Longest Distance Driven Nonstop?

austinairport · Wed Aug 22, 2007 6:49 am

I was reading another thread on A-net and i started thinking about my trip to Savvannah , Georgia. We drove nonstop from Belton, Tx to Savvannah, GA. It was hell being in a car for 18 hours. No offense to The Ford Motor Company but i swear they do not know how to build a backseat. It was like sitting on a damn brick. Well anyway the total distance was 1155 miles. Does anybody have any stories of the same nature. And before anybody says anything we did stop for gas so wasnt nonstop. Smile

Thanks,
Garrett

futureualpilot · Wed Aug 22, 2007 7:01 am

About 700 miles from West Lafayette, IN to Salina, KS. 13hrs on the road, stopped for gas and to eat. We were re routed a couple times, which made the trip longer than it should have been.

[Edited 2007-08-22 00:04:31]

[Edited 2007-08-22 00:06:26]

Tom in NO · Wed Aug 22, 2007 7:03 am

Probably for me would have been around 1992 when I helped some friends of ours move from New Orleans to Kansas City. Two other guys drove a U-Haul with a trailer, I drove IIRC an old Toyota.....up I-55 through Memphis to STL, then over I-70 to KC. Left around 8:00am, got to STL mid-evening.....was leading the U-Haul when some motorist signaled him off an exit, which I missed seeing for a couple of miles. I pulled off at the next exit, pulled over the off-ramp back onto the on-ramp, pulled to the side, and sat, and sat, and sat...for something like 60-90 minutes waiting for him to come by on the interstate.....which he finally did. Come to find out the motorist was telling him that one of his trailer lights was out, so they had to change out the light bulb. Ended up getting to KC around 3am, helped off-load the U-Haul, then we were driven out to MCI to catch an AA flight to BNA, then back down here to MSY.

The longest stretch I've driven in one day by myself would have to be El Paso to Los Angeles on one my western roadies a few years back.

Tom at MSY

EGBJ · Wed Aug 22, 2007 7:08 am

About 4 hours when driving up to the Lake District... Big grin

MD11Engineer · Wed Aug 22, 2007 7:12 am

By motorbike, from the German-French border (Alsace) to the feet of the Pyrenees (all the way down the Rhone valley, along the coast and then up to just on the French side of Andorra in streaming rain in early march) in one go, just stopping for fueling, eating and having a leak.

By car, from CGN to DUB (includes one hour on the ferry boat from Calais to Dover and 4 hours from Holyhead to Dublin port, and sleeping for a few hours in the parking lot at Holyhead ferry terminal due to having missed the ship I was planning for and having had to wait for the next ship).

Jan

HOMER71 · Wed Aug 22, 2007 7:17 am

Close to 1000 miles - Houston to Orlando, and I didn't even stop for a potty break

Sincerely,
L. Nowak

Boston92 · Wed Aug 22, 2007 7:17 am

Manchester, NH to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. LONG drive.

austinairport · Wed Aug 22, 2007 7:20 am

Quoting Homer71 (Reply 5):
Close to 1000 miles - Houston to Orlando, and I didn't even stop for a potty break

wow i sure couldnt do that.

MSYtristar · Wed Aug 22, 2007 7:21 am

Longest drive nonstop (except for gas, obviously) for me was St. Louis to Denver....approx. 850 miles....in September '05 after Katrina. That drive sucked a whole lot....especially the hours and hours of nothingness going through Kansas.

swiftski · Wed Aug 22, 2007 7:22 am

From Warsaw to Kent, through western Poland, Germany, Holland, Belgium, France, EuroTunnel, and Dover.

Multiple times, anywhere between 16 and 24 hours - the latter the first few times, the former after a few runs.

Started a routine, leaving at 3am WAW time, arriving evening in UK.

Audi A6 2.4 Quattro through Germany... Big grin

We used to do this not long after we first became expats and weren't accustomed to fitting everything into one suitcase, and probably didn't have enough $$$ for 4 return tickets on LOT/BA.

Kovi17 · Wed Aug 22, 2007 7:22 am

Belmond, Iowa to Athens, Georgia non stop (other than potty breaks and meals) I think it took nearly 22 hours but of course we would switch drivers when someone was too tired. I think i drove 15 of those 22 hours, after that i never wanted to be in another uhaul truck ever again Sad

CastleIsland · Wed Aug 22, 2007 7:22 am

Back in 1990 or '91 I drove with two girls from New London, CT to Hilton Head, SC. Stopped for gas and food twice or so. That's about 950 miles.

Back in May, I drove with the better half from BHM to Petersberg, VA one day, and from there to BOS the next day. We had to stop a few times for the dogs to poop, etc. That's nearly 1,250 miles in two days...

Superfly · Wed Aug 22, 2007 7:23 am

Quoting AustinAirport (Thread starter):
No offense to The Ford Motor Company but i swear they do not know how to build a backseat.

What kind of car were you in?

The longest drive I made without hotel/rest was to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and back home to San Francisco.
I did it in 12.5 hours.

austinairport · Wed Aug 22, 2007 7:26 am

Quoting Superfly (Reply 12):
What kind of car were you in?

Ford Escape Sorry bout that . I think it was a 2005 model. It was my aunts.

sv2008 · Wed Aug 22, 2007 7:29 am

Without any break or a stop (not even 1 min - just drove continuously on the motorway) longest I've driven was Newquay to London, Just under 300 miles, took me around 5 hrs.

[Edited 2007-08-22 00:30:53]

FlagshipAZ · Wed Aug 22, 2007 7:33 am

Longest day drive I've ever taken was from Bullhead City AZ to Midland TX. 900 miles in 14 hours. It was just me driving solo, and only 1 stop for fuel & fast food. My vehicle was a '95 Ford Explorer, and not one ounce of trouble along the way from it. This trip was in '04 and I still have that Explorer too.
Longest non-stop drives is when I was living in Vegas, and I drove home to my folks house in L.A....320 miles in 5 hours. I've done this trip many times. Regards.

[Edited 2007-08-22 00:36:24]

IFEMaster · Wed Aug 22, 2007 7:40 am

Penzance (Cornwall) to Peterhead (Scotland), stopping twice; once for a slash and another for another slash and to fill the tank.

Took me a tad under 16 hours. Not bad considering the M6 and the A74(M) were littered with roadworks and contra-flow measures, and the Forth Road Bridge was a mess.

Superfly · Wed Aug 22, 2007 7:44 am

Quoting AustinAirport (Reply 13):
Ford Escape Sorry bout that . I think it was a 2005 model. It was my aunts.

Those are rather small seats but they do give you the option to move them so you can lay down, right? Problem is that you wont be buckled in.
The larger Fords such as the Crown Victoria are comfortable for long road trips. If you catch a taxi or get arrested, you'll see how much room they have. Smile

austinairport · Wed Aug 22, 2007 7:46 am

Quoting Superfly (Reply 17):
If you catch a taxi or get arrested, you'll see how much room they have.

LOL

WildcatYXU · Wed Aug 22, 2007 7:49 am

Longest drive? Trebisov, Eastern Slovakia to Vieste in Gargano peninsula, Italy. 1850 km, 26 hours (very bad traffic and poor roads in Slovakia), only 3 fueling stops. Other memorable stretches: Prague - Florence, Prague - Amsterdam, Prague - Paris, Pickering - Wawa, London (YXU)- Charlotte, ATL-YXU

SlamClick · Wed Aug 22, 2007 7:50 am

Roughly 740 miles (1191km) from Garden City Kansas over 11312' (3448m) Monarch Pass to Bicknell Utah plus a side trip to Royal Gorge Suspension Bridge. This was pre-Intestate and not one mile of this drive was on four-lane. Not one meal was taken at any kind of chain restaurant. From an hour before coffee to two hundred miles past dark. By myself in a 1963 Buick Special with the aluminum V8 but no air conditioning.

I've almost certainly driven more miles but never a longer day behind the wheel.

Multi-day trip:

269 day 1 PA, NY, CT
444 day 2 CT, VT, NH, ME,
575 day 3 ME, NH, MA, RI, CT, NY, PA,
353 day 4 PA, OH
693 day 5 OH, IN, IL, IA
681 day 6 IA, NE, KS, CO
719 day 7 CO, UT, NV
300 day 8 NV

4034 Total for eight days.

ScarletHarlot · Wed Aug 22, 2007 8:00 am

Quoting AustinAirport (Reply 7):
wow i sure couldnt do that.

Google Lisa Nowak and you'll understand.

SlamClick · Wed Aug 22, 2007 8:10 am

Quoting SlamClick (Reply 20):
740

Oops, I have to take that back. Forgot about this one.

849 miles from Encinitas California to Canyonville Oregon. Overnight, from around midnight to somewhere around seven or so the next evening. My wife and me in a 1968 Datsun 1600 roadster. (with the top ON) Interstate five all the way.

SlamClick · Wed Aug 22, 2007 8:19 am

Brescia - Rome - Brescia, 1000 miles in 10 hours, 7 minutes, 48 seconds in a 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SLR with that Jenkinson nagging me all the way.

signed
Sir Stirling Moss OBE

travelin man · Wed Aug 22, 2007 8:23 am

In Augugst of 1995 I drove solo (back to college) from Orange County California to Austin Texas in my 1987 VW Jetta. It was 1337 miles, and about 21 hours. I was going to stop in El Paso, but when I got there, I said screw it, keep going.

The routing was
I-5 from Orange County south to I-8 east in San Diego. I-8 merges with I-10 north of Tucson. Then it's a whole lot of I-10 through New Mexico and half of Texas to US 290. Take east US 290 straight into Austin.

Let me tell you that night time on I-10 in West Texas when you are by yourself is a very lonely drive. There were times where I couldn't even get anything on the radio. And pissing on the side of the road in the pitch dark along US 290 at 3am was fun too.

ShyFlyer · Wed Aug 22, 2007 8:39 am

Longest so far for me has been Albuquerque, NM to Kansas City, MO which is roughly 900 miles and 13hrs driving time.

CPH-R · Wed Aug 22, 2007 8:47 am

Longest more-or-less non-stop drive (we stopped for fuel & to eat), was from my dad & his girlsfriends house in Denmark to our hotel in Tain l'Hermitage. Google maps says around 1500 km, but that's exclusively following the highway & I know that somewhere after Besançon, we drove off the highway and followed the 'country'-roads, so maybe 1700-1800 km or so. We left their place on friday afternoon at around 5 pm and arrived in Tain L'Hermitage (lovely city btw) around 2 pm the next day. Fortunately we were 3 adults in the car, so we could split driving the duties between us & whoever wasn't driving could relax in the back of the car and get some sleep. I had the pleasure of driving between 3 am and 9 am, along a near-empty Autobahn in a sporty VW Golf - I chickened out at 160 km/h, but my dads girlfriend (who owned the car) drove 170-180 at some points Big grin

D The next day we drove the remaining 400 km down to Port Grimaud where we would be staying.

The return was in one stretch, all 2000 km in one go. We left Port Grimaud at around 11 am and arrived at their place the next morning at 8 am.

On the way down, and strange as it may sound, I had a rather poetic experience at dawn just after we had crossed into France near Mulhouse. We were coming up towards the top of a small hill and just as we came over the top, the sun rose and litereally bathed the whole valley in front of us in orangey sunshine. Looked damn good IMO.

Oh, and on the return, we had the pleasure of going through Kassel Hills at night. It litereally DOES look like a damn video-game, with the tail-lights snaking their way through the hills in 3 different directions.

Go3Team · Wed Aug 22, 2007 8:51 am

Have plenty of 1000 milers. Biggest one to date, is Park Rapids, MN to Suffolk, VA. I only stopped once for fuel. > 24 hours. Glad I didn't have to drop a duece.

PA110 · Wed Aug 22, 2007 9:05 am

I drive from San Francisco to Phoenix about twice a year - roughly 760 miles each way. Boring as hell, and always stuck in traffic between LA and Palm Springs.

Jpax · Wed Aug 22, 2007 9:07 am

Middletown, NJ - Marco Island, Florida and recently same origin to Melbourne, Florida.

1200 somewhat miles... ouch.

austinairport · Wed Aug 22, 2007 9:07 am

Quoting Travelin man (Reply 24):
In Augugst of 1995 I drove solo (back to college) from Orange County California to Austin Texas in my 1987 VW Jetta. It was 1337 miles, and about 21 hours. I was going to stop in El Paso, but when I got there, I said screw it, keep going.

The routing was
I-5 from Orange County south to I-8 east in San Diego. I-8 merges with I-10 north of Tucson. Then it's a whole lot of I-10 through New Mexico and half of Texas to US 290. Take east US 290 straight into Austin.

Let me tell you that night time on I-10 in West Texas when you are by yourself is a very lonely drive. There were times where I couldn't even get anything on the radio. And pissing on the side of the road in the pitch dark along US 290 at 3am was fun too.

WOW thats amazing. Doesnt sound like fun but im glad you had fun Wink

11Bravo · Wed Aug 22, 2007 9:21 am

Columbus, Georgia to Colorado Springs, Colorado

1500 miles +/-

26 hours

Driving by myself. The last several hours were at night in a snow storm. All in all, not a very good idea. Then again I was nineteen at the time so sound judgement didn't enter into the equation.

PC12Fan · Wed Aug 22, 2007 9:29 am

Carbondale, IL to Stuart, FL (near WPB). That was a longggg damned day. My 1985 Buick Regal Limited made it pleasant though. I miss that car.

LTU932 · Wed Aug 22, 2007 9:39 am

Probably close to 800 km or 500 mi or so from Hamburg to Traunstein, near the German-Austrian border (with a few short stops for eating and drinking, things like that). It must have taken something like 9 to 10 hours. The trip was so long because we re-routed through the East and passed by cities like DRS (not sure though if we did pass through DRS though), and possibly even ERF. It was a fun ride.

photopilot · Wed Aug 22, 2007 10:09 am

The longest single non-stop drive I've ever done (except for gas and food) and driving totally solo in my car was from Toronto Canada to Bonita Springs Florida, via Pittsburg, Charlotte, Jacksonville and Tampa.

Total distance was 2427 kilometers or 1508 miles.

Bloody long trip and did it in just about 26 hours total clock time.

BUT..... that was in my younger and foolish days. Wouldn't dare try it now.

FlyUSCG · Wed Aug 22, 2007 10:10 am

Non-stop (as in no stops for anything at all) from Prescott AZ, to Irvine, CA. 380 miles in my '92 Chevy Silverado. 5:30 minutes. And with no "low fuel" light, I was getting mighty nervous. I also learned the halfway point on my fuel gauge is actually quite a bit less than half.

Duff44 · Wed Aug 22, 2007 10:17 am

Longest drive n/s, myself driving: E Windsor, CT-New York City-Bristol, CT... appx 244 miles (I usually will NOT drive long distances... I will either fly or not go at all)

Although if there's a sports car race next year in Mont Tremblant, PQ I may drive up for that (~400 miles)

Longest as a passenger: Plainville, CT-Dover, DE, whatever that distance is

overlander · Wed Aug 22, 2007 10:29 am

One time, I always remember when driving in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) it was the only day I had to engage low gear and the differencial lock on the Landrover.

That was one of the longest days in my life. The 'road' was bad and I even felt myself wishing they could just put some concrete in this jungle to help get me get by.

I did about 10 miles that day, from dawn to dusk and it was longest journey I have ever undertaken nonstop and also stress wise.

All the best,

Overlander

MCOflyer · Wed Aug 22, 2007 10:29 am

Longest: Melbourne, FL to Miami and back. 400 miles in a Lexus. I've also done Rockledge to Ocala the long way.

Go3Team, I thought you could only drive for 11 hrs.

Hunter

oldman55 · Wed Aug 22, 2007 10:57 am

The longest distance I have driven at one time without an overnight stop was about 750 miles from Harrisburg PA to about 75 miles W. of Chicago. It took from 6 AM untill about 9 PM.
I think the longest I drove without any kind of break is from Harrisburg to Charlotesville VA about 210 miles

RayChuang · Wed Aug 22, 2007 10:59 am

For my longest drives by myself they are:

(with fuel stop) Mountain View, CA to Ventura, CA.

(without fuel stop) Mountain View, CA to Bakersfield, CA

NIKV69 · Wed Aug 22, 2007 11:36 am

Texarkana to BayShore NY. 1430 Miles. I wouldn't adivse doing this though.

ScarletHarlot · Wed Aug 22, 2007 11:43 am

Our longest without overnight stops are probably

Reno - Seattle. 880 miles. We were supposed to overnight at Roseburg, OR but got there around 3 pm and decided to press on. Nice trip in the Boxster!

Jamestown, ND - Bozeman, MT. 650 miles.

Bozeman, MT - Seattle. 680 miles.

Our trip from Toronto to Seattle was supposed to be Toronto - Sault Ste. Marie - Thunder Bay - Fargo - Billings - Spokane - Seattle, if I remember correctly, but we got stuck in Jamestown on the way out of Fargo due to a snowstorm. Ended up being Toronto - Sault Ste. Marie - Thunder Bay - Fargo - Jamestown - Bozeman - Seattle.

Longest one day trip was Thunder Bay - Duluth - Thunder Bay - my mom and I went down to shop. Eight hours of driving. About 400 miles round trip.

Longest drive by myself was Atlanta to Savannah. 250 miles. Ran into a huge thunderstorm on the way back to Atlanta - one of those where you drove 10 mph with your fourway flashers on - a gullywasher my dad would have called it. I don't think I pulled off to wait it out but man I was tempted a couple of times.

MrFord · Wed Aug 22, 2007 11:56 am

Longest drive : New York, NY to La Sarre, QC. 797 miles.

I'm doing that trip maybe every 2-3 months, it's about 14 hours, so not that bad. Exept during winter, where the roads north of Monteal can be bitches lol. I did that one time in February, and was caught in a snowstorm in the middle of the night for 5 hours. Fun!
Even got to enter a snowstorm in the Adirondacks during the same trip... I may be the only one having winter tires in New York, but it paid off that time Wink

Doind that ride in my SVT Contour does help to make it more enjoyable heh. Now, I need to try that in a Continental Mark V... Smile

Tom12 · Wed Aug 22, 2007 11:59 am

I onc drove non-stop from one end of my drive way to the other Smile

Tom

lgbga · Wed Aug 22, 2007 12:23 pm

El Paso,TX to Gadsden,AL about 1350 miles. On my honeymoon of all times. We had driven to Summit Co. Colorado to go skiing and then decided to go down to New Mexico to ski. We ended up driving all the way to the border and crossing into Juarez. The El Paso leg was coming home, done only with a few food and gas stops. I drove the whole way. tired

bhmbaglock · Wed Aug 22, 2007 12:50 pm

Solo with stops only for gas/food would be Troy, NY - Fort Lauderdale at 1400 miles although I only did this once.

Troy - BHM is about 1100 miles and I did it at least a dozen times. All time best was 19.5 hours with stops.

Key West - BHM a couple of times as well which is about 950 miles.

Memphis - Shamong, NJ at about 1050 miles. TN the long way really sucks.

Also did Marana to Jackson once nonstop in a 24 ft rental truck but it was cheating a bit as I was sharing the driving with another guy.

57AZ · Wed Aug 22, 2007 1:17 pm

Longest drives I've made without hotel time were deadhead trips in the motor coach from LAX to TUS. With a group, we'd have to stop on request for meals or to stretch the legs. Deadhead moves I could make Los Angeles to Blythe or Ehrenberg where I would have to make a 30 minute mandatory rest stop before continuing to Tucson. I'd hit the head before leaving LA and take a potty break at my rest stop. Commercial driving, I could only do ten hours driving time in a 24 hour period without a legal rest period unless a ten hour run would put me over the maximum hours allowed for my recap period.

austinairport · Wed Aug 22, 2007 1:22 pm

Just curious anybody perhaps a trucker care to share. (I know its an aviation websits) but still Smile

NWA742 · Wed Aug 22, 2007 1:29 pm

Longest for me, by myself, in one day, was probably Pueblo, CO - Austin. A little over 800 miles - left at 3am and got here late afternoon.

-NWA742

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