Cruise control definitely helps me. Anything that raises my stress level by making me have to keep concentrating on something will drain me and make me tired quicker. Rain and traffic are the worst because they slow me down and drain me more per hour in the bargain.
If you allow bathroom breaks but NOT gas breaks, the longest time - and miles - I’ve driven was when I was fleeing a hurricane and managed to get past Atlanta without gas for around 500 miles because the traffic was either 35-45 mph, perfect for my Prius, or stopped. Took 15 hours.
From Halifax to the Toronto area. Somewhere between 10-13 hours. It’s a lot of miles, and “rural” Canadians are accustomed to driving long distances. But I’m too lazy to quantify them. Were I to do it again, it would be a two day slog for sure.
There are several ways to approach this question longest in time longest in hours or longest trip with short breaks.
My longest in hours truly non stop was from golden CO to Durango, CO about 328 miles and it takes about 6 hours. I’ve done that drive have a dozen times.
My longest in miles was when I had my bmw 535d which could do 700 miles to a tank. I’d routinely drive it up to my rig in Casper, WY from Denver which is about 300 miles and back on a single tank. When I was doing my long drives out to California for vacations my bladder tended to give out before the car did so my longest stretch was about 500 miles from Denver to some side of the road a bit outside of St. George, UT.
Total trip was from Irvine, Ca to Houston, Tx which is a little over 1,500 miles and too me just over 24 hours. I got caught in a traffic jam at 3 am on a sunday morning in LA and then that stupid speed limit drop in Texas at night fucked me the rest of the way.
Dumbest thing I ever did was drive from Bakersfield, Ca to Golden, CO party for 16 hours and then drive back to Bakersfield without sleeping. I was awake for 48 straight hours and drank enough energy drinks that I filled the passenger footwell of my truck up with empties and was starting to cover the seat plus another 6 bags of chewing tobacco. I thought I was going to have a heart attack when I finally laid down in bed Sunday morning.
I was in my 20s when I did all the ~900 mile trips, and while I can drive four hours straight now in my late 30s, I sure as hell don’t enjoy it. It helps that my cars have become progressively nicer over the years. Supportive seats and steering wheel reach adjustment are important.
Back when I had neither time nor money, I always started a vacation by driving cross country straight through (“What? Give up a day of vacation and pay for a hotel room? Are you craaaaazy?”).
So every trip ski-bumming around the Rockies; every cheap-motel-on-the-beach in Florida; every let’s-see-how-many-friends-I-can-crash-with-in two-weeks trip out east… they all involved going to bed at 7pm on a Friday so I could hit the road by 3am to avoid Chicago rush hour… then just keep going.
Oh, that last Chicago comment is because I live in Wisconsin… which also means that all my trips were exactly 24 hours. Favorite ski hill, favorite beach, favorite friends… each 24 hours away in a different direction.
Now that I’m old(er) (60s), I have to have good audiobooks with me, shift position, turn on cruise control and stretch my legs, and I stop for pee/food/walk around breaks every two hours. So, yeah, I can relate to the OP … wonder if he’s feeling intimidated by all the road warriors in this thread?
In the mid-80s I was in the USAF and was stationed at Woomera, South Australia. The Air Force shipped my 1984 Honda CRX over, and it got around 40 mpg. Anyway–I used to drive back and forth to Adelaide every other weekend, and it was a little over 300 miles each way. It’s supposed to be around a five hour drive, but I kept it floored and would do it in 4 1/2 hours (no stops).
I do that too except to avoid the DC or the Houston rush hour. (Avoiding DC entirely isn’t that hot either since the truck traffic on 81 is pretty bad for a 4 lane road.)
I still do it. Hour for hour it’s much better than hanging out in an airport since I enjoy the actual progress toward my goal instead of wondering if everything will go right with my flight (and is also better hour for hour than flying except during the daytime with a window seat.)
The only times I will fly is if it’s overseas or if it’s over 1000 miles away and I only have one place I’m going to. Since I have relatives in 3 cities up North, that’s a rare occurrence.
However, my limit to what I enjoy is around 1000 miles. I’ve stayed at Gettysburg multiple times before even visiting the battlefield because I knew I would be sick of driving by then. If my relatives were in Gettysburg I’d drive all the way through every time.
My Suburban has a 40-gallon tank which at cruising speeds – 55 to 65 – is good for 700+ miles. Your heart about stops on fill-up, though.
When traveling to get someplace rather than enjoying the scenery (I’m looking at you, Nevada/NW Arizona!) I drive about three hours before the first break, then every two hours or so thereafter until ten hours has elapsed, a little more if I’m really close to the destination. Like TheCuse I would prefer leaving at about 4am and quitting at 4pm.
I suspect that those of us in the western half of the country are more comfortable with long drives because, well, we have to be. If you want to get somewhere interesting it’s going to be a long slog and that’s just a fact. I remember meeting up with my then husband in Huntsville AL and telling people we were going to go check out New Orleans and people there were shocked that we were going to drive rather than fly. I mean, to us it was no big deal, about 800 miles round trip and we even stayed overnight in Birmingham, for us this was a leisurely trip. We once drove from Sacramento to Los Angeles to attend a party (about 400 miles each way or so) then drove back that same night–we were confirmed road warriors. Anyway, on that trip it was super weird to us that outside of the cities there was nearly nobody on the roads but trucks–very different from the Left Coast where there’s always cars travelling no matter how remote the area or how late the hour.
Then I took a delivery job where I was driving 12-14 hours a day, at least 300 miles per day and sometimes way more than that. I’m apparently built for long distance driving!
Des Moines IA to close to Gettysburg PA (where I live), stopping only for gas and food. According to The Google, the distance is 1,000 miles.
Longest drive over two days was when I was in college. My sister got a job in Myrtle Beach, SC for the summer and needed someone to drive her down there. So I drove from Wheeling, WV to Myrtle Beach, SC, spent the night, took two steps in the ocean (because I wasn’t driving all that way and not going into the ocean), then turned around and drove back. 616 miles each way, sayeth The Google.
Honorable Mention: About 10 years ago they had a problem with a manufacturing plant in NY. I got up at 6 am, drove to Selkirk NY (about 330 miles), got there around noon, worked until about 11 pm, got the plant running again, turned around and drove back, arriving back home around 5 am. Slept until mid-afternoon. Not the longest distance (only about 660 miles total) but with 11 hours of high-stress work in the middle it was a bit of an endurance test nonetheless.
The SUVs I’ve driven and ridden in were great on the highway. Higher ride height for better visibility, being higher makes it seem like you’re going a little slower, and the suspension tends to soak up bumps.
I’ve had some cars where the seats weren’t very comfortable on a long trip. I wonder if the seats in the Nissan Pathfinder just weren’t padded correctly for OP’s leg, maybe the seat edge was hitting a blood vessel or nerves.
I have driven all kinds of vehicles for long distances. SUVs, pickups, sports cars, nothing I have ever driven has affected me like the OP. I get a bit stiff after several hours of driving, but that’s it. Getting out and stretching while pumping gas is enough to keep me going.
That’s probably it. I did adjust the seat until I was initially comfortable, but apparently over the length of the trip the reduced blood flow to my right leg led to cramps. The seats on the Pathfinder are a comfortable leather, I think I just did not adjust it well for me.
Most recently: Anacortes, WA - Dallas, OR . 320 miles with a pee/water stop midway. Easy-peasy as long as you time it to minimize traffic in Seattle, Tacoma and Portand.
Carmel-By-The-Sea, CA - Rogue River, OR. 520 miles with gas stop in Winters, CA. Effortless travel in a Mercedes S420.
Way back in the day: Oak Harbor,WA - Weed, CA. 616 miles on a 250cc dirt bike. Good thing the gas tank meant a bunch of stops to refuel and thaw out - this was in November.
Rockford, IL - Fargo, ND - Butte, MT. 2232 miles with gas stops and a 3 hour snooze break somewhere near Bugtussle, ND. Reporting back from leave and not wanting to be AWOL. Helped by unlimited speed limits in ND and MT in those days. 95-100 mph until I needed to gas up again.
I was in Ireland at the time so it’s not really all that impressive. I know there was another 10 hour trip where I never left the driver’s seat but a significant portion of the time was spent stopped on a road due to snow.
Truly non-stop - Not sure, probably a leg of a longer trip. The longest start/destination pair I can recall was coming home after climbing Mt. Whitney. Gassed up in Lone Pine and didn’t stop until I got home in Redondo Beach 220 miles and 4 hours later.
Longest with just gas and pee breaks - Manzanita Lake Campground in Lassen Volcanic National Park to my apartment in Redondo Beach. 9 hours, and Google Maps says it’s 587 miles.
My parents claimed to have done Yellowstone to Southern California in one 15 hour shot before I was born. Google says that’s just over 1000 miles.
A tank of gas…maybe 5 hours in one sitting. With pee breaks and stopping for gas, probably 16 hours and 950 miles in the same day, no co-pilot or anything. I drove that same path many times and once I decided, hell with it I’m going to stop and do something for an hour. I did and even though the trip took an hour longer, my brain was less frazzled when I finished.
When I was in college I drove from MIT to William & Mary to see my girlfriend now wife. It was exactly 600 miles and I did it in 10 hours. I did stop for gas, but not that often. I had a Galaxie 500 with a huge tank and probably crappy mpg. But gas was 35 cents a gallon then, so no one cared about mpg. So say 250 miles.
When I drive from the Bay Area to Anaheim I usually go 200 miles before stopping for food/gas. 101, Pacheco Pass, then 100 miles down 5 until my favorite restaurants on the way.
No cramping or other side effects. Though I’m getting a bit old for this, I might just fly next time.
I have a very good memory. But if you think I can remember how many bathroom breaks I made on a long drive decades ago - you are smoking the wacky tobaccy. The fact I like to make good time ensures the number was small.
From my house to Denver is right at 500 miles. I’ve driven that stretch by myself multiple times; takes between 7 and 8 hours. Back in the day I could drive it with one stop for gas (and bathroom and a DQ shake), but now my bladder won’t allow me to go more than 2 hours.