Road Trip!
7Getting ready for a 1000-mile drive starting Monday morning: Fort Worth to Little Rock to St Louis to family ‘homestead’ a bit NW of Chicago. Hoping to make it in 15-18 hours 
Have only made a few longer trips:
- Traveling to visit my brother near Kalamazoo, MI via Memphis and Indianapolis
- Returning from outside Madison, WI through Iowa, Kansas City, and Oklahoma City (to pick up a used vehicle)
- Driving from Miami to New Orleans to Fort Worth (also picking up a used vehicle)
Chime in with your examples of long continuous road trip…
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Chicago, headed north to Lake-of-the-Woods, crossed the border to Winnipeg, then along Canada Rt 1 to Portage la Prairie, Regina, then up to Edmonton, across to Banff, down the Glacier Ridge Highway (got caught in an early snow storm, had to wait 3 hours for the mounties to come get us and escort us down) to Lake Louise, picked up Rte 1 again, down to Kamloops and down through the Frasier River Canyon roller coaster (highly recommended) to Vancouver (BC) to visit friends, then back into the US (border police insisted on searching our car thoroughly), down through Seatlle, Portland, over to California Rte 1 (stuck carb valve on the Fiat caused all our gas to leak out in Marin County), tow truck into San Francisco, then to stay with friends for a few days, then east to California 395 along the eastern Sierra on the “volcano tour”) through Lassen Park, past Mt Shasta, Mt Hood, Mt Jefferson, Mt St Helens (which had just recently erupted so we took a private plane tour which also tells you how long ago this was), Mt Ranier (disappointed that the snow caves we had read so much about had been inaccessible for the last 8 years) and finally Mt Baker, and then got on Rte 90 across Washington, Idaho (got a speeding ticket), Montana, North Dakota, and then into Minneapolis to stop and visit some other friends, then back down to Chicago.
Took a little over 4 weeks, it was for me the best road trip ever.
Google Maps says it was 6,831 miles but we had it at more than 7K because of all the side trips, like the the one up to Prince George (BC) to see if the AlCan highway was open (it wasn’t) and 3 days driving around Vancouver Island.
Indiana to Utah and back. Going there through Colorado and down the Rockies US70. Coming back I went the southern route US40/44 and everything was good and I was going to drive straight through and then Oklahoma… It was the end of March. They had snow. Traffic backed up miles. Cars and semis off the road. It was nuts.
Other than that Indiana to south Dakota and Indiana to Florida both right around 1000ish no issues driving straight through.
I have no idea what my cumulative road trip miles might be, probably way over half a million by now? The only states I have not hit are Nebraska, Vermont, Delaware and Maine.
@werehatrack You’re missing out by not going to Nebraska. I told my husband a state didn’t count if we didn’t get out of the car and see something local so as we drove through Nebraska we found a place called Harold Warp’s Pioneer Village in Minden and turned out to be his favorite thing. If you like American history, cars, motorcycles it’s all there. Like literally 1 of every Ford, Chevy etx in order of production ever made in a hangar, the car they made that was supposed to drive and swim. Pioneer wagons. A bathroom stop and a easy checked off state turned into spending most of the day there.
@Sneakertree @werehatrack
This is a great ad; it’s made me want to go there!
“Nebraska - It’s not for Everyone”
Tell your brother to bring you some some good beer from the local breweries around k-zoo.
@Star2236 Details? Suggestions? Just skip the IPAs, please.
@compunaut
We drink a lot of Oberon in our house bc it only comes out during the summer (it’s from Bells brewery), it’s a wheat ale and something that I don’t think you would find to far outside of MI. Anything from bells would be a good choice. Another one I recommend you try is from pigeon hill brewery it’s called SCP. It’s a salted Carmel porter, now I hate dark beers like ipa and porters but I love this one. It’s defiantly worth a try for something that’s in season and your not going to find anywhere else.
My favorite road music is mixed tapes of “truck driving” songs:
Six Days on the Road
On the Road Again
Drivin’ My Life Away
Truck Drivin’ Man
and many more. Honest, even if you aren’t usually a fan of the genre, it will help.
Oh yeah, the trip:
Teenaged sons from Minneapolis to southern Oregon to visit extended family
Snow in the mountains and there were signs requiring chains, but they looked at my MN plates and just waved me on!
Back home first via San Francisco to deliver an canny aged uncle home (who had somehow suckered me into the detour)
Then a swing through Los Vegas at sons’ request (where one son dropped the first dime into a slot and won a whole bunch of dimes, totally spoiling what I figured would be a good lesson)
Fairly straight shot to Des Moines and due north back to Minneapolis
@romellex
Your playlist lacking
The requisite Deep Purple
Add on Space Trucking
Atlanta to Los Angeles via Jackson, MS; Dallas, TX; Flagstaff, AZ and probably some other places to San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Rocky Mountain National Park somewhere in South Dakota, St Louis and back to Atlanta. Definitely with a few more stops along the way. All during one month in the summer of 1996 when we had no where to stay because the world came to Atlanta and they kicked everyone out of GA Tech housing so that some sports people could stay there. We called it the “Runnin’ from the Rings” tour.
4 days driving OK to northern ID. 4 days driving northern ID to MS. Had one really nice night in the mountains where we saw a beautiful sunset from the parkinglot we were sleeping in. With kid.
2980 miles recently: 2 days MS to PA, next day after activities in Pittsburgh headed to NE OH, At 6:30 the next morning back to Pitts. At the end of the day back to OH, then turn around same day back to Pitts (made it as far as the last rest stop on the OH turnpike, finished the trip to 10 miles from where the 911 plane went down by 9:15am the following morning. There all day, late that night headed back to OH. Got as far as a rest area near Pitts. Finished the trip the next day. 3.5 days later headed back to MS (2 days of driving). Except the 3.5 days in OH, I slept in my minivan.
Lots of NE Ohio to Norman, OK trips (2 days each way, slept in car), MS to OH by way of Champaign, IL (not the direct route) also 2 day trip but stayed with friend in IL. With kid.
A good long one example - to pick up a carillon practice keyboard. Norfolk VA to Minneapolis, 90 min in Minneapolis and turned around to go back home.
Norman OK to Vista, CA in 4 days. The way home detours to the grand canyon for the day and Mesa Verde (cliff dwellings), Santa Fe, the petrified forest and probably a stop I forgot. 2 week trip with a 4th grader over spring break. First week was in CA with a friend, the rest was driving. Couldn’t stand the thought of passing so close to these things so did quick stops. Called the teacher and told her we were playing hookie from school. Deal with it.
PS did many more. Key West to Rockland Maine; OH to Ely MS, OH to CA to WA to Vancouver, to 2 parks in the mountains and back to OH, and more. All straight through driving. With the kid on the first long trip (OK to OH) I think I heard about every cow and horse she saw for the entire trip.
@Kidsandliz counting livestock is an essential element to the cross-country trip …
@stolicat Yes. Likely so. When I was a kid it was counting bridges or putting crayon gun sites on the van windows and shooting trucks with our fingers as they passed us and then throwing a flannel blanket over ourselves so the truck drivers couldn’t shoot us back (did I say my father never, ever did even 1 mph over the speed limit?) on trips from OH to CO or OH to ME or OH to Key West…
Longest straight thru:
Boulder CO to St Louis MO. Used to drive straight thru (about 900 miles which was a 16+ hour trip during the 55mph interstate days) Timed my trips to make sure I drove East leaving late AM and West after sunset so I didn’t have to drive into the sunrise/sunset either way.
Longest continuous trip was one summer when we bought an RV (24 ft class C, travelling with SHMBO, our 2 progeny, a cousin from France my son’s age, and a friend of my daughters.) We drove from Central AL across the lower states to San Diego, up the west coast, across thru the Black Hills, down to Kansas City, across to STL and then back to central AL via Nashville. (OK, truth be told, my wife and kids did all of that one. I joined them until Phoenix, flew home and worked a week, then flew back to meet up with them in LA, skipped a work week so had 3 weeks of travel time, then flew home from KC to work again.) It was a blast.
I hate driving and will avoid it if I can. But last long road trip was Dallas to New Orleans. It was long, it was boring, and almost succumbed to white line fever a couple of times.
The plan is to go back to New Orleans in January and I plan to fly this time.
@ironcheftoni Atlas Obscura will guarantee there is no such thing as a boring road trip. You go to the site and they will give you all the weird and awesome attractions nearby you wont find in tourist guides and 90% of the time there is something within a 10 minute detour.
KRULL! A SKULL! BRETT HULL! AWESOME!
Motorcycle ride
Fort Bragg to West Lafayette
That was a long day
I’ve done some odd ones. Like Southern CA to NJ and back in less than a week. Then I took a long trip from CA to OR then east to NY then headed back through Memphis and San Antonio on the way to CA. Moved from NC to KS. KS to CA for vacation. KS to NOLA for a wedding. The last was when my son moved to Philly. I drove from KS to Philly with most of his stuff in the trunk (he flew out a few weeks earlier). Except for the vacation I was the only one driving, and on the way back from CA on that vacation my husband wrecked the car. Gee I wonder why I’m the driver.
Fonsbow is that you?
Chicago to San Diego. 3 days in a car packed with an ex-wife and 2 dogs. Never looked back.
(I love Chicago, but I love San Diego waaaaaay more)
Also went camping a lot as a kid. Between that and adult travel, I’ve been to 47 states and 13 countries. (Although Korea was only a layover
)
My sister and I go on a road trip nearly every year! The longest one we did was from Indiana, through Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota to North Dakota, up to Saskatchewan and Alberta to Banff and Jasper, then back south to Glacier National Park, through Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota before finally driving through Iowa and Illinois back to Indiana. It was absolutely amazing and Jasper is absolutely my favorite place in the world.
Other trips have been stuff like going to the five great lakes, a Lake Superior Circle tour, a southern trip to New Orleans, a New England tour, and the most recent one was to the outer banks.
Columbus, OH to Tempe, AZ.
Canton, OH to Myrtle Beach, SC.
Columbus, OH to Destin, FL
Columbus, OH to Glendale, AZ.
All during the wonderful years that were college and grad school. Did the Myrtle one solo, rest I had good friends. I cannot stand driving through New Mexico. Oh, look at that mountain in the distance. Hours later… is that the same mountain? Respect for truck drivers, even with good company that is torture.