# Do you drive purely for recreation?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drive-purely-for-recreation/726947
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [August 4, 2015, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drive-purely-for-recreation/726947 "2015-08-04T03:20:13Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2015, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drive-purely-for-recreation/726947/41 "2015-08-04T14:01:26Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#):
>
> None. I can’t imagine a worse activity than sitting in a car for no good reason. Waste of gas, time and effort.
Don’t worry. We’ll get off your lawn. 🙂
I hate, hate, hate driving in traffic, but… man, do I LOVE driving on the open road. I wouldn’t say that I often drive so much for recreation, but when I need to drive somewhere, I try my best to plan it so I’m not dealing with traffic and I look forward to the drive rather than dreading it. I spend a lot of weekends in the Monterey Bay area and that drive from my house early Saturday morning is pure heaven. (In fact, doing it this weekend, but will try to leave around noon on Friday.)
A few times a year I will take a drive up the coast just for the fun of it-- that is, no destination in mind.
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### Author:  [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2015, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drive-purely-for-recreation/726947/42 "2015-08-04T14:08:39Z")
Car? Never really. I just seriously don’t like or enjoy them much and when I’ve been able to do it I have tried to avoid even owning one. Motorcycles are another story and while I usually have a purpose in heading somewhere, I’ve been known to turn a 25 mile trip into a 200 mile scenic route.
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### Author:  [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2015, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drive-purely-for-recreation/726947/43 "2015-08-04T14:54:55Z")
No. I dislike driving and I already average over 300 miles a week just going back and forth to work, so I can’t imagine having the desire to add to that for no real purpose.
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### Author:  [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2015, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drive-purely-for-recreation/726947/44 "2015-08-04T15:10:57Z")
Another Mazda owner here, I definitely enjoy recreational driving. The only times I don’t like driving is in heavy traffic and/or at night on wet roads in an unfamiliar place.
Luckily there are about a dozen red lights on the whole county where I live so traffic isn’t a problem.
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### Author:  [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2015, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drive-purely-for-recreation/726947/45 "2015-08-04T15:28:18Z")
Living in Colorado, the temptation to go for a recreational drive is very strong. There is so much beauty here and virtually any road one takes will eventually lead to something spectacular. So yes, I do drive recreationally.
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### Author:  [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2015, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drive-purely-for-recreation/726947/46 "2015-08-04T15:37:40Z")
Not since getting practice on a learner’s permit.
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### Author:  [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2015, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drive-purely-for-recreation/726947/47 "2015-08-04T15:40:05Z")
Ivylad and I will go on what we call Magical Mystery Tours. We’ll drive until we get lost, then look for something to look at. We’ve found a craft fair at an RV park, a deserted nature trail, and a lovely restaurant on the shores of a lake.
I normally don’t like driving long distances. It’s boring.
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### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2015, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drive-purely-for-recreation/726947/48 "2015-08-04T16:52:09Z")
These days I’m laid up with a very painful hip. Can barely walk to the kitchen . . . but if I can make it out to the car, I can go ANYWHERE. Just get in and drive, it’s my only way to freedom!
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### Author:  [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2015, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drive-purely-for-recreation/726947/49 "2015-08-04T16:57:46Z")
I currently do not own a fun-to-drive car, but I do generally enjoy driving. Back when I did have a fun-to-drive car, yes I would take it out on the back roads just for kicks.
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### Author:  [@AnaMen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnaMen)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2015, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drive-purely-for-recreation/726947/50 "2015-08-04T17:06:51Z")
There was a time when I enjoyed driving, but that was several hundred thousand miles ago. Now I utterly despise it, plus, it is much more dangerous than most other activities that people think it is normal to fear. I don’t fear driving, but knowing that I’m one false move from catastrophic carnage is certainly not fun.
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### Author:  [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2015, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drive-purely-for-recreation/726947/51 "2015-08-04T17:21:07Z")
> [@Shodan](#):
>
> I find driving to be a boring chore, and I avoid it when necessary. My “aimless wandering” needs are met by walking the dog, which is cheaper than driving (and better for me and Leet the Wonder Dog[sup]TM[/sup])
Wandering around with the dog is certainly pretty awesome.
My dog likes to ride in the car, so we usually take her with us when driving around for fun.
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### Author:  [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2015, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drive-purely-for-recreation/726947/52 "2015-08-04T17:24:40Z")
Yes. It’s not uncommon for me to take drives just to see where the roads go, or just because the roads are fun (i.e., twisty), and I’ve also tracked a couple of my cars. Driving – in and of itself – is _awesome_. Especially in my current car, a manual Nissan 370Z.
> [@madmonk28](#):
>
> an hour from DC during traffic will put you somewhere on 66 near Mananas, stuck on 270 well before Frederick, or halfway across the Woodrow Wilson Bridge.
This is no joke. Around here, 7 miles can take 45 minutes…and that’s not even starting/ending in the District. (For those outside of our area, “Mananas” = Manassas. :))
There are a few reasons why I haven’t made the move to DC yet – the closest I’ve gotten was Arlington – and one is that I fear I will start to hate having a car (another is that I can’t afford any place with off-street parking, which would be a must). I’m not ready to give up recreational driving yet.
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### Author:  [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2015, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drive-purely-for-recreation/726947/53 "2015-08-04T17:36:04Z")
Yeah, weird auto correct on that one. I grew up in NoVA. My family still live there, but they might as well be in Ohio for how often any of us are willing to fight traffic to see each other.
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### Author:  [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2015, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drive-purely-for-recreation/726947/54 "2015-08-04T18:21:04Z")
I hate driving, so no. For me driving is not a relaxing activity, but one where I’m constantly in a state of low-level anxiety.
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### Author:  [@Caffeine.addict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caffeine.addict)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2015, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drive-purely-for-recreation/726947/55 "2015-08-04T18:58:35Z")
> [@Misnomer](#):
>
> Yes. It’s not uncommon for me to take drives just to see where the roads go, or just because the roads are fun (i.e., twisty), and I’ve also tracked a couple of my cars. Driving – in and of itself – is _awesome_. Especially in my current car, a manual Nissan 370Z.
>
> This is no joke. Around here, 7 miles can take 45 minutes…and that’s not even starting/ending in the District. (For those outside of our area, “Mananas” = Manassas. :))
>
> There are a few reasons why I haven’t made the move to DC yet – the closest I’ve gotten was Arlington – and one is that I fear I will start to hate having a car (another is that I can’t afford any place with off-street parking, which would be a must). I’m not ready to give up recreational driving yet.
This is going to sound funny, but I always found traffic in the District itself to be alright. That said, off street parking is a must. I thought that it backed up more in the suburbs in places like Tysons or Ashburn. I did most of my exploratory driving on the weekends and during off hours. From my house off of H Street NE, I could be in Baltimore in about 50 minutes on the weekends barring some accident on the BW Parkway.
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### Author:  [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2015, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drive-purely-for-recreation/726947/56 "2015-08-04T19:00:36Z")
> [@Red\_Wiggler](#):
>
> While the driving part itself has lost its thrill over the years, a new piece of asphalt is something I’ll never tire of.
I see what you did there.
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### Author:  [@Cumberdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cumberdale)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2015, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drive-purely-for-recreation/726947/57 "2015-08-04T19:03:40Z")
No. I can’t imagine much that would be less enjoyable. I would love to be able to live a car free life.
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### Author:  [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2015, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drive-purely-for-recreation/726947/58 "2015-08-04T19:15:31Z")
I used to do regular “recreational driving” day trips, which usually limited the radius to half-a-day’s driving and back. Occasional overnighter trips. I was especially fond of driving in the area surrounding and north of the S. F. Bay Area.
One night a few years ago (long after I moved away from the Bay Area and wasn’t much into recreational driving any more anyway), I had a dream so seemingly realistic that after I woke up, it took me a while to realize that it was a dream.
I was living a long way from the Bay Area, but in the dream I drove back into the Bay Area. I found myself approaching the Bay Bridge (the old bridge) eastbound, on that double-deck section that snakes among the buildings of S. F. Only the road was much more cavernous, much more mazelike and the route convoluted, more that IRL. Immediately after that, I found myself in the Martinez area, crossing the bridge there (Martinez bridge), which led me directly into San Rafael. (Dream geography.) Where I-580 meets 101, there’s a motel that’s been there since forever, but in the dream it was a multi-story combined parking structure and yacht dealership.
Next thing I knew, I was driving up Hwy 1 in the Bolinas Bay area, and it was dark with the moon reflecting on Bolinas Bay. I planned to drive up into Sonoma County toward the Russian River area.
AND THEN: I suddenly saw a fork in the road up ahead, which I had never noticed before, although I had driven that way many times. I made a mental note to come back another day and take the fork I had never taken before. Then, just at the very last moment, I suddenly decided to take the right fork (the unfamiliar one) then. Then I immediately found myself driving on a winding mountain road surrounded by a fabulously beautiful dense forest of fir trees. It seemed like evening now, and somewhat misty, with lights from cabin windows visible through the trees here and there – the sort of scene straight out of Norwegian postcard scenes.
Reaching the summit of that mountain and going down the other side, the scenery abruptly changed to desert (scenes I remember from driving through the Mojave area), including the remains of an old cement plant (that really exists in the Lucerne Valley area near Victorville). I decided to head south back towards home, and the dream ended and I woke up.
As I lay in bed, having just woke up, I replayed that whole dream in my mind, not even realizing for a while that it was just a dream, and spent a while trying to make plans to visit that area again and repeat that drive. As my mind gradually began to wake up, I began to realize that _I had no idea where that fork in the road was, nor how to get there again_ and I finally figured out that the whole trip was just a dream.
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### Author:  [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2015, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drive-purely-for-recreation/726947/59 "2015-08-04T19:26:19Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#):
>
> None. I can’t imagine a worse activity than sitting in a car for no good reason. Waste of gas, time and effort.
I kind of agree with this.
I don’t have much money, so I can’t afford driving just for fun. Also, I’m a nervous driver, and I only feel comfortable just driving to stores that are harder to reach by bus. I usually find driving nerve-wracking rather than fun, and I’m not all that interested in cars in general, to begin with. I’m also rather worried about the environment, and that’s another reason I don’t drive more than I have to.
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### Author:  [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2015, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drive-purely-for-recreation/726947/60 "2015-08-04T19:36:02Z")
I live for road trips. I love love love being out on the open road, preferably a Blue Highway with blue skies and puffy white clouds stretching to the horizon.
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