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What would you consider a long drive?
- Thread starter Hieveryone
- Start date
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Well it's longer than 2 hours and shorter than 4. It's really not that bad.
Listen to an audiobook or a good podcast.
Listen to an audiobook or a good podcast.
no. I live in Texas, 3 hours would not bring me anywhere.
longest drive for me was Dallas area to Huntsville in Alabama, took me about 12 hours. Then I spent a full day, a night, and then drove back.
listen to audiobooks and podcasts (Order of Man, Art of Manliness, Dave Ramsey, whatever feel good). Some Meditative silence is also good.
3 hours is not a long drive IMO. Our family has regularly driven from Boulder to Reno/Truckee in one shot. (about 14 hours) Or to Santa Monica (about 16 hours). We even did it with young kids. Survived on podcasts, music, books, & conversations. We usually let the kids watch one movie per day.
Try listening to Hardcore History.
Maybe I could watch CNBC or something ha idk. I usually don't drive for more than an hour at a time. I have driven a lot in past but that was when I was younger and drinking Red Bull haha
So it should be pretty obvious that watching any kind of video while driving is dangerous and idiotic - so you're either oblivious, or just trying to get a reaction.
Tampa to Los Angeles is a Long Drive!!
Drives I've made:
New Orleans to Palm Springs/Rancho Mirage 6x
New Orleans to LA 6x
Denver to Palm Springs 8x
New Orleans to Boulder 3x
Seattle to BC to San Francisco and back
Palm Springs to Tampa 1x=long, long Drive!!
Many others to long to List!!
My fiancé lives 4 hours away(hopefully that's changing soon). When our schedules dictate it, I don't think twice about hopping in the car right after work to get there, and then coming back the next day, although I usually try for a longer trip than that. I've never done there and back in one day, but could if need be. BTW, we're headed down to Florida for a week in May. From her place to where we're going, it's a 12 hour drive, and we'll get there in a day.
When I was younger(in my early to mid 20s) and too cheap to pay for a hotel room, I use to regularly get up and drive to conferences and things that were 4-5 hours away. I'd leave at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning, get there at 7:00 or 8:00, and then leave around 2:00 or 3:00 in the afternoon to get home in time for dinner. That's a bit much for me now, but I have done it.
For a long time too, my daily commute was an hour each way. It could get tiring when I was working long days, but I got use to it.
So, for me, I'd say a 3 hour drive wouldn't bother me too much.
When I was younger(in my early to mid 20s) and too cheap to pay for a hotel room, I use to regularly get up and drive to conferences and things that were 4-5 hours away. I'd leave at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning, get there at 7:00 or 8:00, and then leave around 2:00 or 3:00 in the afternoon to get home in time for dinner. That's a bit much for me now, but I have done it.
For a long time too, my daily commute was an hour each way. It could get tiring when I was working long days, but I got use to it.
So, for me, I'd say a 3 hour drive wouldn't bother me too much.
Nice! I'm actually going for a similar reason - to meet up with a girl. A dinner date.
Like the girl, dreading the drive
Are you driving through urban, suburban, or rural areas?
I’ve found that where I’m driving through can make the time fly by or feel like forever. You would think the variety of things would make an urban environment entertaining, but I find the traffic and interchanges to make the drive frustrating. A more rural drive with nice scenery and open roads, and one minute you are leaving, the next you have gone 9 hours.
Like others, a good audiobook or some company helps. Also nice is turning the drive into a checkpoint or two. I used to make a four hour drive on the regular, and had a pit stop at a specific gas station just over an hour into the drive. I continued the rest of the way after, but thought about the small town I would pass through. The return was the opposite - about three hours straight and then the pit stop an hour before home.
Wherever you are headed, hope you have fun!
Well, even given the source of this topic, it's semi-interesting. We'll do ~6-7 hours in a single stint, that's about as much as I can stand anymore. We've done FL to PA in a single drive, that's 12 hours, that's too long, so in the last several years, we've done that as 2 legs, one about 7 leaving the short 5 hours or so for the next day. We've plotted out all the great places to say, so - for example - going up, we stop at this awesome hotel + winery, nice accommodations, wine bar with a local growner, super fun way to split the trip.
When we go to our place in The Keys, it's about 5-1/2 hours, we do it, one, maybe two short bathroom breaks, the DD/RT makes the 400 mile trip in a single tank (while carrying 6 people and 6 bags, 2 tubs of diving gear, all in reasonable comfort).
5-6 is long, 7 starts making me crazy, my days of going 10+ hours is behind me. On the 6+ hour trips, we have fun, talk, listen to music, I'll go into the "the zone" with a few podcasts to kill 2-3 hours, driving to PA is interesting on the backside with the mountains, needing to stay focused on the road, trying to keep the speed at 75, with follow-alongs of 80 from time-to-time.
I did a long cycle in the ATL where I was driving up on Sunday, and back on Friday, ~6 hours, with only Friday afternoon through Sat night to "recycle" (it was insane cashflow for someone in their early 20s)
When we go to our place in The Keys, it's about 5-1/2 hours, we do it, one, maybe two short bathroom breaks, the DD/RT makes the 400 mile trip in a single tank (while carrying 6 people and 6 bags, 2 tubs of diving gear, all in reasonable comfort).
5-6 is long, 7 starts making me crazy, my days of going 10+ hours is behind me. On the 6+ hour trips, we have fun, talk, listen to music, I'll go into the "the zone" with a few podcasts to kill 2-3 hours, driving to PA is interesting on the backside with the mountains, needing to stay focused on the road, trying to keep the speed at 75, with follow-alongs of 80 from time-to-time.
I did a long cycle in the ATL where I was driving up on Sunday, and back on Friday, ~6 hours, with only Friday afternoon through Sat night to "recycle" (it was insane cashflow for someone in their early 20s
)I live in the Inner West, Sydney—so anything over an hour or "over the bridge" is long.
When I'm in rural NSW or other states, 1 hour won't get you anywhere lol.
Traffic lights, trams on the road and narrow streets all make a drive "longer" than it seems.
When I'm in rural NSW or other states, 1 hour won't get you anywhere lol.
Traffic lights, trams on the road and narrow streets all make a drive "longer" than it seems.
Long, boring, interstate drive at 75 MPH on cruise control with literally nothing but tall, tall trees on both sides and endless road ahead lol
On our first date, I drove there in the afternoon to meet up with her for dinner. I'd booked a hotel room that night with plans to travel back the next morning since I didn't want to turn around and drive back that night. It actually worked out well as we were able to meet up early the next morning(before she went to work) for breakfast so I managed to see her twice in my first trip there. Obvious both went well given that we're getting married in a little over 6 months
This is the case on my Louisville-St. Louis trip, which is on average about every other week. That's a straight shot down I-64 through dead flat southern Indiana and Illinois(123 miles in Indiana, and 111 interstate miles in Illinois, but who's counting), but there are bunches of landmarks I've gotten in the habit of watching for. Even things like a certain road sign, oil well, or what have you keep my mind on tracking progress.
I also almost always stop at the same waypoint-in my case exit 130 in Illinois, which is right over the state line and a bit past halfway on the way there. It's a nice easy to access truck stop where I can fill up, walk around, use the restroom if need be, and get something to drink. I COULD make the drive in one sitting and have(it's ~250 miles and I can reliably get over 400 interstate miles on a tank) but that little 10-minute stop breaks up the trip nicely. My fiancé and I actually have a bit of a friendly debate about where to stop-she tends toward Exit 25 in Indiana, which of course is 25 miles closer to me and the gas is usually 10-20¢ cheaper. My counter is that the truck stop in Illinois sells top-tier gas so the difference is not totally wasted, and access is a bit easier. Ultimately, though, since we've never actually made that particular drive together, we can each stick with what we like
Of course, if you drive the same route regularly, it's useful to have a vague idea of where other good stopping points are in the event you need them. It also leaves you with otherwise useless knowledge like the fact that the rest stops on I64 in Illinois are located at mile markers 130, 69, and 21
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beautiful. It’s one of the best ways for introspection.
I use to consider cruise(even just basic cruise) mandatory for interstate driving.
Back when I was doing the hour long each way commute, I decided I'd drive the 20 year old beater Ranger I had at the time as much as possible and let it rack up the miles rather than my "good car." Despite being about as aerodynamic as a brick(it was a 91, which had flush-mounted headlights rather than sealed beams, but otherwise was a nice boxy 80s shape), with a 4 cylinder it did a bit better on gas than my V8 car.
In any case, it was pretty close to a stripper model-it was a standard cab 2WD that had A/C that sometimes worked, an automatic, an AM only radio, crank windows, and manual locks. None the less, it was actually fun to drive and made me pay attention. Cruise was out of the question on it, and driving it so much made me actually prefer driving without cruise.
I do use cruise some, but it's mostly to hold the posted speed in work zones(where Illinois in particular, but also Kentucky and Indiana, are happy to nail you to the wall) and I drive without it most of the time.
My dad's car has adaptive, and I've done plenty of 2-3 hour drives in it. Even with him urging me to try it, I just can't get use to giving it that level of control. I end up canceling it or changing lanes just like I would with standard cruise rather than just letting it do its thing. Perhaps it a lack of familiarity, but I find it more tiring to use than driving with standard cruise or none at all.
I consider a 3 hour drive to be a short one. Listen to an audio book, que up spotify, etc.
My wife and I hate flying. We'll drive anywhere. Drove to New Orleans last year from California. We loved every minute of it. The tall endless trees of the south were AMAZING to see in person. On the way back I drove 16 hours during one day. That's about the MAX that I'm willing to do. On the way there we averaged 8-10 hours if I remember right - a day. (Took 3 days).
Driving can be a blast. I love seeing new places, going to gas stations I've never been to before, going to restaurants in other states. Love travel like that.
Audio books put me to sleep. Music has to be pretty upbeat (swing with modern drums).
Driving can be a blast. I love seeing new places, going to gas stations I've never been to before, going to restaurants in other states. Love travel like that.
Audio books put me to sleep. Music has to be pretty upbeat (swing with modern drums).
Well, 500 yards off the tee sounds like a long drive to me. It'd be even more special if that drive scored a hole in one.
For me it's all relative. If I'm going across town in my day-to-day activities, I'd consider anything above 15 minutes to be a rather long drive (just shows I'm not from a very large metropolitan area ). For highway driving, I'd say a long drive would probably be anything longer than 45 minutes or an hour.
I'd agree that audiobooks and podcasts are good ways to pass the time or - if you have any - a good concept album with some 20 minute long songs will do just as nicely. Kraftwerk's "Autobahn" and Yes' "The Gates of Delirium" are two that make the time fly. Also anything Tangerine Dream will do nicely. Maybe some Jean Michelle Jarre too.
). For highway driving, I'd say a long drive would probably be anything longer than 45 minutes or an hour. I'd agree that audiobooks and podcasts are good ways to pass the time or - if you have any - a good concept album with some 20 minute long songs will do just as nicely. Kraftwerk's "Autobahn" and Yes' "The Gates of Delirium" are two that make the time fly. Also anything Tangerine Dream will do nicely. Maybe some Jean Michelle Jarre too.
And then, on a morbid note, a drive off a cliff sounds pretty long, probably a one-way trip, no time for podcasts though. Perhaps it was the podcast that preceded the event of a lifetime, hmmmmm. . . . . .
Lately, 30 or 40 minutes has become a long drive for me, not so much because of my new ride but more it's about all my bladder can stand.
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Three hours is not a bad drive at all if you know the route well and traffic's not an issue. I used to come upstate just for an overnight in the middle of the week when I had a veggie garden needing attention every few days, but was still spending time on the job in the city more than telecommuting from up here. I traveled at off peak hours; the trip was not only very scenic but there was only one traffic light between the George Washington Bridge and my house up here, so... I really enjoyed the time to think and play music.
It was three hours 8 minutes exactly when all went well, with one pit stop about a hundred miles out. I'd take a nap at home in the city after work and then call for my car around 10 or 11pm and take off for the mountains. I totally loved rolling the windows down and playing rock out the windows along route 17 and in the Catskills State Park at 2am.