lets put it this way, i've had my jeep for 3 months and its about to click over 10k. i'll have 13k on it by the end of the year. my record is 36.5 hours straight although i wouldnt do that again. i've done 20 a couple times driving to and from arkansas to see my wife.
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"the path of greatest resistance reaps the greatest rewards"
-me
In June we did a road trip to the SF Bay Area, Lake Tahoe, and then up the Oregon coast. I found that 8 hours with a stop now and then was not too bad.
No need to go longer because we always got to the next place in that time or less, but I'd say 10 is a pretty good maximum. I have made that trip straight through several times, 14 hours, but I did get a little rummy toward the end. Once I even went 24 hours from Castro Valley CA to Spokane WA, but was much younger then.
I enter in a 24 hour offroad challenge every year(I have won it 1 time and a 2nd place finish also)except this year since it was cancelled. I have also trailed my jeep down to Lk. Tahoe to go Jeepin for a week which is about 16 hrs. straight. plus a few other long hauls. Driving long distances dont bother me much
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How do we know this isn't some other planets hell?
A few years back, I'd drive the 6 hours each way between my place in Maryland and my place in Ohio, nearly every weekend for over a year. Twice, that 6-hour trip turned into an 18-hour ordeal. Tornadoes popped up all around me the entire trip once, and the accompanying storms caused a landslide over the freeway. The ridiculous traffic after new years turned into a nightmare when we had 3 feet of snow fall that same weekend.
The longest I've solo'd were two trips between Akron, OH and San Angelo, TX. The first was rather leisurely - I stopped at a motel somewhere in Missouri for about 12 hours to unwind. The second was as close to a speed run as I could manage - a 2-hour nap at a rest stop, and I got held up a couple hours near the end helping some folks get back on the road.
The longest accompanied trips were between Akron, OH and Monterey, CA. We took our sweet time on both trips - we had an overloaded S10 and u-haul trailer, and she wasn't all that comfortable driving. (Or rather, I wasn't all that comfortable letting her drive) I let her take over for a few hours in the endless deserts in the Southwest each time, but we stopped for a few hours each night.
Personally, I wouldn't want to *average* more than 10 hours a day, solo, or 16 hours a day, shared. The first day isn't a big deal... By the last day headed to CA, I really shouldn't have been on the road.
The best I ever did was 16 hours from north Missouri to Houma, Louisiana. Stopped for gas and grabbed something to eat while I was gassing up. Most of the time we would travel to the northeastern part of Louisiana and that trip to Franklinton only took about 11 hours. Not too bad I didn't think but I like road trips anyway.
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If all else fails.....follow the directions!!