Longest Road Trip

[Ivan_B]

Searched the forum but did not find an applicable topic for this. What's the longest drive you've ever done?

I just had an occasion to drive from California to Florida a couple of weeks ago (~2.5k miles). Took me 3 days (technically, 2 days and one night of the same second day 🤪). It was a great adventure and I sure am never doing it again.

 

Anyone's done the traveling salesman route across the 48 states, yet?  😅

[TodFitch]

Longest I’ve ever done in my old Plymouth was from Baltimore to LA via Wisconsin, Texas, and Nevada.

 

Longest trip in the old Plymouth in relatively recent years was SF Bay Area to Tucson and back.

[JBNeal]

Last August I exported a Californian and her 4 cats from TX to CO...why yes, it was because her ex was getting out of prison...that was a very long trip, but ultimately worthwhile 🏆

[Sniper]

Waterloo, NY to San Diego, Ca. 2,699 miles.  1991.  Flew to NY, loaded up the moving truck with the new wife's stuff, drove it to SD with her and my new 5 yo step daughter.  55 mph speed limit, strictly enforced because the dang truck wouldn't go much faster than that, lol.

 

That was fun.

 

Not.

Edited September 6 by Sniper

[Dan Hiebert]

Using the good ol' Dodge, longest trip was around 75 miles, one way, from Horizon City, TX (near El Paso) to Salt Flat when we had the car in the 90's remake of "Lolita".  Salt Flat was one of the filming locations.  Since then, the furthest she's been driven has been up here - 30 miles one way to Island Falls, ME.  This year we're gonna take the D24 on our club's annual leaf peeping tour in a couple weeks, that's between 120 and 180 miles, depending on which route we take. 

 

Otherwise, we drive from northern ME to NM every couple of years.  Our daughter and her husband and my dad live a tad over 2.5K miles from us.  A year after graduating high school, just before I joined the Army, I drove a Pinto station wagon from Presidio, TX to Blaine, WA when I helped my dad move - my first iron-butt road trip.  After I joined the Border Patrol we would travel from south or far west Texas to NJ every couple of years, that was right around 2K miles.  I've driven from the southern border to the northern border a few times, but haven't done a coast to coast road trip...yet.

[cheesy]

In my work truck, Elgin, IL to Spokane, WA and back. In 1978, pre kids, we drove our 1974 Opel Manta from Chicago to Arizona via old 66 and returned via Utah and Colorado. We drive to Union, ME every other year to visit our oldest and her family. The longest trip in the Desoto has just been to Kenosha, WI from Elburn, IL and back, about 170 miles. We're hooking up the trailer to the pickup after next week and doing the 66 route again for our 50th. SWMBO wants to go to the end of 66. I'd rather slam my hand in a car door, but happy wife, happy life.

 

I was so glad that my work truck sprouted wings in 1999. But I traded windshield time for airline delays.

[Ivan_B]

1 hour ago, Sniper said:

That was fun.

 

Not.

Edited 1 hour ago by Sniper

I am sorry, it appears as if it took you one hour to realize that it, indeed, was not fun... 🤣

 

1 hour ago, Dan Hiebert said:

my first iron-butt road trip

You need to use a soft seat cushion, but I am sure you know about this by now 😉

 

38 minutes ago, cheesy said:

But I traded windshield time for airline delays.

I know, driving makes you appreciate the airplanes like never before 😅

 

Lot's of interesting stories, thanks everyone!

[greg g]

Syracuse to Mamoth cave, to Nashville, to Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Grand Canyon to Zion, to Moab, to Uray, to Colorado Springs, to Silverton, to Denver, to KC, to St. Louis, to Cincinnati to Cleveland, to Syracuse.  Longest in the 46, Syracuse to Charlotte, NC. Apx 1700 miles round trip with day trips probably 2k.  Plus syr to Detroit 3x times 750 each trip.

[Plymouthy Adams]

I remember that trip Greg, the gang gathered at Bill W.'s place and do some tweaks on their cars in his shop.  Still hear from Bill now and then though he does not frequent the forum it seems.  

[TodFitch]

2 hours ago, Ivan_B said:

I know, driving makes you appreciate the airplanes like never before 😅

I find that airline travel makes me appreciate driving more.

 

That could be tied to my aversion to paying for business or first class so I am always in the cattle class and that part of the plane has seat spacing designed for people shorter than me.

 

Anyway, any trip shorter than about 1000 miles each way I'd much rather drive than fly.

[JBNeal]

Because of my back, I have certain limitations that I need to recognize, not only in lifting heavy objects but in working positions.  As nice as the QuadCab rides, I start having issues after 45 minutes that I need to make adjustments...a few years ago I made a couple of trips to West TX that were about 600 miles apiece that about wiped me out.  The Laramie rides way better, so much so that I have made several weekend trips up into CO, 1700 miles round trip, sometimes twice a month, without any problems.  One return trip turned into an odyssey that detoured into KS, stretching that into a 15hr marathon that left me mentally fatigued but without lingering effects the next days.

 

The big difference between them two trucks is the seats, as the QuadCab has effectively a split bench, but the Laramie has vented bucket seats with adjustable lumbar and seat angle...firm but comfortable.  I recall several squarebox chevies and my old D250 having bench seats not much better than the B-series buggies that were over 25yrs older.  The QuadCab seats were finally a big improvement in truck seating when they debuted, and the ensuing generations have gotten even better, making these long road trips tolerable for us hobbled goobers.

[cheesy]

2 hours ago, TodFitch said:

 

 

Anyway, any trip shorter than about 1000 miles each way I'd much rather drive than fly.

Just the opposite for me, and anything over 500 miles because it was every week. I would head to O'hare a 4 am on Monday and if I pulled back into my driveway before midnight on Friday, I got home early.

[Young Ed]

Longest trip in my Plymouths were both to Michigan. 48 to Detroit in 2008 2k miles round trip. Last year  we took the 64 to Kalamazoo at about 1200 miles