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 went 9 or 10 hours once when I was younger but I refuse to do that kind of crap any longer. I will drive maybe 4 hours non-stop these days but even that is rare. I’m not in a hurry any longer and I find trying to squeeze as much drive time as possible kind of makes the whole trip experience worse.
Back in my late teens and early twenties we used to drive from northern Wisconsin to Green Bay to go to concerts. Back before the Internet, we used to pay cash for our tickets at a local record store. I am not a drinker, so I would be the one driving my friends to Green Bay. It was a three-hour drive back then, but I remember one of my friends telling me that we had to leave around midnight the night before the show if we wanted to get good seats, since the arena was 100% general admission tickets. Of course, he didn’t tell me until the day before the show while I was in school, so I finished my classes, went home, then stayed up the rest of the day before starting off around midnight to go on our adventure. I was 18, tickets to see Queensrÿche’s ‘Operation Mindcrime’ and Metallica’s ‘…And Justice For All’ show only cost $16.50, and gas was just over $1.00 per gallon.
So we made it to Green Bay around 3:00 a.m. We got to park for free because nobody was there yet to collect the $5.00 parking fee. We walked up to the doors of the arena and were the first ones there. Others started trickling in between 4 and 5 a.m. By 9:00 a.m., the line was halfway around the arena. There was a gas station down the block where we could buy snacks and use the restrooms. This was also before cell-phones but there was a pay phone right at the entrance so we called Domino’s and had a couple of pizzas delivered for our lunch. People behind us in line liked that idea so lots of people came up to use the pay phone to order food as well.
At around 5:30 p.m. they opened the doors and instructed us to walk, not run, to the front row area barricades where we were told to sit on the concrete floor. We sat there and watched the place fill up. Finally, at around 7:00, the lights dimmed, we all stood up, and there was Queensrÿche. And we were in the front row! After they finished, we waited standing up for 30 minutes until again, the lights dimmed, The Ecstasy Of Gold started playing, and then WHAM! Strobe lights, explosions, and then Metallica was right there in front of us.
That show finally ended after 11:00 pm, since they did two encores. Since we had gotten there so early, we had to wait almost an hour to get out of the parking lot. Then the 3-hour drive home. By the time I got home I had been up for around 45 hours straight! To be honest, I don’t remember much of that drive home. Everybody else fell asleep, but somehow I got us home safely. But it was definitely worth it. I think I slept about 4 hours before I had to get up and go to school. I was still wearing my concert t-shirt that I bought at the show. Turned out about 20 people from my school had gone to that show. We would talk about it when we saw the t-shirts in the hallways.
Of course, I did something similar in 1991 when Metallica showed up in Green Bay for the Black Album tour, but I was in College then and it wasn’t as far as a drive, and tickets had gone up to $19.50 by then.
So yeah, it was only three hours each way. And there was 21 hours between getting there and leaving again, but that still felt like the longest drive of my life due to being awake for 45 hours.
Looking back, my wife says I must have been nuts back then, but getting to see Metallica from the front row on the ‘Justice’ tour was definitely worth staying up 45 hours straight.
Ahh, the joy of having your ‘office’ in a Freightliner. High up to see the traffic. Lots of mirrors to see what’s behind/beside you, a big windshield to masacree bugs.
10-11 hours a day, 5 or 6 days a week, with brief pit stops so your bladder doesn’t make life miserable.
28+ years, a couple million miles. Coast to coast, border to border. Sun, rain, snow or ice.
The last 10 years or so, strictly Northeast so not necessarily as many miles a day, even with the same seat time.
Now that I’m retired, though, and there isn’t air-ride seat or cab on my pickemup truck, and I like my afternoon nap, I stop when I feel like it.
And finding a parking spot for the pickup is waayyy easier than the Freightliner.
I appreciate you folks going 12-18 hours driving. Be glad it’s only once in a while.
The last time I did it was from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan through Canada to Central New York in my pickup. A little over 900 miles in about 15 hours during my working years. Did the same run a couple weeks ago, and took a day and a half and I didn’t miss the rushing at all.
Back when I was a long-haul truck driver, I used to haul paper products from Portland Oregon to Winnipeg, Manitoba. I’d drive 11 hours, sleep in the truck, take off, drive 11 more, sleep in the truck and drive a couple hours more between 2 am and 4 am, then deliver to three different Costcos from 0400 to 0800. Other than fueling up and border paperwork, I was in the truck the whole time, I had a fridge and microwave and an APU(Auxillary Power Unit) to stay warm in the winter.
Canadian Prairie Provinces are very, very large.
I’m a wimp behind the wheel, 8 hours is my maximum.
But my friend is an Energizer Bunny at the helm, he just keeps going, and going! He once drove from Paducah, KY to Pensacola FL, hooked up a 25 ft sailboat and trailer, then drove to Madison,WI by himself, stopping only for fuel.
I would love to see a European version of this thread haha
When I was in Lisbon, I spied was a Suzuki Jimny from Estonia.
I’ve worked with people with absurd weekly “commutes”, like Germany to Croatia, or Berlin to Munich.
Longest I’ve been on the road without a stop is about 5 hours on my BMW RT.
In a car it is more like 4 hours max but generally we stop every 2 to 3.
17-18 hours, or 1200 miles/day in the saddle is about it for me, and there’s been so many big trips like that over the years. Last major trip like that was far SE Virginia to eastern Iowa–1100 miles in one shot, last year. Fuel range was meh (300 mi or so, ’18 Volvo XC90), but the seats and the rest of the car were a darned nice place to grind out the miles. The year before that it was eastern Iowa to Charleston SC… and back, in 2 1/2 days, to trade cars with one of my nieces. Split the first leg to work in a Monday morning Tail of the Dragon cruise, then straight through from Charleston to home on the return, next day. Other stupid trips in similar times? Boston to eastern Iowa in 17 hours, Iowa to SLC in 17. Then there was north of Sacramento back to Iowa…in winter. So, Sac- Albuquerque, and ABQ back home in 15 hours per day’s drive, due to 80 being closed in both the Sierra AND all of Wyoming, and managed to dodge snowstorms on I-40 and US 54 It’s so much easier to drive quickly and smoothly in the western half of the US, for sure.
As for stops, I tend to do fuel/bathroom breaks about every 300 miles or so, but have done 400 mile stints non-stop. The longest was right at 500… while the car did it, the bladder was marginal.
It’s 15 hours and 940 miles from Virginia to Iowa and I used to do it non-stop.
Once upon a time I could do five, six hours nonstop without any physical break. Now that I’m old…maybe 3 hours tops but usually 2 or a little more then a 5 minute quick stop to stretch and walk around a bit. A few weeks ago I drove Boise to Billings, MT, about 9.5 hours with only a brief break every couple of hours. It wasn’t as much fun as it used to be.
About 15-16 hours; Key West, New Orleans, NW Arkansas, and Northern Wisconsin back to Raleigh, NC. Mostly 1,000 per trip, all fairly quick round-trips (long weekend to a week).
Longest without getting out of the car was about 9 hours/600 miles from NW Arkansas to just past Nashville, TN, and then 9h/650 miles from Raleigh, NC to Very Beach, FL. A Mercedes E-Class diesel can go a long way without stopping for fuel.
18 hours from a dirt bike trip in the Rockies west of Fort Collins back to my home in Madison
Longest solo no stop: 500 miles in 8+ hours Lexington to Buffalo. Bladder gave out before the tank (thank you TDI Passat).
Longest solo with stops: 600+ miles 10 hours from somewhere MD to central ME. This was on an FZ6, just about earned my Iron Butt on that trip.
Longest with at least others in the vehicle? Maybe Rochester to Auburn University at 1050 miles. Driving a Penske Truck.
The longest without stopping at all (as in no bathroom, no gas, just drive) was Bethlehem, PA to Henniker, NH. Roughly a 6 hour drive, I did this multiple times. A beige ’98 Camry equipped with classic Camry dent was the vehicle of choice. The college long-distance relationship being the why.
Shout out to the Camry and it’s 250k miles for routinely being blasted up and down the east coast during this phase of my life, with hardly an issue (except that one time the water pump exploded but you know, original water pump on a car with 250k, these things happen).
Sixteen plus hours from Sacramento to Albuquerque with just two gas n’ gos, followed by a six hour rest stop, then another 15 and a half hours to Jackson, Mississippi and a four hour break, capped off by a five-hour “dash” to Ft. Walton Beach, Florida because when the military says be there in no later than 48 hours, you don’t dawdle. Made it with time to spare and only a couple of “life passing before my eyes” moments.
…and then you were in Florida.
Worst part of the trip.
Ex USAF here – and a USAF Brat to a First Sergeant.
Why didn’t they just give you a plane ticket if you needed to be there in 48 hours?
Because the military doesn’t like military members driving more than 400 miles in a day – you actually lose out on per-diem when you drive too far ahead of schedule – and then you’re too exhausted to work when you arrive.
And if you need to be there quickly – You get issued a plane ticket.
Because they screwed up. I had PCS orders to the Pacific and took leave enroute to drive my car to my parents’ on the east coast to leave it. On the day I was to depart on my cross country trip home, I was informed that I had to go to familiarization training at Hurlburt Field before I went overseas that assignments had overlooked. Because of squadron deployment, I needed to get to Hurlburt in two days. I literally had my car loaded and ready to go and had been approved to fly back from the East Coast before catching a contract flight out Oakland to the PI. It was decided that it was more expedient to let me drive to FL as I would’ve been on the road East anyway, rather than flying me to FL, then back to Sacramento when I would then drive to my parents. I gave up five days of my leave so that my PCS departure date didn’t have to be changed though it did shorten my visit home. This was blessed by everyone and off I went on my adventure. You would not believe what else was screwed up in that PCS move, but that’s a story for another time. Been 43 years since those events.
I get it now – I did similar when I was PCS’d to Japan in 1990, tho not to that degree.
Drove from Sacramento to Maryland over several days with a buddy who was going home for a visit, dropped off the car at Mom and Dad’s and picked up a military flight charter 747 from DC to Yokota via LAX and Anchorage (Where we stopped to refuel, stretch our legs, get a bite to eat and watch a Moose cross the tarmac)
First and only time aboard a 747 – and I was in a “window seat” with no window for the entire trip.
In dress blues.
Upon arrival at Yokota – I expected a simple arrival and a ride to the dorms where I could grab a quick bite and crash. Oh No…
My entire detachment (except the Commander – He was a dick) showed up at the terminal to greet me and they took me to the NCO club for lunch. So by the time my Supervisor took me to the dorms, I was dead.
A few days later, my Supervisor took me to the used car lot off base which was run by a Veteran who dealt with Military guys who needed cheap cars – where I chose my white over red 1980 Prelude XE which I had the rest of my time in Japan.
Those were the days. The most screwed up parts for me of the whole move hadn’t even occurred yet.
When I got to Hurlburt, no one was there! The squadron was deployed for an exercise in Europe. One Lt. Col was running a skeleton crew. He did his best to help me out, but as it happens, I was NOT required to do the training there because the aircraft configuration of my gaining unit was unique to that unit and couldn’t be familiarized anywhere but the PI. So, after a few days and with his sign off, I hoofed it home to drop off my car, spend a couple of days, then off to Oakland for the Pacific hop with a stop in Japan, all going smoothly at up to that point.
When we finally touched down in Manila, I lined up at immigration with everyone else for processing, only to be pulled from the line and taken to an office where I was interrogated for two hours(!). Turns out, the Status of Forces agreement between the US and the PI required all military personnel to travel in uniform. I’d wondered why all the civvie clothing had disappeared in Japan, but hadn’t given it much thought because my orders explicitly stated that I was to travel in civilian clothes. This did not wash with PI authorities. They accused me of being a spy, etc. I didn’t yet have my official passport so was traveling on military ID and orders only, which was legal, but didn’t make them any happier. I just kept stubbornly pointing to my orders and telling them to either contact my unit or put me on a plane home. Finally, the two interrogators just shrugged and told me I could enter the PI.
So, now it’s after midnight and I’m 65 miles from base in a country I’ve never been to and there is no one waiting for me. No sponsor, nothing. I’ve got no phone numbers, and it being the PI, no access to any phones. I drag my bags out of the terminal and I’m immediately confronted by a gang of children who start tugging at my luggage and then run off with one bag. I’m about explode when some of them turn around and start hissing (I thought) and waving their hands like they’re trying to cool soup. Clueless, I followed, thinking I was about to get mugged; thankfully, no. Instead they led me to an Air Force bus with a sleeping driver. I was so relieved I gave them all $5, which was like 10 times the going rate for carrying a bag, but I didn’t know better. They were happy. The driver woke, let me aboard and as there was no one else there, we departed for Clark AB. Once at Clark, I got dropped off at the base hotel (no reservations, of course), but I did get a room. The next day, I managed to find my new squadron and reported in only to be told that they had received a message saying my assignment had been cancelled. Yet, here I was. It explained why no one had met me in Manila. They also told me that if I’d just quietly handed the Immigration official a $20 he’d have let me right through.
It all got straightened out over the next couple of days, but it made me wary of ever trusting Assignments again.
Holy FUBAR!
Yeah, you were there during the Marcos era – Everything was completely corrupt in the Philippines back then.
Oh yes. Still a great assignment as it turned out.
For work I had a six month stint of working in Oklahoma City while living in Houston. Every other week I would leave OKC on Friday to drive the 7ish hours and 450ish miles back to Houston and then return do the return trip that Sunday. With a full tank and empty bladder, the company provided Taurus could just make it without stopping.
Oklahoma City to Savannah, GA.
Seventeen hours in the driver’s seat. That’s bad enough, but accompanying me were: my wife, her teen son, and our two daughters (3yrs and 1 yr).
Straight though, and we sold our house via cell phone during the drive.
Beat that, my fellow Autopians.
As a father to a current 1 and 3 year old, I can’t top that… ever. The longest day we can get out of them is ~300 miles, and even that is a slog that takes 8-10 hours. Most times, we can’t even make a two hour trip without at least one pit stop for them.
I used to regularly solo drive between San Diego and a town about 40 miles west of Laramie WY, a drive that usually took about 15 1/2 hours. True cannonballs where stops were just long enough to gas up, empty my bladder and if I had food it was ordered to go and eaten in the car. Three stops – Mesquite NV, Sandy UT, and Rawlins WY.
One time I hit a lot of weather and the drive took 30 hours. Technically I took some breaks but was essentially in the car the entire time.
Another bad stint was a 12-hour drive from Zion National Park back to San Diego in Memorial Day traffic. It took four hours to get from the south end of the Vegas Strip to Primm.
I did have one frightening incident on the way back from Wyoming. I was driving on I-15 north of Barstow, fell asleep at the wheel and ran my car into the desert. I woke up screaming like a little girl and clawing at the steering wheel. Then I got my wits together and realized the seat was reclined and the car was safely parked. I had gotten punchy and wisely pulled into a rest stop and I had dreamed the whole thing! I tried futilely to rest a little more but my adrenalin was running so hard I had no trouble doing the last 2 1/2 hours home.
Tough to say. I remember Detroit to Laramie took me 19, but I did the North Shore of MA to San Francisco over 3 days. First was Detroit, which was shorter, but I don’t remember the 3rd leg. Coming back, I did the whole run from LA in 49.5 hours including stops and some driving around Vegas. It was a straight run, but I did stop twice to attempt to sleep, once for about an hour, the other for about half an hour. It was too hot and humid and I couldn’t open the windows for the giant ’50s sci-fi movie insects I could hear smacking the windows. I don’t remember the length of time between those attempts to sleep, but they weren’t evenly spaced and I might have done the whole east of Mississippi River without trying to sleep.
I also did Orlando to Springfield, MA in 22 hours with an ex and I think that was a straight run, but I remember Karen #1’s mother (there were two Karens, there will not be a 3rd) wanting us to stop overnight in a hotel and offering to pay. Don’t remember if that’s what happened, though.
I hydrate a lot and have a small bladder, so nothing interesting to report.
I think my longest single stretch ever was about four hours. Since then, a spouse, kids and age have all singly and by combined efforts assured that more often than that, I take a break and get up to shake out the kinks.
My longest single day, I drove back from NE Iowa to Knoxville TN, about 13 hours and change. I figured out that, with our relatively early departure we could possibly do it all in one day, and I pushed hard. Somewhere around the Indiana-Kentucky border I guessed that if I only took one more break, we’d get home by 1000p. We pulled in at the house at 9:55. Sweetie was not thrilled at the long hours without stretching her legs, but delighted to get to sleep in her own bed.
Back right after I graduated high school I was offered a very last minute (around 2 hours to call off work for the next week and get my stuff together and be at the meeting spot) to visit Red Feather Colorado and we were going to drive my friends Honda Odyssey at the time. Little did I know when she asked me to do this trip none of the other passengers going were comfortable driving a freaking van and I was tasked to drive the 26 hour long trip from Southwest Ohio non-stop (minus gas and food of course) alone. It also didn’t help we were on a time crunch because said friends grandparents were the ones opening up the cabin offer to us and only had a 2-3 hour window for us to arrive before they themselves were going out of town.
Needless to say I made it after an unhealthy amount of caffeine, but I know my eyes were cross at some points in the middle of the nights driving through all of those wind farms and corn fields. I caught myself drifting more times than I cared to count while the group slept soundly in the back. If you asked me to do that now it would be a guaranteed death sentence for anyone involved.
Between fuel stops the max for me is 4-5 hours – never had a car that could do more than that on a tank at highway speeds. With an EV now that’s about 2-3 hours which is much more comfortable (particularly for passengers with small bladders).
As far as a max without a significant break, my longest was about 13 hours in a day and I made that trip a few times. Even in my 20s that wiped me the heck out. I’m a wee bit older now and hopefully wiser so I’d try to figure something else out before doing that again.
Coming out of college many years ago. I was starting a new position in the company I was at that had me move from central Iowa to Salt Lake City. My boss at the time had moved out there and I asked how long the drive took. He said most people were making it in under 20 hours and would divide it up into two parts, but he usually could do it in his BMW in about 18 hours straight-through.
Challenge accepted. After having a break down on my first trip, I did the second in 15.5 hrs (that was the longest I’ve done), and just about cleared 15 hours even on the third. Nothing fancy, just steady driving mostly 10mph over the limit along with the fastest fuel stops I could muster including a quick trip to the restroom if absolutely necessary. My performance car at the time helping me best my boss’s BMW? A 1989 Cadillac Brougham – the tortoise wins again.
In recent years, the longest I go is from Orlando to Clarksville following the 12-hours of Sebring. It’s a roughly 12-hour drive, which I find to be a fun coincidence. Shout-out to my road-warrior wife and daughter who are both capable of making that trip with one stop in our ’94 Fleetwood (that was a one-time thing, we usually make two stops).
I guess my longest was Portlock Island Canada to Olive Branch, MS; 15-16 hours straight. I’ve done multiple 13 hour trips from Memphis, TN to Wake Forest, NC and did a 13+ hour trip from Murfressboro, TN to Miami FL.