I just got back from a road trip. 600 miles on this past Friday, then 500 miles on Saturday.
No limit as long as I’m not sleepy.
I once drove from Las Vegas to Socorro, NM where I toured the VLA for a couple of hours then drove to Carrizozo for some cherry cider and back to Las Vegas again. Total trip time was 23.5 hours and I covered close to 1500 miles IIRC.
I did need about an hour before the feeling of being in motion left me, tho.
And many years ago I drove from St. Cloud, Florida to Las Vegas in under 4 days and that included stops at Fort Davis State Park in Texas and Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. I was driving 14-16 hours each day; it was fun.
I did 19 hours one day, OK/Missouri border to Mesa AZ. Though that was unusual.
When I used to travel cross country to get someplace, as opposed to enjoying the trip as I do now, I used to drive 1800 miles in about 36 hours. I’d drive until I got tired (whatever time of day) take a nap in the car, then drive again.
I’ve driven to LA and back (800 miles round trip) in one day many times.
These days I can probably do 500-600 miles and not be tired. But generally I have no reason to anymore.
Now that I’m almost 70, anything over 200 miles is exhausting. When I was younger, 400+ wasn’t any big deal.
Yes, I think my driving stamina is falling off, too. At first I thought it just might have been exhaustion from my late spouse’s final illness but I think I just don’t have the endurance I used to.
I’ve been told much the same from some older people (like my dad) - at a certain point you can still drive, but not as much/as far/as long as you used to.
I used to drive to Chapel Hill, NC (550 miles) once or twice a year. I know I can drive to Chicago (350 miles) with ease. I put 500 miles but it’s been a while since I did that…although I did it alone so I bet if I had conversation I could still do 500 easy.
Every year we drive to a favored lake destination that is 1200 km from here. We always do the drive in one day, just stopping to eat. It’s about 14 hours in total, and I’ve never had a problem with it.
My longest drive was a whirlwind trip from Edmonton to Idaho and back in 48 hours to photograph the eclipse. 2800 km, but we did stay at a hotel on the way down. But a straight 1400 km drive back after half a day setting up, photographing and tearing down equipment.
I also drove straight from Edmonton to Denver once. As I recall, it was about 22 hours of driving. 2040 km, stopping just for food and coffee.
Miles are not the appropriate metric; it’s the hours.
When I was younger I’d make the drive from Boston up to Bar Harbor (about five hours) and be fresh enough to hike when I got there (after eating of course). These days, I probably couldn’t do that.
The family does take long drives though, from Los Angeles into Utah, Arizona, and Colorado. Those are typically all-day drives, of 8-14 hours. My spouse and I switch driving every two hours, with a bathroom and refreshment break at the switch. It’s tiring, but very doable.
On the other end, sometimes my commute in LA can be two hours of hell across thirty miles. That leaves me feeling dead and I usually go straight to bed after one of those.
I can get up at 5 a.m., drive 160 miles from my house to a ski resort in Vermont (which takes about 2-1/2 hours), ski all day until the lifts shut down at 4 p.m., change clothes, and then drive back home.
There are ski resorts farther than this, of course, but this is about my limit for a day trip.
Anyway, I do this every weekend all winter, unless I have an overnight trip planned (like with my ski club). Sometimes I go with my son or a friend, but I’m happy to go alone if nobody else wants to go.
The farthest I’ve driven in recent years was from my house to Fort Kent, Maine for our biennial Allagash River canoe trip. It’s about 550 miles each way, and takes about 10 hours with breaks.
I am a Road Warrior, Asphalt Centurion, Interstate Berserker.
OK, it’s 1200 km. But how far is that?
About 6000 furlongs.
Then why didn’t Sam_Stone just say that?
If not kilometers, I prefer my measurements in beard-years. It’s like a light-year, only instead it’s how far your beard grows in a year. So my 2000 km drive was about 13,000 beard-years.
In terms of speed, I did a totally decent 43,000 beard-years per fortnight.
Well at least you are using words that make sense now. But your beard grows really fast. You must have to shave every two or three days just to keep from tripping over your beard when you walk.
I voted “500.” I used to drive from Bloomington, Indiana to NYC, straight through, and the other direction. This is a little over 600 miles, but I haven’t done it it about 10 years. I did Indianapolis to NYC three years ago, and it wasn’t great, but I did it. I do know that I can do just a little over 400 no sweat.
However, these caveats are in play: I need a good night’s sleep the night before, which depends on a lot of factors involving other people, which is why since I had a baby, I’ve done this, only, maybe 5 times, though before that, I did it a couple of times a year. I also need to set out right in the morning, when I’m fresh, so the car needs to be packed the night before, and I need to drive during the day. I don’t do well driving on the highway in the dark, nor around places in cities I don’t know well.
I also need to have plenty to listen to that holds my attention. I like to set out just when the morning news starts, and have several hours of NPR to keep me alert. After that, I will have an audiobook downloaded to my phone, absolutely something I have never heard or read before, and it works well if it’s something like a mystery novel. Not so deep that it provides distraction, or that I can’t miss a sentence here and there, and still know what’s going on, but complex enough to help with alertness.
I also pop a No-Doz (well, the generic equivalent thereof), and sometimes another one about five hours later. Better than drinking coffee, because it doesn’t make me have to pee every 45 minutes, and cheaper.
I stop for food, but I eat in the car. I’d rather just drive straight through.
The farthest I’ve driven in my life is a trip from Connecticut to Houston, Texas (and back). It’s about 1,800 miles each way. Driving down, I was trying to make it for Thanksgiving, but couldn’t leave until Tuesday afternoon. I technically made it, though the meal was long over.
IIRC, I spent the first night at McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey, and the second night in a motel in Tennessee. That means I had two 800 mile days on Wednesday and Thanksgiving Day. That was over 25 years ago, and I still remember that trip.
That trip pretty much cured me of cross-country drives. Other than a one-way drive back to Connecticut after buying a vehicle in Texas about 5 years after that first trip, I’ve flown down ever since when visiting family in Texas.
I really hope it’s about 400 miles/8 hours (total) because that’s how far I need to drive next month to retrieve my authentically from Maine Maine Coon kitten. It’s going to be the longest solo drive I’ve ever done by about 2 hours. As much as I want my kitten, I’m dreading the drive.
As you probably can guess, I really don’t enjoy driving.
If I’m driving cross country, I can drive as long there is daylight. As soon as it’s dark, I need to find a bed. Or some beer, then a bed.
If I’m just driving around town, I’m sick of it after an hour or two.
Get an audiobook. The miles melt away if you have a good audiobook to listen to.