Farthest spur-of-the-moment drives

[golden eagle]

Out of pure boredom, I once drove from Jackson to the MS Gulf Coast, then westward to New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Lafayette. From Lafayette, I went back east to Hammond, then northward back home. I left home about 7a and was back about 9 or 10p that night. That easily covered at least 500 miles, maybe closer to 600.

[corco]

I took a four night roadtrip between days off last summer. Finished working graveyard, woke up at about noon, thought "hey, I should take a roadtrip," and was on the road by two. Got back just in time for my 10 PM scheduled shift four days later.

Another time I was headed from my apartment in Laramie to the Walmart in Laramie, about two miles, and somehow ended up clinching US 138 and then going to Denver.

[roadman65]

I used to do them all the time.  Quite frequently when I lived in NJ and FL up until a few years ago.  I would drive someplace for one thing and end up driving several miles away for a ride.

Back in 1991 I was scheduled to work, this was during that short recession we had that year.  So I went in to be cut one hour later (I worked in food and beverage then), so rather than go straight home en route, I decided to visit Windermere, FL.  I did so ended up in Ocoee, FL to later follow the old highway 50 west to US 27.  Then decided to drive to Leesburg to only drive back to Orlando via US 441 as that was never clinched for me before.  Got home by ten and the next day I flew home to NJ for the first time since I moved to FL.  Not bad for something out of the blue all because I was cut from the shift.

[US71]

I once drove from Fayetteville, AR to Falls City, NE and Rockport, MO

[Duke87]

I don't think I've ever set out to drive somewhere without having at least a general plan, usually it's a specific turn-by-turn plan that I stick to like it's gospel.

To that end, define "spur of the moment". Does it count as spur of the moment if I woke up in the morning and decided to go driving without having planned on it the night before, but then followed a route I'd planned weeks before knowing where I would go, just not when? If not, then I've never driven anywhere "spur of the moment". If so then the farthest away from home I've made it on such a drive is not terribly far - no more than a few hours away by direct route.

That said, it took less than a month from me deciding I was going to go on a cross country road trip to me leaving to go on it. In terms of distance divided by planning time, that's gotta be worth something.


Also, I once walked a good six miles completely spur of the moment back when I was in college. I didn't even plan to walk that far when I started walking, it just kind of snowballed.

[agentsteel53]

I once moved to New Mexico from SoCal on 24 hours notice.

as for a drive without any planning, maybe 2-3 day loops of about 2500 miles at most.

[Pete from Boston]

Was living in Massachusetts, went to Montréal for dinner, came back home. 

The border agents found this all very suspicious.  I would not recommend it.

[jeffandnicole]

Pittsburgh for dinner.  5 hour drive from South Jersey.  Thought about it at 2pm.  By 3:30pm we dropped the dogs off at the in-laws, made hotel reservations (free...used points), packed the bags, and off we went. 

[1995hoo]

The one that most readily comes to mind was one day when I was in college some friends and I decided we would go skiing that night, but I didn't have any of my ski clothes with me at school, so I immediately hopped in my car, drove 120 miles home to my parents' house (they weren't home), got my ski stuff, and immediately drove 120 miles back to Charlottesville. I later got a rather freaked-out e-mail from my parents because I brought in the mail for them–my dad realized I had been home because my brother did not have a car with him at William & Mary at the time, so I was the only one likely to have been there. I didn't leave a note or anything, of course, just the mail on the counter.

[Thing 342]

I once did a loop of US-60 to Richmond, US-33 to Harrisonburg , US-11 to Staunton, US-250 back to Charlottesville, VA-20 to VA-3, and US-17 back home, simply because I was bored one weekend.

[golden eagle]

To that end, define "spur of the moment". Does it count as spur of the moment if I woke up in the morning and decided to go driving without having planned on it the night before, but then followed a route I'd planned weeks before knowing where I would go, just not when? If not, then I've never driven anywhere "spur of the moment". If so then the farthest away from home I've made it on such a drive is not terribly far - no more than a few hours away by direct route.

Basically, deciding to take a drive without little or no planning in a reasonably short amount of time (preferably within minutes or hours).

[leroys73]

I'm like some of you others.  While in college, late 60s and early 70s for me, I did many spur of the moment things.  Some I can't remember.

Some of my buds and I would just decide to go somewhere. One that sticks in my mind most was once we were sitting around the dorm at Oklahoma State and said road trip.  Off to Wichita to see a buddy who used to live on our floor. Another was a 6 hour road trip from my home in Munich, Germany to Baumholder, Germany where I graduated HS to see a friend and of course a girl.  Then there was the time three of us college guys jumped into my car for a road trip to Innsbruck from Munich to visit some friends.  We couldn't find them so we ended up in Italy just to sleep in my VW Beetle (old style).

I will still do some short spur of the moment rides like leave for Wal Mart and decide to go to Ft. Worth while I'm out.  I do take spur of the moment motorcycle rides lasting several hours with no destination in mind.

While I am on a "planned" road trip I will frequently take off on a side trip that was not planned just to see where the road goes. 

I guess now days I have too many things I think must be taken care of before I go very far away from home.  I sure miss those long spur of the moment road trips.

[signalman]

     I have done this many times on weekends in colder months.  I tend to drive for roadgeeking more from late fall to mid spring because weekend travel isn't as heavy.  I always do my best to avoid peak travel times.
     I only work half days on Saturday and Sunday.  I'll get off work, and if I don't have something pressing to do, I'd quickly map myself out a route to drive.  These were never planned in advance.  They are only when I feel/felt like going for a drive.   
     I almost always try to cover new roads that I've never driven before.  Obviously some close to my starting and ending point (home) are unavoidable.  This worked well for quite a long time.  However, it gets tougher all the time, as unclinched roads become further away from home.  It also becomes more difficult to drive new roads you haven't previously driven.
     As for the furthest I've driven...probably 400 to 500.  I'd be on the road by 10 am and back home by 9 or 10 pm.  More frequently it is in 200-300 range for unplanned, spur of the moment driving. 

[DandyDan]

When I was new to Nebraska,  I would do some long one day trips.  I think the longest I did from home in Papillion to Fremont, then to Columbus, then to Norfolk, then to Sioux City, then to Denison, Iowa, then south through Harlan to I-80 and west back home again.  It's been a long time since I did anything like that.  It becomes harder to do anything new if you've been around everywhere within a reasonable distance.

[bzakharin]

The other day I missed my exit and, instead of turning around, I drove about 5 miles off my commute route (but in the correct general direction) to take the opportunity to use a cheaper gas station. It added a whopping 15 minutes to my 1 hour long trip. Does that count? You can tell roads are just a passing hobby for me and not "series business" like for most on here. I didn't even go to check out the newly opened NJ 42 to I-295 ramp, which is not far from where I live, until I would've gone there anyway (good thing too, because it didn't open on schedule the first 2 times).

[DTComposer]

One summer during college, I was at home, parents on vacation, decided to go for a drive, by the time I reached Bakersfield, I decided it was easier to go to my college apartment, spend the night and drive back the next day.

Los Gatos to Santa Barbara via Fresno and Bakersfield: ~425 miles. Return trip via US-101: ~280 miles.

[wphiii]

I don't do this nearly as often as I would like. I've done a few impromptu day trips, but never anything that required an overnight stay. It's definitely on my bucket list to just wake up one morning and start driving for like a week or two weeks or even a month, and see where the road takes me. Of course, if I'm thinking about it now, I guess it wouldn't truly be spur of the moment when it happens.

[renegade]

Chili run.  Detroit to Cincinnati and back.  I've done that many times, just not lately.

[UNDSIOUX]

Back in college up in Grand Forks, I felt trapped on a Saturday and drove west on US-2 to Minot (stopped at geographical center of North America in Rugby).  Visited the Minot "mall", then drove to Bismarck via US-83 and had dinner.  Then headed back east on I-94 and detoured to visit Kulm (hometown of Angie Dickinson) where my roommate was from just to see what his one-horse town looked like.  Drove back to GFK via 94 and 29 and arrived in the early morning.

When I was in Bismarck, I thought about going west on I-94 to get to Montana.  But I decided since there really wasn't any mountains to see in Billings and having to pay for a hotel room there I really couldn't afford, I would head back to Grand Forks.

My most intense memory from that trip was seeing the lights of the KVLY-TV tower (tallest structure in North America at 2063' tall) and its sister tower for KXJB all the way from I-94 near Valley City.  I think that is almost 50 miles away.  But it shows how flat the Red River Valley really is.

[Alps]

Syracuse, NY - at 3:45 AM I wasn't quite tired and Doug had just woken up (we clearly have different sleep schedules), so away I went to Tipperary Hill.

[corco]

Chili run.  Detroit to Cincinnati and back.  I've done that many times, just not lately.

I woke up in Laramie, Wyoming once with a hangover, felt like Steak n Shake was the only cure. Nine hours later, I was sitting at the Overland Park, KS Steak n Shake.

[agentsteel53]

I woke up in Laramie, Wyoming once with a hangover

did you call the place where the party was at, and ask them to check the medicine cabinet?

[roadman65]

I once had some friends who lived in Freehold, NJ. Decided to head south to Virginia. Got down the NJ Turnpike past Camden when her and her husband decided to go to Upstate New York.  They turned the car around and went the total opposite.

Talk about spur of the moment there.

[theline]

Chili run.  Detroit to Cincinnati and back.  I've done that many times, just not lately.

Similar to my spur-of-the-moment detour. On our way back to South Bend from Findlay, we would have normally driven north on 75 to the turnpike, but a major craving for Skyline Chili forced us to detour to Lima. That's as far north as Skyline gets.

[Pete from Boston]

Drove from NJ to Charlotte for a long weekend, ended up in San Antonio a week later.  Technically this was several consecutive days of spur-of-the-moment drives.  It wasn't until past Little Rock that there was any real plan beyond the given day.  In fact, this was less a long trip than it was a short trip with repeated failures to stop.