# 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:** 11
**Page:** 4
### Author:  [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2015, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drive-purely-for-recreation/726947/61 "2015-08-04T19:44:00Z")
I met the guy who wrote **Blue Highways**. At the time he lived in Columbia, MO.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2015, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drive-purely-for-recreation/726947/62 "2015-08-04T21:49:02Z")
Point A to Point B, for me. At most, I’ll choose a more scenic route… but only if it doesn’t take me too far out of my way.
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### Author:  [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2015, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drive-purely-for-recreation/726947/63 "2015-08-04T23:18:52Z")
> [@blondebear](#):
>
> 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.
I can’t remember the last time I even SAW an open road. Just guessing, I’d say I’d have to drive at least an hour from my house to find one.
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### Author:  [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2015, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drive-purely-for-recreation/726947/64 "2015-08-04T23:45:26Z")
> [@Finagle](#):
>
> I view it as a necessary evil, particularly because I live in Massachusetts and continually have to deal with people in BMWs driving aggressively and much too fast.
Sorry about that. I also apologize in advance for the next times I do it again. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2015, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drive-purely-for-recreation/726947/65 "2015-08-04T23:52:01Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#):
>
> Don’t worry. We’ll get off your lawn. 🙂
And don’t step on my prize-winning begonias!
I don’t mind the scenery, sure. But if I want to look at pretty vistas, I’ll drive _to_ a nice location and enjoy it up close and personal, not from inside a car at 60 mph. Less mosquitos in a car though, I suppose.
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### Author:  [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2015, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drive-purely-for-recreation/726947/66 "2015-08-05T00:13:18Z")
I greatly enjoy long distance driving and try to do so at least once a year.
Sitting back in my magic carpet, gliding over the landscape at 60-80mph, snacks and soda at hand, my tunes sometimes on liquidate, sometimes off. It’s just time for me to relax and think a bit.
Every couple of weeks in the summer and spring I’ll get in my car and drive 80-150 miles through the countryside just because.
Driving in traffic however, I utterly loathe. I work downtown and take the bus so I don’t have to do rush hour traffic.
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### Author:  [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2015, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drive-purely-for-recreation/726947/67 "2015-08-05T00:22:17Z")
> [@Caffeine.addict](#):
>
> 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.
I agree that DC traffic isn’t that bad, even during rush hour traffic on main streets moves; the beltway could be gridlocked, but Mass Ave will be zipping along. In the communities around DC, however, the traffic is third world.
A couple of days before I left for this trip to Kabul, we bought a new Mazda CX-5. Before that we had a Kia Soul which is a great city car, but on long trips on the highway it felt rickety. Let’s see if the new car will make me willing to brave the traffic on the beltway at anytime other than 4am.
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### Author:  [@Mr.Goob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Goob)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2015, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drive-purely-for-recreation/726947/68 "2015-08-05T00:43:40Z")
I love my triumph motorcycle. I live near Buffalo and manage to ride 9 or 10 months a year. Yes I was out last December 31st and haven’t driven my truck since March.
My shop is 8 miles from my house. One night riding home I found myself going over 100 miles without putting my feet down.
Years ago some friends and I drove 14 hours to a rented a house in Tennessee so we could ride in the mountains. A glorious week of twisty curvy mountain roads.
Bonus points to whoever knows what "tail of the dragon " means.
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### Author:  [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2015, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drive-purely-for-recreation/726947/69 "2015-08-05T02:47:29Z")
I like driving. I’m happy for an excuse to get behind the wheel, but not enough to do so for recreational purposes.
OTOH, straddling a motorcycle is nirvana. I’ve ridden across multiple states, 600-1300 miles in a day or two, to get to scenic twisty roads - and then I’ve spent days on end riding those roads before turning around and coming home. I even find value from droning down the slab; cross-country travel via a motorcycle, even on those straight interstate highways, is somehow fulfilling.
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### Author:  [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2015, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drive-purely-for-recreation/726947/70 "2015-08-05T17:28:15Z")
I bought my first BMW in March and now my loved ones only see me when I drive by and honk 🙂
Now I go for non-goal/errand drives almost daily. As Shagnasty writes above, the BMW experience is like none other.
I find places to safely drive 100+ mph (as in, roads where I’m not likely to kill anyone but myself) and also have long, meandering, laid-back routes up and down the Delaware.
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### Author:  [@Honey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honey)
#### Post date: [August 6, 2015, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drive-purely-for-recreation/726947/71 "2015-08-06T00:42:14Z")
Just yesterday afternoon I was bored, so I jumped in the car and drove up to Blue Mountain Lake. It’s a beautiful drive up through the Adks. and I hadn’t been up there yet this summer. There are many stretches of road where you don’t see another car for miles. Wonderful drive.
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