Ridiculously long day trips

[JakeFromNewEngland]

I haven't gotten gone on any major day trips yet, but when we were out in California it took us 9-10 hours to drive from Carmel to LA. Considering we stopped a few times in the towns along the way and also getting stuck in LA rush hour, it was brutal.

[AsphaltPlanet]

I've done the trip around Lake Erie in a day before.  I did it back when I drove an old Buick with far too many miles on it that was at the time losing its ability to turn right.

[Pete from Boston]

I've done the trip around Lake Erie in a day before.  I did it back when I drove an old Buick with far too many miles on it that was at the time losing its ability to turn right.

Presumably, then, you did it counterclockwise.

I ask everyone this, but how did it go at customs when you said "I'm reentering the country after simply driving around the lake, just because"?

[AsphaltPlanet]

I did go counterclockwise, I went through Detroit and then came back at the Queenston-Lewiston Bridge.  I`ve actually driven around Lake Erie twice, but the second time I did it I took two days and stayed with friends.

I don`t recall customs being a huge deal, though I think on one of the occasions that I did it they may have searched the car when I re-entered Canada.  You have to anticipate being searched every now and then though when you cross, so it really wasn`t that big of deal.

It`s not a crime to do odd things.

[Duke87]

Try driving a 28-hour day trip. (Hint: You need to start in Eastern Daylight Time and end in Pacific Standard Time.)

I was going to say this is ridiculous, but since the country narrows in the south you could do it on I-10 and I-8 if you averaged at least 73-74 mph or so.  You can surely go much faster in the desert, which is good because you'll need to make up for gas stops.  Most bathroom needs can be accommodated in the car, so long as you go easy on the coffee and fiber (start clenching exercises now to be ready).  Leave in the early evening and you'll be past San Antonio before the morning rush.  Clear sailing from there to the Colorado.

For the purpose of this excercise it doesn't matter so much how wide the country is as it matters the distance between the Eastern/Central line and the Mountain/Pacific line.

Along I-10, I-12, I-10, and I-8, this distance is about 1,970 miles. The feat would actually be much more within the realm of reasonability if you did it along I-80, where it's only about 1,580 miles. A northern tier route could even get this down to 1,368 miles, although this route is not all-freeway.

The only caveat to beware of here is that if you want to experience a proper 28 hour day, the entire first hour of it must be spent within Eastern time because if you cross into Central before 1 AM Eastern, you'll go back to the previous day. Therefore you have only 27 hours to get from the Eastern/Central line to the Central/Pacific line.

It's totally doable, though, if you have the stamina for being awake and driving for that many consecutive hours. One of those more northern routes would leave you a good 5 hours or so of wiggle room to lose on stops and traffic.


Personally, I can at least claim to have crossed one entire time zone within a day - I woke up in Pacific time in northern Idaho, and went to sleep in Central time in North Dakota. What was fun is that I did this quite inadvertently, I didn't realize until I saw the clock in the hotel room in Williston that I was in Central time.

[MikeTheActuary]

For the purpose of this excercise it doesn't matter so much how wide the country is as it matters the distance between the Eastern/Central line and the Mountain/Pacific line.

Along I-10, I-12, I-10, and I-8, this distance is about 1,970 miles. The feat would actually be much more within the realm of reasonability if you did it along I-80, where it's only about 1,580 miles. A northern tier route could even get this down to 1,368 miles, although this route is not all-freeway.

The only caveat to beware of here is that if you want to experience a proper 28 hour day, the entire first hour of it must be spent within Eastern time because if you cross into Central before 1 AM Eastern, you'll go back to the previous day. Therefore you have only 27 hours to get from the Eastern/Central line to the Central/Pacific line.

Two additional thoughts:

First, if you weaken the "start in Eastern, end in Pacific" criteria to "end in a time zone three hours behind the one you started", then for much of the year you only need to get to Arizona (excluding Navajo land) if you take the southern tier.

Alternatively, if you did the trip on the first Sunday of November, you pick up an extra hour in the day due to the shift back to Standard Time.

That's a trick that has been used by someone before

[leroys73]

Just a comment on the loop around Lake Superior in a day.  Go to the Iron Butt Association web site www.ironbutt.com and you will see names of several people who have circled it in less than 24 hrs by motorcycle. 

Also there is a Lake Huron, Lake Michigan, and what they call the Lower Great Lakes (Erie + Ontario as one ride) each in under 24 hrs.  They also have the Great Lakes 100, circle all the Great Lakes, around 2450 miles in under 100 hours.  Then there is the extreme ride, Great Lakes Gold, of circling all of the Great Lakes in under 50 hours, same 2450 miles.

[Max Rockatansky]

When I moved to the west coast a couple decades ago my Dad and I alternated for two days.  I would drive the first ten hour or so segment and he would drive the second.  We traveled about 2,000 miles in two days and only had one hotel stay.  Ever since I had my learners permit my Dad and I would do similar trips out of Chicago to Florida straight through in shifts.  I got off of crap like that years ago because I get spent after 9-10 hours or 500 miles. Besides what is the point of traveling if you are just going to blow by everything worth seeing on doing on the way?

Usually I have at least three or four 2,500 mile plus road trips a year with another half dozen in the neighborhood of 1,000.  I even used to drive about 80,000 miles a year on business trips at one point.  My cousin recently asked me how I was managing to do all that because he was always exhausted after 18 hour plus drives....simple; stop, rest, see things and most importantly plan ahead. 

[CNGL-Leudimin]

I haven't done any day trips as long as you, the longest ones being around 120 miles which I have done several times now: from Huesca to Ariza (twice!) and Monreal del Campo. However I'm now planning to do one of my last year's weekend roadtrips, the one to San Leonardo in Soria province 170 miles away, as a day trip. Still not as extreme as some trips posted here.

[MisterSG1]

While I wasn't the one driving, I was alert the whole time, but I have done the trip from here in the GTA to the Marine Atlantic Ferry Terminal in North Sydney, NS, a distance of around 1250 miles.

Back in 2006, there was a Laser Quest tournament the night before that went on overnight (yes I was somewhat involved in the tournament scene even though I was awful) and as soon as I got home at around 5am, it was time to go to Newfoundland, where we had to catch our ferry we booked that was leaving the following day at 6AM Atlantic time. Needless to say, we left and made it to the ferry terminal at 1AM Atlantic time roughly, and never again I hope I would have to deal with that hell again. (Consider that New Brunswick's Route 2 freeway was only about half or 2/3 finished) I had to be awake for close to 40 hours.

The following year, on the way back, the boat had problems and we got back to Nova Scotia at about 3AM, which ruined all the plans for the hotel stay. Spontaneously, we decided to make the entire trip back in one shot, and I believe we got home at about 9pm Eastern....I also recall running into nasty traffic along the Metropolitan (A-40) in Montreal and a massive accident west of the 416 on the 401 which we used Hwy 2 to get around. Yeah, about 18 hours again of driving.

[Sub-Urbanite]

Roundtrip: When I was 24 or so, I did a daytrip from Las Vegas to San Luis Obispo and back, about 900 miles via Los Angeles.

One way: I've done 1,066 miles from St. George, Utah, to Portland a few times. The worst was last summer when half the west was covered in wildfire smoke and my eyes were burning the whole drive.

[paulthemapguy]

When I was collecting the Illinois highways, I took a day trip from the Aurora, IL area south to Marion, IL and back.  This is because I had forgotten IL-166 as a gaping hole in my collection.  About 5 hours one way!  Now the most I plan for is 3 hours one way, if I expect to enjoy the destination at all.  I just did this last week taking a day trip to Portland during my stay in Seattle (well, the Seattle burbs).

[jmd41280]

Not as long as some of the others on this thread, but I have done Pittsburgh to NYC and back in 1 day before.

[reidcc]

Many years ago- 1977, I was selling books door to door for Southwestern Publishing out of TN. I had quit my territory in Anderson Indiana and left my roommate on his own. Went to visit grandparents in Kansas for week.

Anyway on return trip leaving Topeka heading back to Mass- I left Topeka 5AM on a Friday- and headed back toward Indiana to pickup my mail where I had stayed and got there for dinnertime. My roommate had been transferred to Ohio and left a number for me to call him. He wanted back home as well, but we had to drive down to Franklin TN to close out his acct and get his money, and be there before they closed at Noon Saturday.

I headed for Ohio- I remember a US 33 or US36, and hitting a dog at midnight in whatever city I was in. Picked him and his stuff up- and pointed the Mercury Marquis south for Franklin TN. Got his acct closed and leaving Franklin by 8 or 9- headed east on I40- got outside of Nashville, and his gave him the keys! A 26 or 27 hr day.

Chris

[leroys73]

Just got back last night from a little motorcycle ride from Dallas to Sierra Blanca and back.  1150 miles round trip in 18 hours.  I only had a 130-140 mile range on this motorcycle so fuel stops ate into the time. 

[CapeCodder]

Texas Panhandle from St. Louis for a storm chasing trip. Left at 12:15 AM, got to the panhandle about 2PM that day. I-44 in the dark is tedious. Ended up being a bust and so I headed home to lick my wounds. OKC was interesting as was Tulsa. Unfortunately it was getting near dark when I passed OKC and totally dark when in Tulsa.

[epzik8]

I plan to do the following trip tomorrow.

I live north of Baltimore. I'll make my way out to I-83, take I-83 from Shawan Road in Hunt Valley to I-695, I-695 from there to I-70 and I-70 to U.S. 29 near Ellicott City. I'll take U.S. 29 all the way into Washington, DC where I think eventually I-66 begins at. I'll hook up with I-66 and travel the entire length of that out to I-81 near Front Royal so I can get that clinched (all I need is the part inside the Capital Beltway). Then, I-81 north through the panhandle of West Virginia and that little part of Maryland and then up into Pennsylvania. I'll exit at U.S. 11 near Carlisle and take that to the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Then the PA Turnpike all the way to where I-76 splits off, I-276 picks up and take that all the way into New Jersey. Then I'll hook up with the New Jersey Turnpike and take that to the Delaware Memorial Bridge and continue on I-295 out to I-95 outside of Wilmington, Delaware, and take I-95 back into Maryland. It will be extremely long if there's a lot of traffic.

[hm insulators]

Once, I drove from Phoenix to San Jose in one day. This was several years ago, for a convention of insulator collectors there. Truvelo was also there; as well as being a road fan, he's an avid insulator collector himself. He's seen my collection once.

[pianocello]

I plan to do the following trip tomorrow.

I live north of Baltimore. I'll make my way out to I-83, take I-83 from Shawan Road in Hunt Valley to I-695, I-695 from there to I-70 and I-70 to U.S. 29 near Ellicott City. I'll take U.S. 29 all the way into Washington, DC where I think eventually I-66 begins at. I'll hook up with I-66 and travel the entire length of that out to I-81 near Front Royal so I can get that clinched (all I need is the part inside the Capital Beltway). Then, I-81 north through the panhandle of West Virginia and that little part of Maryland and then up into Pennsylvania. I'll exit at U.S. 11 near Carlisle and take that to the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Then the PA Turnpike all the way to where I-76 splits off, I-276 picks up and take that all the way into New Jersey. Then I'll hook up with the New Jersey Turnpike and take that to the Delaware Memorial Bridge and continue on I-295 out to I-95 outside of Wilmington, Delaware, and take I-95 back into Maryland. It will be extremely long if there's a lot of traffic.

Good luck, especially in DC. You'll want to take a good look at a map before you leave, since US-29's signage in the District is abysmal. Also, check up on HOV rules, I think I-66 inside the Beltway is a little wonky in that regard.

The longest "day" trip I took was with my dad this past weekend. We left College Park, MD at 7 pm, arrived at Valparaiso, IN (via I-270, I-70, I-68, I-79, I-76, I-71, and US-30) at 7 am the following day. 720 miles, 13 hours (including stops).

(edited to specify start/end locations)

[vdeane]

I would think he'd be long gone by the time the WB HOV restrictions start on I-66.  If he hasn't gotten out of DC by 4pm, there's no way he'd be able to get the rest of the trip done in a day.

[DevalDragon]

My best one so far is Chicago IL to St. Cloud MN and return. It was nearly 1000 miles and took just over 16 hours.

That was one long day!

[madbengalsfan85]

Wasn't the one driving, but went from SE Kentucky to Galveston in one go. We took an hour-long nap, loaded up a cattle trailer with junk, and made the turn towards home. Managed to make it to Baton Rouge before things nearly ended in disaster and we realized we had to get some sleep. Checked into a hotel and left out early the next morning

[jmd41280]

Though it was a one way trip, I was able to make it from Jacksonville, FL back home to near Pittsburgh, PA in around 13 hrs by doing the I-95/I-26/I-77/US 19/I-79/I-68/WV CR 857/PA 857/US 119/PA 51 route.

[Jbte]

Longest I've made was in 2003 from Zacatecas, Mexico to Kissimme, FL in 33 hours of constant drive (only few stops for resting, eating and pump gas), leaving at 5 am, crossing the US-Mex border at 11 am then arriving to Kissimme, FL by 11 am next day, using mostly all I-10 non-stop. Never again I guess.

[tckma]

Back when I was in grad school in Boston, I did a lot of ridiculously long day trips.  One day I took my then-girlfriend with me, and we drove to Montréal, ate dinner, and then drove right back.  This triggered having my car sniffed by drug dogs when crossing into Canada.  I also did a day trip to Derby Line VT and back (seperately). 

I've done Nashua, NH to Winter Harbor, ME, via the Everett Turnpike to NH-101 to I-95, then back to Nashua via US-2 and NH-16, in a single day.  That tested my endurance.

I did a cross-country road trip in 2006 where I typically did 14-18 hours of driving in a single day continuously for about 3 weeks.  Yikes.