I found being forced to take a 10–30 minute break every 1.5–2.5 hours made my road trips much more pleasant, and I wasn’t nearly as wiped out at the end.
My recent ICE road trip also had 10–30 minute breaks every 2 hours or so, even though I could have done the entire trip on one tank of gas.
I’ve done previous gas road trips with 4–5 hour driving legs, and it made me hate road trips.
I know some people are iron butts, and that’s cool, but it’s not the only way.
I’m an iron butt, but that is an older way of thinking and there aren’t many others I know who are. While I typically do not take a brief break every 2 hours I can see how one would arrive much more refreshed after a day’s driving.
My daughter insists that I take breaks every 3.5 hours when on long solo drives. She tracks my phone location to monitor that I am actually complying.
Has made my 10 hour drives that I need to make 3-4 times a year (each way) a lot easier. Makes them 11 hour drives (530 miles going through NYC or 575 miles if I go around), but I’m not a wreck the next day.
I’ve driven hundreds of thousands of miles. Of course I’ve tried stopping for meals. At a median, they don’t cut down on my stress level. I’m an introvert and all the noise and having to keep track of people is not better than being on the road. Neither is the awkwardness of eating in the car (coupled with being so similar to driving.)
In the ideal case, they would be relaxing: if I had reasonably quick service in a pretty empty restaurant, but I don’t recall that happening (if it has happened). What works for me is running, or briskly walking, around a rest area, for a few minutes. But it is not safe to do that at most truck stops. Sometimes, if the rest stop is both scenic and empty I will stroll around it, and if it is merely empty I will sometimes plan my vacation or check my email with my smartphone. But all of the above activities plus using the restroom seldom take longer than 10 minutes.
Truth be told, as I am getting older I am developing less of an iron butt, but my burnout level is measured in total time driving for the day, modified by the stress of traffic and weather. I’m enjoying the days when I only go 2-300 miles, but stopping for lunch at a restaurant doesn’t factor into the equation.