Poll: What's the longest you've ever driven (or been driven) in one go?

Hi.� I'm taking a ludicrously long bus trip next thursday evening into next friday morning.� ahh, what we do for love.

Other than my regular luggage ('cause I'm a scatterbrain, I left most [read, all] of my toiletries there.� more room for groovy t-shirts!) I'm planning to bring books to read (um.� what else would I do with books on a bus?� not good pillows, for sure), maybe a tv guide crossword book, my pathetic CD collection and discman,�my pillow (which I would bring anyway.� 'cause, you know.� it's my pillow.� I love my pillow.� I love my down comforter more, but I can't bring that.),�snackies, and a large thing of water.

anything else I should bring?� coloring books?� travel checkers?�juice boxes? nilla wafers?� a good raffi tape?�robots that shoot lasers from their eyes?

I just drove today from Portland to San Fran in one day...took me about 12 hours with 2 stops. I was purty darn proud of myself for making it. Pretty easy all things considered. Thank god for CDs! (new Susan Werner among others).

When I'm not the one driving I must have my laptop. If no laptop...my Palm...if no palm...books on tape as I can't read in the car for long periods of time. Or a project. I did a 4 hour with another driver recently and brought 5 different feng shui books and a notebook and then moved all my stuff accordingly when I got home. I think it worked because it was referencing more than direct reading so I didn't et motion sick. It was quite productive really...

I think our longest was the Bloomington, IN, to Portland, OR, trip in thirty-six hours.� It would have been quicker, but we got lost in Ogden, UT.� :-)� Marathon driving always works better when you have extra drivers.

I think my longest solo trip ran from Fort Hood, TX, to Middletown, CT.� That took 2.5 days, since I actually had to stop and sleep.� For that trip, I pulled into rest areas for sleep, but I don't suggest that to anyone else.� That was part of my weeklong trip around Kentucky (Bedford, IN to Ft. Hood, TX; Ft. Hood to Middletown; Middletown to Bedford).� It was a lot of fun, but my car was never the same afterward.�

As far as keeping your sanity on the road, bring entertainment.� Books on tape are great, music, crosswords... whatever you can do to keep occupied.� Also, a camera, for snapping�roadside anythings.�

While this wouldn't work for a bus trip, truck stops are fantastic eateries.� The prices are good, the food is good, the coffee... well, it'll keep you awake.

Actually, I consider the Bloomington-Portland run the BEST time we've made on any roadtrip.� The Bloomington-Seattle trip was right around 48 hours, as I recall.� Of course, that was across Montana...and the passes had just been opened up again as we drove through Idaho.

Mmmmm.� Roadtrip.

Damn... how could I forget the moose trip?� That's the trip that cracked my windshield.

No, no.� Not a moose.��An ELK.� In my lane, while I was�fly...er, driving at some 80 mph down the interstate.� At barely daybreak.� And the blasted thing CHANGED LANES!!

But "Elk trip" doesn't sound as good.

I seem to recall being held hostage for 16 hours or so on a drive from Indianapolis to Philadelphia. (*I* wanted to stop over in Pittsburgh or some such place, but *nooooo*. *Some* people had to sleep in their own beds. Sheesh.)

Other than that, I once took a sleepless 16-hour train ride to Chicago, spent all day touring that city, then drove another 9 hours into Middleofnowhere, Iowa. That was fun too. In the not-that-much-fun kind of way.

On a bus trip, earplugs might be nice. Depends on the other passengers.

Have fun! :)

Your new nickname makes me infinitely happy :D

And I'm seeing them again this weekend at SMAF. *bliss*

Etch-a-sketch. Feel it.

omg. Am motion-sick just thinking about that.

Urgh.� I wasn't motion sick until you said that, and now I am.� I rescind my suggestion.

Oh, yeah.� Dramamine.

Always know where your towel is.

omg.� party hats and a towel.� I'm rockin' that bus.

*just had a glorious mental image . . . *

If the bus is rockin' don't come knockin'

March 1998 I drove 18 hours from Albuquerque, NM to Nashville, TN. In my car. by myself. only stopping for gas. *sigh* what happy times.

The trips to Queensboro, NY last summer for my best friend Matt's wedding and to North Adams, MA for radio contesting have been my longest road trips. each was in the 5+ hour range.

-- Pauley

Once I drove from Oklahoma to S. Dakota in a single shot.� That was a pretty long drive.

Atlantic City to Orlando. Yay, marching band!

on a road trip with some gal pals, we did abotu 12 hours, maybe a bit more.

one 11 hour (each way) roadtrip there and back in one weekend.

and a 14 hour adventure on a train here in germany, from berlin to freiburg in one day using regional trains. WOOT!

Toronto to St. John's Newfoundland! Woot! My dad was driving, and of course there were many stop-overs on the way there and a few just for sleeping on the way back. Now I have to get my licence and drive the other half of the country. Or the whole country. Heh heh heh.

As for how many hours...too many to count.� It was more like three days.

well, if we're counting stuff like that...

my family did the drive from Vancouver to Newfoundland and back once. but yah, with pit stops and sleep stops... it wasn't all in one go.

now THAT was, um, an adventure.

taking "from sea to sea" literally there, eh? :)

yah... god... that was a looooooooooong family trip. it also wasn't straight across, we took side trips to visit family in other cities along the way.

Greyhound from T.O. to West Springfield to visit Adam :D Started around 9pm. Got there in the early afternoon of the next day. Lots of waiting around in Buffalo and Albany, though.

Not *just* to visit me, silly. Weren't there shows (Nields maybe?) at the IH?

That was a good visit! Come back! (to the five and dime)

My dad's family lives in Edmonton. He (and I) lives in Toronto. We have on multiple occaisions driven out to see them.

It is a long drive.

I think that you should bring stuff to decorate your seat-space. Maybe some streamers, little hanging decorations, posters.
Books-on-tape are good for long trips. And, um... hm. Well, it's just one night, much of which will hopefully be spent sleeping, so I don't know how much time you'll REALLY have to kill.

Next week I'm hopping a 1 AM bus to get to Windsor around five or six the next morning. Greyhound over the border is a silly (and expensive) thing.

Greyhound over the border is a silly (and expensive) thing.'

not really.� my bus trip, round trip, comes out to $118 american.

unless I'm getting ripped off.

Well, the problem is that Greyhound US doesn't offer the discounts that Greyhound Canada does.� I checked fares and apparently the regular fare from Toronto to Detroit is actually a bit cheaper than to Windsor, BUT I bought my ticket with a two-week advance discount and saved about forty bucks, which I wouldn't be able to do if I were taking Greyhound cross-border.

Silly people with their complex systems an' stuff.

Yeah, plus you get to stay away from the Detroit bus station, which (from experience) I can tell you, is a frightening�place.

baltimore to rochester. rochester to somewhere in ohio. then ohio to chicago. gah.

next time? we hire MOVERS.

Next time, go U-Hell.� Especially if you have a gullible friend (like me) who actually enjoys driving cumbersome and uncomfortable vehicles over long distances.� If they're really gullible, they'll help you load, drive, and unload for the price of lunch.

Wanna go to Maine at the end of the month? :-D

I'd love to.� My FA might have something to say about that, though.� She seems to think I should keep my job for a while. :-)

What if I bought you lunch at the Slamma?

Actually, his FA *would* like for him to remain employed for more than just a few weeks.� :)� (It's because I'm selfish, y'see...I'm looking for a new job now that he's working again!)

Work-related issues aside, a trip to Maine would be faboo.� *sigh*� If only we had the $$ to do so.

you're his Friendly Arthropod?

"friendly" ;-)

snacks, stuff that travels well.

string cheese packs. crackers. pepperoni sticks. bags of nuts. chips. candy. bottles of water/pop. fruit.

um yah.

a few things, the chips are cool, but they are crunchy and therefore loud. and be careful they don't get smushed. the pepperoni sticks are very yummy (yay protein) but can be stinky.

so yah, think about the other companions as well, it's my habit to have stuff like that, but if there are other people close to me, i save the loud/stinky stuff for breaks where they aren't trapped next to me.

That's why nuts are good. Protein + Unsmashable :-D
Apples are good too. They're a nice break from the junk-food-o-travel, and they're easy to eat in one hand.

Unsmashable?� I'll take that challenge . . . *prepares to smash* . . . .

Apples are great!!

I do try to avoid them in enclosed setting though, because it's really hard to eat a good apple without making wet-crunchy noises when you bite into it.

and look!

someone else agrees with me

I think the longest trip I've ever made was in my dad's car - from northern germany to italy with only one gas station stop. The german part was rather quick - it was in the fall (=no traffic) and my dad had always been into fast cars ... 10-11 hours

the longest journey i've ever been on was the marathon overnight coach trip from england to spain. probably a nice 36-hour drive, i can't remember. :D

Yeah, I've been on overnight bus trips a bunch. One particularly memorable one was the drive from Be'er Sheva, Israel to Cairo, Egypt.

Trung and I drove straight home from Falcon Ridge last year overnight all the way to St. Louis. Once you make it through Pennsylvania, the next three states: Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois are FLAT and straight and very conducive to SLEEP when it's four A.M.

Probably Ann Arbor MI.. through canada... then down to Barre, VT all in one day.
It was something like 17 or 18 hours.
But on that trip, I was one of two drivers....

The one that FELT the longest was Misquamicut, RI to ... I forget the town... in Indiana. about a 14 hour drive... and I was the only driver. I was... VERY tired when we got there. Oy.