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[1995hoo]

We went to Florida for Christmas, as we often do, but this time we drove both ways. Total came to 2,533.6 miles. My wife swears she'll never do it again.

[Roadgeekteen]

We went to Florida for Christmas, as we often do, but this time we drove both ways. Total came to 2,533.6 miles. My wife swears she'll never do it again.

Yeah, never been on it but I heard that the drive to Florida is quite boring. Not a lot of interesting things to see.     

[1995hoo]

We went to Florida for Christmas, as we often do, but this time we drove both ways. Total came to 2,533.6 miles. My wife swears she'll never do it again.

Yeah, never been on it but I heard that the drive to Florida is quite boring. Not a lot of interesting things to see.     

Especially when you've done it before. In her case, though, it wasn't so much boredom as it was being sick of sitting in the car. We took one of her cars because it's the newest and it's the best of our cars for a long road trip, but she kept insisting I do all the driving. Then she complained that she was sick of sitting in the passenger seat. Hey, every time we stopped I asked her if she wanted to drive instead!

I got in enough new roads in the northern part of Florida that I found some of the drive interesting. But the part between Virginia and Florida doesn't lend itself to a lot of new routes at this point because the only Interstate routes we haven't used are quite far out of the way, and my wife gets annoyed on the US highways when I slow down to pass through the towns that have lower speed limits.


(Edited to remove duplicate quote)

[kphoger]

In her case, though, it wasn't so much boredom as it was being sick of sitting in the car. We took one of her cars because it's the newest and it's the best of our cars for a long road trip, but she kept insisting I do all the driving. Then she complained that she was sick of sitting in the passenger seat. Hey, every time we stopped I asked her if she wanted to drive instead!

On any drive over about 300 miles, my wife and I switch off every time we stop—which is once every two hours or so.  That prevents either one of us from getting too road-weary, and it allows both of us to nap every so often too.

[webny99]

On any drive over about 300 miles, my wife and I switch off every time we stop—which is once every two hours or so.  That prevents either one of us from getting too road-weary, and it allows both of us to nap every so often too.

My parents do this too (or at least used to), but our stops are usually closer to every 3 hours/200 miles.

Now that I can drive, it's me and my dad (and sometimes my sister) that do the rotating.

[US 41]

Especially when you've done it before. In her case, though, it wasn't so much boredom as it was being sick of sitting in the car. We took one of her cars because it's the newest and it's the best of our cars for a long road trip, but she kept insisting I do all the driving. Then she complained that she was sick of sitting in the passenger seat. Hey, every time we stopped I asked her if she wanted to drive instead!

I got in enough new roads in the northern part of Florida that I found some of the drive interesting. But the part between Virginia and Florida doesn't lend itself to a lot of new routes at this point because the only Interstate routes we haven't used are quite far out of the way, and my wife gets annoyed on the US highways when I slow down to pass through the towns that have lower speed limits.

I try to stay off of the interstates as much as possible anymore, especially in the eastern US. One small hiccup and your sitting in a parking lot for an hour at least which is way more annoying than slowing down for small towns.

[kphoger]

On any drive over about 300 miles, my wife and I switch off every time we stop—which is once every two hours or so.  That prevents either one of us from getting too road-weary, and it allows both of us to nap every so often too.

My parents do this too (or at least used to), but our stops are usually closer to every 3 hours/200 miles.

Now that I can drive, it's me and my dad (and sometimes my sister) that do the rotating.

300 miles on a tank of gas is a reasonable benchmark in our Pathfinder (as well as in the Grand Caravan we used to own), so pushing on to 200 miles has no advantage over stopping at 140 miles.  Except for other contributing factors, we fill up at every other stop, which makes the stops approximately 110 to 160 miles apart on average.  We frequently get more than 300 miles to a tank of gas (more like 330), but the cargo box in a stiff head wind can drop fuel economy down by several mpg, to the point that even 300 is pushing it.

[1995hoo]

We made it 515 miles on a tank this past weekend, though an overnight stop was involved. We don’t generally stop at any particular times unless we have a hotel reservation made in advance or we know of something we want to stop to see along the way (the New River Gorge Bridge being an example from a past trip). In general, we just stop when one of us feels the need or when the car needs gas.

515 miles on a tank is pretty good for a 3.5-litre V-6!

[jeffandnicole]

We went to Florida for Christmas, as we often do, but this time we drove both ways. Total came to 2,533.6 miles. My wife swears she'll never do it again.

Yeah, never been on it but I heard that the drive to Florida is quite boring. Not a lot of interesting things to see.     

It's interesting until you get to DC (which for 1995hoo is meaningless).  Then from DC to Richmond isn't bad.  After Richmond though, it's boring as hell until Florida.

We drive this once a year because we bring a dog with us.  At least he's great in the car, and even needs fewer bathroom breaks than us!

[vdeane]

Yeah, I-95 through the Carolinas and Georgia is probably one of the duller drives I've done in my life.  Richmond/DC is interesting if you catch it at a rare time when you can actually move faster than a complete stop (and which marks the transition between South and Mid-Atlantic), but south of there, literally the only interesting thing on the entire nine hour drive (aside from the odd bit of concrete pavement and southern-style rail, if you're into those things; there are also some guide signs covered in pine sap, which really set the mood) is the bridge over Lake Marion in Santee, SC.

[1995hoo]

The points all y'all are making are one reason why I miss the old very un-PC South of the Border billboards. They broke up the boredom. Now there aren't all that many billboards for South of the Border at all. The place is still there, but I haven't stopped there in an extremely long time (I say "I" rather than "we" because my wife and I have never stopped there on any of our trips together).

[webny99]

Yeah, I-95 through the Carolinas and Georgia is probably one of the duller drives I've done in my life.  Richmond/DC is interesting if you catch it at a rare time when you can actually move faster than a complete stop (and which marks the transition between South and Mid-Atlantic), but south of there, literally the only interesting thing on the entire nine hour drive (aside from the odd bit of concrete pavement and southern-style rail, if you're into those things; there are also some guide signs covered in pine sap, which really set the mood) is the bridge over Lake Marion in Santee, SC.

Despite that, I would love the opportunity to take I-95 from Richmond to Florida.
Traffic flow and so forth would be very interesting to study. Similar to the Thruway: the road is boring, but the drivers make it interesting!

[leroys73]

I didn't get in all i planned but still managed a few miles.

First are motorcycle trips:  Iron Butt Association www.ironbutt.com Saddle Sore 1000 (1000 miles in 24 hrs or less) all in Texas (Sierra Blanca and back), Saddle Sore 3000 (Dallas to Fargo, ND to Billings, MT to Colorado Springs to Santa Rosa, NM to Dallas) in less than 72 hours, Saddle Sore 1000 Dallas to Cincinnati, Saddle Sore 1000 Cincinnati to Dallas.  These along with my Solar Eclipse Saddle Sore 1000 (had to be at a total eclipse site for the start of it) in 2017 qualified me for the IBA Mile Eater Silver.  Then there was the trip to Moonshine, IL (Off I-70 near Casey) ride to eat.  An aborted (tropical storm) trip to Key West but made it to Mobile.  A ride to the Black Hills.  Several other shorter trips in Texas and Oklahoma.

Second are 4 wheel trips other than several in Texas and Oklahoma:  Return from Detroit Jan. 2, 2018; most National Parks in Utah and the North Rim Grand Canyon, Arizona; West Palm, Sarasota, and Plant City Florida; Louisville, KY; Smoky Mountains Nat'l PK.

Just turned 70 on Jan 2 and plan to keep those wheels rolling for a long time.

[Max Rockatansky]

2018 was a little bit of an oddball year as I only traveled out of state twice which probably is the lowest number of times I've done since circa 2010.  BUT, I did do a ton of day trips and overnight travel throughout California.  To that end I ended up fleshing out my road album collection quite a bit and got a lot of stuff off my wish list that had been bugging me.  My last major project of the year was the El Camino Viejo in San Emidgio Canyon which really is just a hiking trail now but holds major significance given it predated not only the Ridge Route but even the Stockton-Los Angeles Road.  I'm planning on following up with a drive down San Francisquito Canyon, Newhall Pass, CA 14, CA 138 and possibly Forest Route 95 before I head out to Florida.