My last road trip was from Reno to Detroit to a small town in Arkansas and back to Reno:
NV-UT-CO-WY-SD-IA-MN-WI-MI-OH-IN-KY-TN-AL-MS-AR-OK-TX-NM-AZ-UT-NV
5 weeks, 8,600 miles (about 800 miles on the interstate)
The one before that was Fort Worth to Reno: TX-NM-CO-UT-NV.
2 weeks, 4,000 miles (only 70 miles of it on the Interstate).
Sounds similar to the one my wife, dog and I took around Thanksgiving in 2009. We call it Our Great Southwest USA Adventure:
CA - AZ - NM - TX - OK - KS - OK - TX - NM - CO - UT - NV - CA
4 weeks, 9,000 miles.
In 1983 – wow, 30 years ago already – my brother and I did a long road trip over 6 weeks, starting and ending in San Francisco:
CA - NV - UT - WY - CO - NE - IA - IL - IN - MI - ON (Canada) - NY - MA - CT - NJ - DE - MD - DC - VA - DC - MD - VA - NC - SC - GA - FL - AL - MS - LA - TX - NM - AZ - CA
We covered around 10,000 miles on that trip. I can’t believe it’s already been 30 years ago. We visited 27 states (including DC) & provinces on that trip.
My answer would have been different 25+ years ago when i first started driving. I used to genuinely enjoy driving. In my early twenties I made several trips from the NY metro area to St. Louis driving straight through solo (it took about eighteen hours). Now I couldn’t do that unless absolutely nothing was expected of me the next day and a half. It would also take twenty two hours because I have to stop and stretch and hit rest rooms more often than I did then.
My sister lives three hours away, all highway. it’s an easy drive and I make it without much provocation, except that it’s about $40 of tolls in addition to the cost of gas. I’ve done there and back in the same day plenty, but my preference is to work in an overnight. On holiday weekends and most summer weekends it takes twice as long and traffic jam driving is my least favorite sort so unless I’m picking up or delivering something that is bigger than my purse I take the bus. Less freedom, but I can sleep or read or zone out without consequence.
My mom is six hours away on easy highways (with no tolls). i like at least one sleep between going up and coming home. What I don’t do anymore is work all day and hop in the car for six hours. I have no problem leaving here at six am and getting there at noon. Leaving at 6:00pm and arriving at midnight, the last hour is rougher than it used to be.
If the stars line up that I can retire at all comfortably I hope to do a lot of motor touring of the US and Canada, concentrating on national parks, but going at my own pace and stopping at the Walnut Museum or anything else that strikes my fancy as I go.
Six hour trips are comfortable for me. I can handle eight hours of driving at the most. Anything more would require an overnight in a motel.
I’ve vacationed in several cities that were within six hours of my home. I don’t mind driving that far for a short vacation somewhere. Even just a weekend is fine.
I grew up in RI, and maybe once each year, our family would do a 3-4 hour drive (one way) to ME or VT or Cape Cod or NYC. Sometimes these were day trips, other times we’d stay over night or for a long weekend. I would not consider these road trips. RI to DC (approx 8 hours) is getting closer to road trip territory, and we did that a few times, too.
Really, though, I think of a road trip as something that involves a couple days at least. Alternately, several drivers taking turns. So, some road trips I’ve done:
When I was in high school, my family drove out to Yellowstone, taking our time getting there (4 days, I think), staying two weeks, and then meandering home.
In college, I did a spring break project with Habitat for Humanity in Miami. Six or seven of us drove down from Providence in a minivan. We took turns driving all night.
A friend and I once drove from Providence to New Mexico and back in a Geo Metro.
Most recently, my family has twice driven from South Florida to the northeast (Philly area and RI) to visit family. Both times, we took our time with the drive, because we have two little kids. We’d drive for 2-4 hours then stop for half an hour to eat, pee, let the kids run around for half an hour. Both times, we stayed at one family’s house for a week, then drove to our second destination for a week, then drove home. We made the mistake, on one trip, of doing a 14-hour day, including stops. That’s waaaaaay too long with a 3 year old and a 6 year old.