A trip length can be classified for moi as the length of time it takes for my bladder to reach crises, which has gotten markedly shorter as I have aged. At one time, I had long range tanks, but not now. So a long drive is the moment my bladder has reached capacity and my cup runneth over, so to speak. Stop and go, bumpy roads, and the uncertainties in reaching a loo in time, just add to the anxiety.
At one time, we lived in Delaware, a small state, particularly in New Castle County where everything was within a radius of 11 miles (or else you were in Maryland or in Pennsylvania or wet in the Delaware river.)
Folks there thought anything more than a couple of miles was like on the other side of the moon in that you had heard about it but had no idea if you could get there or not.
Now, in our present area, a twenty mile trip could take about 30 minutes or hours depending on the day of the week, the time of day, the route and, most of all, the traffic and how many accidents were between you and your destination.
Anyway, a long trip depends also on who’s driving. As a passenger, with some drivers, one can feel that one is taking their lives in their hands just making it to the end of the driveway.
Anything over 25 hours of at-the-wheel time counts as a long drive for me. Houston to Seattle or Boston, for instance. (I can do Boston in two days easily with an overnight in a motel, but Seattle gets into a third unless I catnap the whole way. I have done that.)
About 600 miles, which is about 12 hours with multiple breaks for stretching, relieving, and refueling of both me and the car. I’ve done same day turnarounds from SoCal to Vegas and back on multiple occasions, though.
In Texas we can drive 200 miles round trip for a lunch run, that being said, 12 hours is my limit in one day. (I’m 71 years old, so that includes gas/restroom breaks, usually somewhere we can also grab some food.)
@texmarc I remember the days when somebody would say “Let’s hit the Riverwalk for dinner” and still be back home that night. (San Antonio’s Riverwalk is about three hours away from Houston.)
In Texas as well, but I think a long drive is relative to the destination. We live pretty rural so everything is at least 30 mins away. Nearest big city is an hour, better big city is 2+.
For concerts it’s usually about 3 hours to get to there.
Food doesn’t really motivate me for longer drives unless we’re going to West for Kolaches and Klobasneks.
Depends on the car and the quest. Going driving for fun in the 68 Mustang, meh couple of hours isn’t too long as long as you are on back roads. Taking a trip? 2 hours in the Stang is long, 6 or 7 in the Durango with my family is long (LOL). A four hour trip will take at least six due to the frequent pee breaks, so a six takes 8ish.
My last long drive was last year, Seattle to Jacksonville.
My wife took a few turns driving and we made stops for us and our two dogs as needed. The dogs did much better than we expected.
@daveinwarsh That’s a long one, but depending on the choice of route, it can be pretty in lots of places. Of course, by the time you’ve hit Yakima (assuming you take the Snoqualmie route), some of the best is already behind you.
I do multiple one way drives of 1084 miles a year (well and then back). And then I drove from Norman, Oklahoma to Moscow, Idaho (far northern part) and then from there to Jackson MS. With a kid. And cats. And I drove round trip Norman, OK to Vista CA and back including through a sandstorm. Then there is the 8.5 hour one way drives where routes 10 and 12 are crap shoots for traffic and construction (and thus can take even longer) that I do fairly frequently too. Oh yeah and a very pretty drive Moscow, ID to Seattle via Snoqualmie Pass (where you need to travel with chains even in July just in case as there are times they won’t let over the pass with out chains and people make a fortune renting them to folks to go over the pass without them).
@werehatrack putting doesn’t really count as driving, does it? I did play 9 holes of Iron man with coworkers once. You pick an iron - 9, 7, whatever - and do all your strokes with that. It’s fun and unserious but no real driving per se.
@kjady Yeah Kansas can be bad. Lots of empty space along with flatter than a pancake with straight roads that go on forever in much of it. My radiator gave out once in rural Kansas in the heat of the summer. By the grace of who knows what gods I broke down right by an exist that had a car dealership repair shop for my brand of car.
Driving across much of the great plains is flat with straight roads that go on forever. That sure makes those drives incredibly boring at times.
@Kidsandliz@kjady We lived in Nevada a few years when I was a kid and I hated driving through those sagebrush deserts, so monotonous. I still don’t like the smell much.
A trip length can be classified for moi as the length of time it takes for my bladder to reach crises, which has gotten markedly shorter as I have aged. At one time, I had long range tanks, but not now. So a long drive is the moment my bladder has reached capacity and my cup runneth over, so to speak. Stop and go, bumpy roads, and the uncertainties in reaching a loo in time, just add to the anxiety.
At one time, we lived in Delaware, a small state, particularly in New Castle County where everything was within a radius of 11 miles (or else you were in Maryland or in Pennsylvania or wet in the Delaware river.)
Folks there thought anything more than a couple of miles was like on the other side of the moon in that you had heard about it but had no idea if you could get there or not.
Now, in our present area, a twenty mile trip could take about 30 minutes or hours depending on the day of the week, the time of day, the route and, most of all, the traffic and how many accidents were between you and your destination.
Anyway, a long trip depends also on who’s driving. As a passenger, with some drivers, one can feel that one is taking their lives in their hands just making it to the end of the driveway.
I have done 6 plus, with a break after 3hrs to stretch my legs. That was for work
This answer is much different for those on the east coast than the rest of fly-over country.
Anything over 25 hours of at-the-wheel time counts as a long drive for me. Houston to Seattle or Boston, for instance. (I can do Boston in two days easily with an overnight in a motel, but Seattle gets into a third unless I catnap the whole way. I have done that.)
About 600 miles, which is about 12 hours with multiple breaks for stretching, relieving, and refueling of both me and the car. I’ve done same day turnarounds from SoCal to Vegas and back on multiple occasions, though.
Anything longer than the time it takes to drive from Orlando to Folkston. So, about 4 hours.
12-14 hours
@sicc574 Yes I’d agree. I can do about 600 (highway) miles in one sitting before it starts to really get too long.
It’s very different if I’m driving or riding along. 20 minutes can be a long drive depending on who’s with me.
In Texas we can drive 200 miles round trip for a lunch run, that being said, 12 hours is my limit in one day. (I’m 71 years old, so that includes gas/restroom breaks, usually somewhere we can also grab some food.)
@texmarc I remember the days when somebody would say “Let’s hit the Riverwalk for dinner” and still be back home that night. (San Antonio’s Riverwalk is about three hours away from Houston.)
@texmarc @werehatrack Our family did a 2.75 hour one way go in the morning, come back at night trip in one day fairly regularly to see family.
In Texas as well, but I think a long drive is relative to the destination. We live pretty rural so everything is at least 30 mins away. Nearest big city is an hour, better big city is 2+.
For concerts it’s usually about 3 hours to get to there.
Food doesn’t really motivate me for longer drives unless we’re going to West for Kolaches and Klobasneks.
Depends on the car and the quest. Going driving for fun in the 68 Mustang, meh couple of hours isn’t too long as long as you are on back roads. Taking a trip? 2 hours in the Stang is long, 6 or 7 in the Durango with my family is long (LOL). A four hour trip will take at least six due to the frequent pee breaks, so a six takes 8ish.
I’ve never really been into golf, but imagine I could probably drive 300 yards if I tried.
My last long drive was last year, Seattle to Jacksonville.
My wife took a few turns driving and we made stops for us and our two dogs as needed. The dogs did much better than we expected.
@daveinwarsh That’s a long one, but depending on the choice of route, it can be pretty in lots of places. Of course, by the time you’ve hit Yakima (assuming you take the Snoqualmie route), some of the best is already behind you.
I don’t even like my 2-hour bus-ride.
I do multiple one way drives of 1084 miles a year (well and then back). And then I drove from Norman, Oklahoma to Moscow, Idaho (far northern part) and then from there to Jackson MS. With a kid. And cats. And I drove round trip Norman, OK to Vista CA and back including through a sandstorm. Then there is the 8.5 hour one way drives where routes 10 and 12 are crap shoots for traffic and construction (and thus can take even longer) that I do fairly frequently too. Oh yeah and a very pretty drive Moscow, ID to Seattle via Snoqualmie Pass (where you need to travel with chains even in July just in case as there are times they won’t let over the pass with out chains and people make a fortune renting them to folks to go over the pass without them).
I’ve never golfed
@tweezak Nor have I, though I’ve putted around now and then.
@werehatrack putting doesn’t really count as driving, does it? I did play 9 holes of Iron man with coworkers once. You pick an iron - 9, 7, whatever - and do all your strokes with that. It’s fun and unserious but no real driving per se.
21 hours in a car is a long time especially when you are driving through Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.
@kjady North Dakota is even worse.
@werehatrack I’ll take that under advisement.
@kjady Yeah Kansas can be bad. Lots of empty space along with flatter than a pancake with straight roads that go on forever in much of it. My radiator gave out once in rural Kansas in the heat of the summer. By the grace of who knows what gods I broke down right by an exist that had a car dealership repair shop for my brand of car.
Driving across much of the great plains is flat with straight roads that go on forever. That sure makes those drives incredibly boring at times.
@Kidsandliz @kjady We lived in Nevada a few years when I was a kid and I hated driving through those sagebrush deserts, so monotonous. I still don’t like the smell much.