Having driven for Lyft and Uber I can say that it isn’t necessarily the miles but the hours. I can drive up to 14 hours a day as long as there are interesting things to see and people to converse with.
And yes, I find driving relaxing and sometimes make excuse to go to far away places just so I can drive.
I don’t even try anymore to get to my destination in any particular time. I don’t even necessarily try that hard to even get to my destination. If I see something interesting, and it doesn’t take much to be interesting for me, I will stop and look at it. If I see a road that makes me think, “Gee, I wonder where that road goes?” then I will take it. I find small towns in the middle of nowhere that no tourist in their right mind would ever go to interesting. I will drive many miles out of the way just to get a cup of coffee and talk to the locals in some place I’ve never been to before.
I should have added a conclusion to my inane rambling to show how it was relevant to the poll. When I am driving, I almost always get distracted long before I get tired.
I went with 400 miles, as I’ve done that many times. I once drove 400 miles, interviewed for a job over coffee and a snack, then got in my car and drove 400 miles to return home.
About 10 hours. I once tried to drive to Buffalo, WY (> 800 miles) and the miles past Gillette were very hard. The next time I drove that way I stopped in Gillette. I was still exhausted. I had a light dinner and think I fell asleep 15 min after getting back to my room (I walked across the street for dinner) this was maybe 8 PM
When I drove to/from Glacier NP I stopped in Dickinson, ND (roughly half way at 677 miles) and that was about right.
For long trips I generally eat at the restaurant (pre-COVID) rather than eat in the car. In addition to gas and potty breaks I may stop at scenic lookouts. I drive ~3 MPH over the speed limit, so I always take longer than google estimates.
It depends on a lot of things, and not necessarily miles traveled.
In bad weather on a route where I really need to concentrate (ie: lots of turns, finding road names, bad traffic) then I’m good for maybe 2 hrs max. On a lovely day of highway driving with light traffic and a route I know well, I’m good for 8 hrs or so. I do stop for gas/bathroom/snacks every 2-3 hrs, but they are quick and efficient usually. On a killer drive though that 2-3 hr rest point will include a few minutes of snooze time.
Probably about 300-350 miles / 6-7 hours is about all I can do without being wiped out at the end of it.
That was more or less our pace during last summer’s road trip vacation, and it worked rather well. Basically it was leave at 8 and do some combination of sightseeing and driving until about 5 or 6. Some days it was four or five hours of driving with a road meal, and then seeing/doing something, others it was several chunks of 2-3 hours each.
On the days where we just had to power through because there wasn’t anything to see, it was MUCH more of a grind than I’d expected. Deadwood to Cheyenne was a real grind of a drive, for example. Others it wasn’t so bad- Wichita to North Platte wasn’t bad though.
Tough to answer. We drive 800 miles all at once to visit my husband’s parents, with frequent stops to change drivers, get gas, bathroom breaks and such. When we arrive, I’m not so much tired as achy from so much sitting and a bit stressed from the continuous road noise.
It’s about 100 miles (just over 2 hours) to my mom’s house, and unless the traffic has been particularly horrific, that’s not a bad trip. So somewhere between 100 miles and 800 miles, and between 2 hours and 15 hours.
When I was younger, I could drive till I had to gas up the car without any issues. These days, after a couple of hours, I need to move around a bit. But then and now, I really hate car trips.
I haven’t done it probably 15 years, but I’ve made the trip from Milwaukee to St Petersburg, FL a few times. It’s about 20 hours. IIRC, I made it all the way once, otherwise I’d usually start getting tired when there’s a few hours left.
My daughter has a friend that lives about 3 hours away (175mi). I’ve never had any issue driving her out there, turning around and going right back home without stopping for anything other than grabbing some food and going to the bathroom.
I put down 500 miles because that’s what I’ve done. In fact, I don’t always feel OK after 500 miles, there have been some trips that length where I had to stop before the end of that leg of the trip but that’s the most I’ve been able to go and arrive better than half-dead at the end. As someone else mentioned, it’s not just the mileage, it’s the time involved. I’m only good for 10-11 hours on the road at best, doesn’t matter if that was 200 miles or 600 miles.
When I’ve planned longer trips than 500 miles I split it into two days at least (longest so far was Gary, Indiana to a small town in New Hampshire, 922 miles)
Even with shorter trips I reserve the right to check into a hotel if I can’t make it the full way for whatever reason. And it’s a lot easier if you have a second driver. But most of the time yeah, I can do 500 miles/10-11 hours solo.
I voted any amount as long as I’m not sleepy. But after 500 or so miles, or less if there is heavy traffic, I don’t so much “want to rest” as “feel strung out”. Just stopping and resting wouldn’t do anything, and if anything it impedes my ability to sleep. The main thing that gets me out of that state is not sleeping or chilling out or even doing interesting low intensity activities, although the latter does help: the main thing is taking substances. It can even be caffeine or food, as long as the food is good.
A little fuzzy on what “not wanting to rest” means. At the end of a very long driving/riding day it’s good to sit down with a beer and dinner, but it’s not like I’m dead on my feet and ready to pass out as soon as I lie down.
Other–My road trip M.O. is usually 3-5 hours on the road with a stop or two along the way to check out a roadside attraction, take a short hike, etc. I try to arrive at my destination early enough to check in and do something locally, like a quick stroll around town before having dinner. On long days when I spend 6 or more hours on the road, I’m pretty much done for the day–I might hit the pool or do 30 minutes in the hotel exercise room before cracking a beer and seeing what’s on TV.
I think time behind the wheel is a more important measurement than distance covered. I’ve driven two hours through driving rain or snow, or in very heavy traffic, and felt much more tired and strung out than after twice that long in clear, sunny weather in average traffic. These days I can drive two hours or so without any problem and not feel particularly tired, especially with good company or listening to audiobooks; I used to be able to do more.
My longest solo trip ever was driving from Ohio to Vermont to see my then-girlfriend; due to heavy traffic and road construction the trip ended up taking 14 hours, and I practically oozed out of the car when I opened the door at the end. Never again.
I voted 400 miles, but that’s not the whole story. To some extent, it depends on how stressful the driving is. I find that driving in heavy traffic is much more stressful, even when it’s moving along at a good speed. It’s independent of whatever frustration I might feel when traffic slows to a crawl. You not only have to pay attention to what you’re doing, you have to pay attention to what all the other cars near you are doing. More cars to pay attention to means more stress.
When I drive the 550 miles from Maine to my sister’s house in Maryland I always feel wiped out when I arrive because I have to drive through heavy traffic in Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey, almost constantly on high alert for hours at a time. But when I drive the 450 miles to my brother’s house in Rochester NY I usually arrive feeling fairly fresh because there’s much less traffic and it’s a relatively relaxed experience. There are few stretches with heavy traffic, but I’m through them in maybe half an hour each. When I’m driving in places like rural Michigan, Minnesota, Wyoming, and the Dakotas I can go for 10 hours or more. Sure I’m tired at the end of the day, but with light traffic I don’t feel drained.
I go from the Bay Area to Anaheim all the time, and I’m tired at the end of it but not exhausted. It depends on conditions - rain makes me more tired, bad traffic in LA makes more more tired. It helps to know the route.
When I was in college I could drive 600 miles from Cambridge to Williamsburg to see my girlfriend now wife, and I can assure you I had plenty of energy when I got there. That was a long time ago.
Age has taken a toll for me. I have to stop about every 50-100 miles to work the kinks out of my legs and back. A long day of driving for me is about 350 miles, sometimes with a nap at a rest area. Back when I was a young buck with limited leave time, I could push myself for a ten hour day. The most I ever did was about 23 hours in order to get home before my leave expired. That was from Rawlins, MT to Port Hueneme, CA. I don’t even remember the last couple hundred miles or pulling into my driveway. I just kind of came to and I was home. Everyone else in the car was asleep. Scary.
I don’t fully understand the question. On one hand I’ve routinely driven 300 miles to work, worked for 6-8 hours then driven 300 miles home. I used to do that one to four times a month when I was running rigs outside of Casper. Just a year ago I drove 250 miles to a job interview, nailed it, then drove the 250 home and got offered the job. So I went with 300 in the poll. Less than that isn’t even on my radar as driving for distance.
On the other had I routinely (2-4 times per year) drive 1,000-1,500 miles in a day. at the end of that I’m ready to go to bed since it takes me 14-20 hours to knock that out but the next day I’m ready to go. The ready for bed is more like I’m tired at the end of any other day and is more due to the fact it’s 15+ hours since I woke up. I think this last bit puts me in the no limit category but I’m certainly not fresh at the end of 1,000 miles.
Right now I’m looking at driving 965 miles one day and then doing a board presentation the next morning at 7 AM. I’ll certainly be fresh for the meeting in the morning.