I drove the US East coast, Gulf coast, Texas, the Southwest, the West coast, and the Midwest, in a long meander with lots of exploring. 12,000 miles in 4 months.
Back in 1975, hitchhiked from Tokyo north to Sapporo (500 miles +) then south all the way down to Kagoshima (1200 miles+) and then back up to Tokyo (700 miles+) over a 3 month period.
This was part of a trip (not all a “road trip”) I took from:
Los Angeles - Honolulu - Tokyo - Hong Kong- Bangkok (Air)
From Bangkok hitched south to Singapore (1000 miles)
(Didn’t actually get into Singapore. I was turned away at the border because hair was too long).
From border hitched to Georgetown, Malaysia and took a flight to Medan, Sumatra, Indonesia. Hitched south to Padang via Lake Toba and took a ship to Jakarta.
Hitched from there to Bali. After a month, took my last $300 and bought a ticket to Taiwan where I heard I could make some money teaching English.
Finally made it back home to Los Angeles after being gone for over seven years.
Damn hippies!
sounds like an awesome time in your life!
I bought a 30 year old car on eBay sight-unseen. Me and a friend flew to Portland Oregon from New Orleans, Louisiana. We were picked up at the airport in the car, driven to Vancouver, Washington, and then at around midnight on a Friday, departed for a non-stop trip to New Orleans. The whole trip was around 2650 miles and we did it in 52 hours.
The longest we were ever stopped was for about 2 hours in Oklahoma City where we got stuck in traffic when a petroleum tanker exploded on the interstate. While sitting in the traffic, the car overheated (it was July and well over 100 degrees outside), so we stopped for a long lunch and let the car cool.
Other than that, we had 4 or 5 thirty minute stops for Shoney’s or Denny’s and a few trips through McDonald’s drivethrus. And about 7 stops to fill the 25 gallon gas tank.
We still managed to average 50 MPH over the entire trip.
My other long trip was about 8 years ago when a friend of mine was moving from New Orleans to Niagara Falls, ON. Canada. At the last minute, after he had already flown up there with his two daughters and bought a house, I found out that his wife and two little boys were stranded in New Orleans. She had her van, to drive, but nobody to drive the moving truck. Her oldest son was supposed to make the trip, but he couldn’t get off work.
So at 6 pm after a full day of work, I volunteered to make the trip. We left an hour later.
For the next 26 hours, I drove the moving truck. I had the older of the little boys with me, who was around 7 and he amazingly navigated the whole way and was even able to get me through a series of difficult exit ramps in Cleveland, Ohio.
I did the whole trip without sleep. I think I drank 12 large cups of black coffee, smoked 3 packs of cigarettes, and played the crappy radio as loud as it would go without blowing the speakers. I don’t think we ever stopped for longer than 1 hour.
By the time we got into Canada and to our destination, that “ringing alarm bell” racket from the diesel engine was permanently embedded into my head and didn’t go away for a couple of days.
This trip was around 1250 miles mostly non-stop over 26 hours without a driving partner.
The plus was that I got to see Niagara Falls and a lot of the tourist attractions for the first time.
In 1974, I hitchhiked from New York City to Eugene, Oregon, in 8 days.
In 1975, I hitchhiked and took buses from Sydney, Australia, to Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Adelaide, Alice Springs; then by plane to Mt. Isa, then bus again to Brisbaine, Queenstown, Cairns, Townsville, and Sydney. About 2 months total.
How 'bout this?[
](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=7134176&postcount=34)
Oops wrong thread, could someone PLEASE delete this!
Upon leaving the Navy back in December of 1988 I drove from San Diego to Mt Shasta and back visiting LA, Vandenburg and SF on the way. This was with a friend.
I then set off by my self to drive back to New Jersey. I visited friends in St Louis and Indianapolis on the way home taking 5 days in all.
So my road trip was around **5000 miles ** over a 12-13 day period.
Jim
Other long Road trips: all with my Wife.
Our Honeymoon: We drove all over Scotland and the Lake Country for 17 Days. I think it was around **1500 miles ** in all.
We drove to New Orleans and back for Mardi Gras. That was around **2600 miles ** plus a side trip to some caverns and around New Orleans for another **100 ** or so.
We drove to West Palm Beach and Back. Around **2400 miles ** this time.
We drove to Mystic, to Howell Caverns to Cooperstown to Boonville and Home last June. 800 miles
We drove to Hershey park to West Virginia to Home. 1000 miles
We drove to Middletown , OH area to visit my In-laws: 1300 miles
On my own:
To avoid Flying I drove to an IBM conference in Framingham, Ma and back: only 500 miles
I drove to Akron Ohio to visit a friend. Around 900+ miles
I drove San Diego to NJ for around **3000 miles ** before a WestPac.
I drove from NJ to San Diego for around **3000 miles ** after WestPac.
Jim
I love it when user names mesh so perfectly with thread titles, like seeing “Longest road trip you’ve ever taken” with “What Exit?”
Snerk!!
Good point. I guess the user name was even more appropriate than I realized. I enjoy road trips, we might be going to Canada this summer.
Jim
Yes, even better when you read it like “Exits? We don’t need no stinkin’ exits!”
In the days just after 9/11 I was stuck in Dover Delaware as all flights were done. I still had my rental car and I wanted to make it home for my anniversary.
I drove back to Seattle in 3 days.
I typed a long lovely travelog of my odyssey, with links to many beautiful places I passed along the way. As I was finishing the last link, I aimed for the “back” button, and hit the deadly close window button instead 
Now I’m just not going to tell you.