Furthest you've driven in a day?
 

I just got back from a 1,139 mile (1833 km) drive*. Not wanting to spend an extra night for a hotel makes you do weird things.

Interestingly enough, I drove by the exit to Zzyzx road at exactly 1,000 miles and toasted a virtual beer to Xyzzy: [url]https://www.mersenneforum.org/showpost.php?p=431058&postcount=382[/url]
The exit number (239) was prime as well :smile:

Around an hour and a half later, I passed by Hesperia, CA and had half a thought of stopping since "Helena to Hesperia" had a nice ring to it. But my destination wasn't too far away, so I kept going.

Stats:
[code]
City Miles Odometer Hours Time (PST) Notes
Helena, MT 0 4129 00:00 09:53 Start. Took a long (~1 hr) meal break before next stop
Idaho Falls, ID 277 4406 05:06 14:59 Took a short (15-20 min?) snack break before next stop
Provo, UT 529 4658 08:50 18:43 40.233702N, 111.687720W; city was missing on receipt
Littlefield, AZ 812 4941 12:47 22:40 From phone; time was missing on receipt
La Verne, CA 1139 5268 17:34 03:27 End
[/code]
Average speed, including all breaks: 64.8 mph

*Google Maps shows the route, including short detours for food and gas, as 1,142 miles (1838 km), but I'll go with the more conservative odometer reading.

The most I drove in less than 24 hours was almost the same mileage. I don't have odometer readings, and this was back in the early '80s. It crossed through the night, though, it started one evening and ended the next morning so wasn't all in the same day, but was one continuous trip with just stops for gas, food and restroom breaks.

I drove from Livermore California, to Manteca CA, then to Las Vegas NV, than back to Livermore CA - to rescue my girlfriend's brother. I drove substantially faster than you, and completed the trip in ~14 hours. This was back when the speed limit for the whole US was artificially set at 55mph, but the cops in CA weren't enforcing that.

I had a scare at one point driving 85+ in the middle of the night and a police car came up fast on me, but then blew right past.

Have done about 1385 km (860 miles) in a single 12 hour over night run (ending on this day of the year).
During a second event I have done 1510 km (940 miles) in a 24 hour period. It was an out and back with time waiting at the destination for an astronomical event to occur.
Both times I was the sole driver, the first one I had a passenger that fell asleep during the drive./

Edit: I think I may have done more in a single 24 hour period. But there was a second potential driver and I don't have specifics of the time. I think it was 24 hours and ~1880 km (1170 miles)

1103 documented miles ridden on my ST1300 motorcycle in 18 hours for my Saddlesore 1000 ride for the Iron Butt Association. I have no idea the farthest distance I've driven in a car.

Lumpy

1361 miles (2190 km)
 

Funny you would ask that. I always wanted to brag about my weird record -
I drove from [URL="https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Marathon,+FL+33050/Metuchen,+NJ"]Marathon, FL to Metuchen, NJ[/URL] in 1998 on the Labor Day (and my wife couldn't drive then, so solo, with wife and 2 kids in the back).
1361 miles (2190 km) in approximately 22 hours.

If I needed to add anything to that - that would be JUST DON'T DO IT!
I was young and stupid and our a/c broke just as we started so it was very tough for all day so I wanted to finish overnight when it was cool and decent. The last 200-300 miles were pure delirium, and I drank a couple of 2-liter of Cokes.

Over 2000s, I'd set my limit to no more than a 700 miles. Maybe 750 miles (and my wife drives now) - both times that we went to Yellowstone (last time for the week before the eclipse), I did so with a stop in Las Vegas (350 mi for the first day, and then the rest which is ~700.)

Back in 19991, I drove from Riverside, California to Portland, Oregon 1,011 miles door to door in 17 hours, nonstop except for refueling.
And the reverse a week later, but in 15 hours. Night-time driving in California's Central Valley I was getting passed by CHP while doing 80MPH, and barely passing semi-trucks.
It was interesting cresting the Grapevine pass and suddenly smelling Los Angeles smog.

Ahh youth. Now I struggle to convince myself to drive 4:30 to Vegas once in a while.

Every year for the past six years (with the the exception of the Covid years) I've driven our dogs from mid-southern Ontario (Canada) to Ft. Lauderdale to go on the high speed Ferry to Grand Bahama. It's a distance and I've always done it as a straight shot..with the exception of pee/poop breaks and coffee.
When younger I rode from Vancouver to Thunder Bay with only breaks as the above. This was on a Honda Magna V65 in the mid 90's. The prairies were not fun as I had the rising sun facing me most of the time. At one time I popped a wheelie at 170 km/h when I hit a large (unsigned) crack in the pavement but I eased the front end down slowly and kept motoring...with my sphincter factor at 9.5 for a while. I also remember riding through a cloud of moths at night which completely blinded me briefly because my visor became completely covered at moderately high speed and had to do an emergency stop on a gravel shoulder somewhere in Manitoba. Not recommended when facing oncoming traffic. Again, sphincter factor at about 8.2.
During my first years of University, I rode from northern Ontario to Windsor (home town to school). About a 14-16 hr. ride. Springtime in April was nippy and I lost feeling in a couple of my fingers for a few months. The Husky stations were great for pots of coffee. Riding through the through the Agawa canyon in September was breath taking with all the colours of the leaves. Michigan was a nice ride as an alternate to Hwy. 11 (North Bay..). This was done on my Honda 750 (which I had bored out to a 900 and which had a sissy bar where I loaded up a lot of my school stuff). Travelling the 401 on a 6 lane highway for the first time was scary to say the least..sphincter factor about 7.8.

[QUOTE=Batalov;582658]Funny you would ask that. I always wanted to brag about my weird record -
I drove from [URL="https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Marathon,+FL+33050/Metuchen,+NJ"]Marathon, FL to Metuchen, NJ[/URL] in 1998 on the Labor Day (and my wife couldn't drive then, so solo, with wife and 2 kids in the back).
1361 miles (2190 km) in approximately 22 hours.

If I needed to add anything to that - that would be JUST DON'T DO IT!
I was young and stupid and [b]our a/c broke just as we started so it was very tough for all day so I wanted to finish overnight when it was cool and decent.[/b] The last 200-300 miles were pure delirium, and I drank a couple of 2-liter of Cokes.
[/QUOTE]
Ouch!

Interestingly enough, the hottest temperature displayed by my car thermometer on that trip was at night. For a minute or two, it was 102F at ~10:30 PM a few miles south of the Utah-Arizona border, IIRC.

Does driving a van with a bunch of other hippies from the 70's who took turns driving count?

If so, Whidbey Island, WA to Oklahoma City, Ok. non-stop except for a 1-hour "excursion" at the [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mustang_Ranch"]Mustang Ranch[/URL] in Reno, Nevada.

La Verne seems a bit of a letdown after that much time in the car! (I grew up next door in Claremont)

I've done Claremont to Oklahoma City nonstop in 24 hr, sleep 8-9 hr, then Indianapolis in about 16 hr the next day. We towed a car trailer, so speeds were mostly 60-65mph. Two drivers.

One of our (weird) hobbies is doing 1K motorcycle rides in less than a day. ( In 2017 we did 18 of them.)

We initially started with a big touring bike with lots of wind protection but over the years we have downsized to smaller and smaller motorcycles. We have done this because we like the challenge and because we like a visceral in-the-environment experience.

Currently we have a (for a HD) small bike that we can do maybe 500 miles a day on. We are slowly working our way up to longer distances. We do specific exercises daily to train for these long rides.

The limiter for us on our newest bike is the lack of cruise control and the shape of the seat. We have foam grips installed to [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonic_vibration_reflex"]reduce vibration[/URL] but we still have trouble after a few hours. The seat has too much of a "step" in the back so it causes us pain in our tailbone. (We injured that in 1994 in a botched parachute landing.)

Covid-19 really put a damper on our riding so we are kinda starting from scratch. We went from 75K miles a year to just under 20K.

:mike:

When I was much younger, I made several solo drives of just about 1000 miles in about 20 hours.

I was also once on a drive from Colorado Springs to San Francisco with another person in a small pickup truck with a topper, so one of us could sleep while the other one drove. IIRC it took about 24 hours. The truck was a stick shift, a new experience for me. I was at the wheel we got to some town in Utah just as kids were going to school in the morning. There were plenty of police cars visible, with officers looking at traffic, apparently eager to enforce the school zone speed limit of [i]five miles an hour![/i] I gulped, worked the clutch, shifted to first gear, and hoped to God it would be enough to maintain a speed of five miles an hour. It was. Phew!

[QUOTE=Uncwilly;582654]Have done about 1385 km (860 miles) in a single 12 hour over night run (ending on this day of the year).[/quote]Holy-moly! That's [i]averaging[/i] over 70 miles an hour! :tu:

How come I'm not seeing any Europeans post about trips from Copenhagen to Rome, or Lisbon to Warsaw?

I suspect that crossing over so many borders has something to do with it...

[QUOTE=PhilF;582689]How come I'm not seeing any Europeans post about trips from Copenhagen to Rome, or Lisbon to Warsaw?

I suspect that crossing over so many borders has something to do with it...[/QUOTE]

Actually, under normal conditions, regular people can cross borders within the Schengen area (basically the entire European Union plus a bit) without checks. So both of the paths you mentioned, assuming the shortest path is taken, are doable without getting delayed in a border check.

Last month I drove by myself from Benicia, CA, to Scottsdale, AZ, on a Wednesday and then drove home on the following Monday. My nephew had his bachelor party there and I was definitely the oldest person attending. Distance was 787 miles each way, about 12 hours, with two fueling stops at Costco's in Bakersfield, CA, and LaQuinta, CA.

[QUOTE=PhilF;582689]How come I'm not seeing any Europeans post about trips from Copenhagen to Rome, or Lisbon to Warsaw?[/QUOTE]Several factors:
Cost of fuel in Europe vs USA changes the valuation in favour of other modes of travel.
Europeans enjoy high speed rail options that Americanos don't.
Speed limits on roads tend to be lower in Europe than the USA's Interstate system (and the other major highways.) [Example: I have travelled the E-6 from Oslo to Bodø in Norway and back. I have done a similar distance in the USA. In USA it was much quicker.]
Europeans are not holiday time poor like most Americans.

You people are crazy. High speed motoring beyond ~10-12 hours a day is a bad bet, risking passengers and other motorists nearby also. [URL]https://www.cdl.com/cdl-faq/health-medical/how-many-hours-can-drivers-drive-in-a-day[/URL]
As a teen, but years before drivers' education, I routinely spent 10-15 hours/day driving a farm tractor daily. Never got far, as the fields were at most 1/2 mile long, and speeds were low, typically up to 5 MPH then in field work. Fatigue, weather, highway traffic, and equipment condition were safety issues. The knowledge that if I fell asleep and fell off I WOULD be run over in a second (no AC, no cab, no shade, no safety belt, no roll bar, no fenders) was clearly an aid to staying focused. The margin of error when cultivating corn is ~3" laterally before one is doing more harm (root damage or complete uproot) than good (killing or smothering the weedy competition). It was quite a workout, as fuel was hand pumped from underground, 11 strokes per gallon, and there was no power steering on the tractor. Check-in that no serious harm had come to the tractor or its operator occurred 3 times a day by showing up on schedule to refuel it and me or park both for the night. With peak season work hours ~16 hours/day, sufficient sleep was not feasible. Fatigue is as impairing as legally drunk.
[URL]https://www.nsc.org/road-safety/safety-topics/fatigued-driving[/URL]
In the fields, risk to others was low. Occasionally it involved towing loads that weighed twice the tractor and obstructed visibility. Left turns from stopped on right gravel shoulder of a busy US highway, with traffic passing or oncoming up to 65MPH, required care and patience.

In closing, I'm glad we (posters here) all lived through such escapades. Not everyone does.
This reminds me of the high energy physicist's question, used to gauge a blend of risktaking and intelligence: "what's the most dangerous thing you've done without getting hurt?"


Edit: Parking lots: I once got T-boned in the driver door, by someone who had just pulled into a parking space and stopped. He then backed out into me as I drove past. There was no way for him to see my vehicle, since the rear window and mirrors of what he was driving were full of frost/ice. He was moving his girlfriend's car in the apartment complex parking lot. He had had his driver's license confiscated, after an on-road collision, that occurred less than 12 hours before.

[QUOTE]On average, more than 50,000 crashes occur in parking lots and parking garages annually, resulting in 500 or more deaths and more than 60,000 injuries. If the national roadway trend is any indication, parking lots may be even riskier this year.[/QUOTE]
People who drive in parking lots - that's the real crazies. :rolleyes:

[QUOTE=PhilF;582689]How come I'm not seeing any Europeans post about trips from Copenhagen to Rome, or Lisbon to Warsaw?

I suspect that crossing over so many borders has something to do with it...[/QUOTE]

I regularly drive from Copenhagen to Stockholm (2-3 times a year). That is only ~640 km ~400 miles (7.5-8h including 1-2 breaks), but I feel that is plenty for me in a single drive, I'm not sure how and why people drive so long in one drive. I have maybe done 800-900km at most at once.
Usually I do not get enough sleep to drive even 400 miles, because I'm a night owl and have trouble sleeping early to get up early for travelling. One time I had only slept 2-3 hours but I wanted to get going that day anyway, so I drank 1.5 liters of energy drink during a 6-7h period, and I did not really feel very good when I arrived, but at least I did not fall asleep.

As a passenger in a bus as a kid I drove from Copenhagen to Italy (somewhere near San Marino on the east coast): 29 hours including 3 hour ferry ride. We had 2 drivers taking turns driving.

[QUOTE=ATH;582717] I'm not sure how and why people drive so long in one drive.[/QUOTE]

I was in my 20's, I was stupid, and I was doing a favor for my girlfriend (which is guaranteed to throw common sense out the window).

For comparative purposes:
There is an informal race called the CannonBall Run over public roads between a parking garage in NYC and a hotel in Los Angeles . During the height of the pandemic when the numbers of drivers ( and police ) had dwindled significantly, several drivers broke the record and then someone else would break it a short time later.
As of August 2020, the record for the 2800 miles ( 4500 km ) is 25 hours 39 minutes which is an average speed of 110 mph or 180 kph. The drivers reached a top speed of 175 mph.
Of course, the vehicles are VERY high performance vehicles with enormous gas tanks ( usually enough to avoid refueling ) with multiple drivers.
Amazing!

Or: 24 hours of Daytona; 2020, 2965 miles, ~123mph, 199kph average. [url]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/24_Hours_of_Daytona#24-hour_duration_(1973_and_since_1975[/url])

[QUOTE=PhilF;582667]Does driving a van with a [b]bunch of other hippies from the 70's[/b] who took turns driving count?

If so, Whidbey Island, WA to Oklahoma City, Ok. non-stop [b]except for a 1-hour "excursion" at the [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mustang_Ranch"]Mustang Ranch[/URL] in Reno, Nevada.[/b][/QUOTE]
Are you sure that the excursion was for only an hour? :wink:

[QUOTE=VBCurtis;582669]La Verne seems a bit of a letdown after that much time in the car! (I grew up next door in Claremont)
[/QUOTE]
Yeah, there's not too much to do in La Verne. The only thing I did there which was mildly exciting was a horseback ride in Marshall Canyon.

As far as interesting destinations go, I've heard of people doing a "sunrise to sunset, summit to sea" run. You watch the sunrise at Mt. Evans (the highest paved road in North America), and then try to reach the ocean by car in time for sunset (Long Beach, CA would probably be your best bet, and the distance comes out to just over 1,000 miles). If you do it on or near the longest day of the year, keep your breaks to an absolute minimum, and luck out with traffic, construction, weather, etc., you'll have a decent chance of making it without going more than ~10 mph over the speed limit.

An alternate option would be doing Mt. Evans to Badwater, the lowest point in North America. This one is known as the "heaven to hell" ride and is much easier to do in one stretch during daylight hours only.

Wont be the biggest numbers but my personal maximum was Swindon to Edinburgh. I don't recall the exact numbers. According to Google Maps it is 370 miles estimating 6h40m. From memory the trip actually took me 9 to 10 hours including a couple of breaks along the way for food/other reasons. Most of the trip is motorway (70mph limit) but there are several traffic blackspots on the way.

That was a 3 day trip for work. Because I needed some equipment I decided it was easier on this occasion to drive it up with me. One day up, one day working, one day back. I also used my own car. We get paid by the mile for doing that. For future trips to Scotland I flew every time. Driving a whole day wasn't fun.

Having said that, as a tourist attraction Scotland made up the "north coast 500" route, which you could guess from its name is a 500-ish mile loop. I debated doing that but it implies a 1500 mile trip distance without extra detours. Of course, that would not be done in a day!

We repeatedly drive south few times per year. Our few records include Bkk in about 7 hour (720km, top speed 160km/h), about 1200 km in about 16 hours (to Phuket, but we could not reach it, I was too tired and we had to chose between reaching the island late in the night when we could probably not be able to find a place to stay, and/or sleeping well at some hotel on the way and reach Phuket next day, so we chose the last and had a good night sleep in Chumphon), and about 1350 km in about 18 hours drive (to Nakhon Si Thammarat, same story, we had to stop in Surat Thani in the evening, otherwise the wife would kill us before we have enough time to make any accident). Both mentioned trips include breaks for lunch, snacks, coffee, toilet, on the way.

[QUOTE=Uncwilly;582692]
Speed limits on roads tend to be lower in Europe than the USA's Interstate system (and the other major highways.) [Example: I have travelled the E-6 from Oslo to Bodø in Norway and back. I have done a similar distance in the USA. In USA it was much quicker.]
[/QUOTE]

This is not really the case. In Germany there are no limits at all, while in most of Europe, the speed limit is either 130 (80 mph), or 120 (75 mph), which is comparable if not slightly higher than most USA's Interstates (definitely higher than New England for example). Your example of Normawy was an exceptional case (speed limit 110 = 68mph).

My longest daily drives were while on holiday in US. Cincinnati - South Dakota, Cincinnati - Oklahoma, Cincinnati - Maine. All around 950 miles/1500 km.