ve done a few 10hr/1000km hauls.
There’s not much joy in them. They’re usually point A – point B – point A round trips, because I need to do/get something in person.
I’m glad that sort of driving is now as optional as it humanly can be.
When I was 20 and completed tech school, I drove my ’82 Escort from Phoenix from to Seattle. I think it was 18 or 19 hours before we stopped at a rest area in Oregon and I slept for about an hour before finishing the trip.
Made it to my grandparents place in Seattle and slept for a full day. Hopped in the car to go and start looking for work – hit the key and the timing belt shat itself right there.
Two consecutive 16 hour days solo driving a ’69 Ford F250 with all my worldly possessions from Ottawa to Saskatoon. About 3000km. The truck had two saddle tanks in addition to the tank behind the back seat, so even with the thirsty 360 FE V8 I only had to stop for fuel once each day. I did have to stop for “the call of nature” more often than that.
I also did that same trip non-stop one December in a ’72 Mazda Rx-2, but had a relief driver for about 6 hours in the middle of it. We left at around midnight so we would be doing the drive around Lake Superior in daylight. The last eight hours or so involved driving through a blizzard in the dark and hallucinating animals in the headlight-illuminated snow between Winnipeg and Saskatoon.
Lubbock, TX to Tyler, TX (450 miles) in one shot, no stops thanks to being crazy in college with a VW Jetta TDI with a range of like 750 miles. 7-8 hours depending on traffic. I think I did it at least once both directions.
6-ish hours? Hampton Beach, NH back to PHL.
Longest was a drive from Portland, Oregon to LAX. I did an 6 hour stint until my bladder was about to burst (but it definitely kept me awake). Then the next 4 hours seemed particularly easy. Had 4 gas breaks on that trip down, which was really good for that little Corolla.
But I didn’t like it, and I would never want to do it again.
I’ve powered through 16-17 hours many times to visit my folks with just bathroom, fuel, and food stops, but I find it much harder to do in the last 5-10 years. I’m a control freak though, so I don’t really let others drive much. When we caravan out to North Dakota this year with the trailer (about 24 hours in total, but over multiple days), I’m forcing the wife to learn to drive with the trailer. We’ve had it 5 years and the trailer before it for like 10 and she’s never towed anything. There’s really not much to it, other than taking corners wider, remembering that you have an extra 23′ behind you, and remembering that it takes longer to stop. I just don’t want her first time towing to be if something happens to me that I can’t drive it.
~23 hours. Norfolk Va to Northern MN. Driving a 1973 Pontiac Grand Am. I did stop for food/fuel and a bit of a walk in the middle.
4 hrs, zero stopping or breaks, from NOVA (Dulles airport area) back home to NYC so I can drive the kid to skating practice at 8AM on Sunday.
I bought a used telescope from a fellow in NC or SC (don’t remember) and it was too delicate and too bulky to ship. We agreed to meet kind of halfway between NYC and NC/SC to hand over the scope and moolah.
NJTP with zero traffic is almost enjoyable.
Back when I was young and dumb, I was working for a Geotechnical Contractor and transporting a piece of replacement equipment from our yard in NH to a project in SW Pennsylvania, right on the WV line. I drove straight thru, I think I went about 12 or 13 hours with only a break or two for fuel and snacks. Then after unloading the new gearbox and loading up the burned out one, I headed back. Probably made it another 5 or 6 hours before giving up and finding a fleabag hotel and crashing out.
Best part was, I got home the next day, Saturday, and after leaving the broken equip in the truck over the weekend, I got a call from the superintendent while driving to back the yard on Monday. The other gearbox (these drill rigs had two interlocking planetary gearboxes) was damaged as well and I needed to do it all over again. After many curses, comments about checking everything over before ordering parts to be shipped cross country, comments on the mechanics questionable mental capacity, and hanging up on the Super at least once, maybe twice, I did it all again. But I stopped for some rest this time around and didn’t drive straight thru. F-em… they could wait this time.
13ish hours from Florence, KY to Worcester, MA for the Oppo Rally several years ago only stopping for gas in Cleveland, then the full day of rallying around MA, then came back on the Sunday only stopping to look at Niagara Falls, gas in Cleveland again and then straight home. I am bad at stopping for rest and food, like really bad.
in my 20s (long ago) I did Denver to San Diego – about 17 hours
last year I drove Denver to St Louis – 13 hours
in 2 weeks doing Denver to Las Vegas (and back) – about 12 hours each
I once went Bordeaux departing in the morning, lunch in Paris, dinner in Maranello and back to Barcelona (in the middle of a weekday rush hour, no less). About 28 hours only significantly stopping for eating. Almost 2800km. Complete madness.
The night part was specially hard, not only due to tiredness but also because not all petrol station along the road were open, so you had to choose carefully. I did in an MX-5, so fuel tank wasn’t massive either.
Moss magical moment, the early morning hours when the sun was starting to raise. Hardly any traffic and the sky looked beautiful.
It was absolute madness though.
18 hours, from 70 miles or so east of Kansas City to Beaver Utah, heading to L.A. In July with no AC. Had to hunker down from tornadoes the night before, so an early rise and nothing better to do than drive. Finally gave up once I made it to I-15. The things I did in my 20’s.
About 15 years ago Dad and I drove back from a TDY I had at Port Hueneme, Cali to Tallahassee, Florida.
We went 1500 miles out of the way and stayed off the interstate until Texas. Left from an uncle’s place outside Grapevine Texas and I couldn’t do it anymore. Drove straight through. Stopped for gas, stopped for bathrooms, but he and I stayed in the truck and I drove us all the way through, 18ish hours
We entered Florida and it was a sstretch of I-10 I knew very well and there at the end I swear to god I started to see “Entering ______ County” with county names that did not exist.
Portland Oregon to Southern California 13 hours 43 minutes. In a 1980 Honda Civic with everything I owned filling the car. I stopped three times for gas one of which I went through a drive through to grab some food. I really wanted to get home and restart my life after a failed relationship.
About 8 hours, driving a 1st gen Subaru Impreza from San Jose to San Diego, CA after a friend bought it as a WRX engine swap candidate.
I’ve done plenty of longer road trips but usually with a partner to split the driving.
Peoria area to Metropolis, IL, and back. Was even worse because a bad vibration developed in the steering wheel of the Sentra I had at the time, which turned out to be tie rod ends.
3 maybe 4 hours. I’m too obsessed with truck stops and roadside oddities to last more than that. I only made it that far because I was traveling West and there just wasn’t anything to stop at lol