Since I usually drive to Austin quite a bit, long drives are not that bad on me. I drove Amarillo to LA for the first Rose Bowl, only stopping for gas and when we ate at In-n-Out. Then same thing back, only for gas and slept 1 hour in truck. I was a worn out SOB, though! For me, a good comedy channel on sat radio helps. If not, a couple of comedy CD's help break up the music. If you start to get kind of tired, buy a food that you have to put one in your mouth at a time. M&M's, peanuts, etc. this makes me more alert. I also love me some Country Time Lemonade and Salt and Vin chips!
i've done houston to columbus, ga about 25 times. a couple of times from austin, and sometimes on the way back i'd come from panama city or orange beach. straight through its 12-13 hrs. when i was younger we spent the night in biloxi or hammond, la. but as i got older and started driving on my own, i prefer the straight drive. have also done san antone to santa fe, which was about 15 hrs. slept for about 3 in a roadside park outside of hatch.
Drove from Washington DC to Houston in 21 hours once. I drove a friends car when he was moving back to Houston. I have a new rule of never driving further west than Austin, east of Lake Charles and North of Dallas.
My longest solo drive was Austin to Mount Washington, NH and back, not by a particularly direct route, but as my plan was to get to the highest point of as many states as I could on the way, I stopped a bazillion times, for days at a time sometimes, and it all took me about 3 weeks. Probably my longest drive in a single stretch (no stops except gas, food, caffeine) was Albuquerque to Austin. Out in west Texas it is easier to pile on miles since you aren't stuck in stressful traffic so much.
I drove Austin to Chicago-16 Hrs. with only 2 gas stops. a year later I drove LA to Austin in 22 Hrs straight with 3 gas stops after the Mich. Rose Bowl. I was so tired that I can't even remember the last hour of that trip.
Phoenix to Dallas nonstop-20 hours...left Xmas eve at 10pm after a long day of watching NFL...not recommended.
This isn't my longest drive, but probably the most impressive: Muleshoe, TX to Lawrence KS (670 miles) in under 9 hours. That's right kids, an AVERAGE of over 74 mph for 9 hours straight including gas stops. Most difficult trip was Charlotte, NC to Austin, TX straight through with 8+ hours being driving rain forcing me to go slow. The rain turned a 17 hour trip into 22 hours with no stops besides gas.
Alum03 once drove from Austin to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska and back by himself. I think he went through like 3 blown tires and 4 oil changes.
I made the drive from Rexburg, Idaho to Cincinatti, OH. Me and a friend left on a friday @ 2:30pm and we got in Cincinatti @ around 5:30 am that Sunday, drove straight. So it took around 39 hours. Also, when I was back at BYU I had a friend in my apartment complex that made the drive from Alaska to Orlando, Fla. Took him 5 days It takes like 2 or more days just to make it from AK to the lower 48 states, I think,
A long time ago, some friends and I came up with an interesting challenge: how much of America could we see in exactly one week? For safety reasons, we did have a rule that we had to stop and grab some sleep every night. But here is what we did: Chicago -> Indianapolis -> Louisville -> Nashville -> Chattanooga -> Atlanta -> Pensacola -> New Orleans -> Houston -> San Antonio -> El Paso -> Tucson -> Phoenix -> Los Angeles -> San Francisco -> Sacramento -> Reno -> Salt Lake City -> Cheyenne -> Denver -> Kansas City -> St. Louis -> Chicago. Wish we could have worked in more of the northeast, but boy is it a long way to the west coast and back! Ah, back when gas was only $1 per gallon...
Done Atlanta/Dallas too many to remember. Birmingham, AL/Caledon East, Ontario (North of Toronto). Just under 1,000 miles with a trunk full of Shiner. Only stopped for gas, ate on the road. Stopped briefly in Detroit to buy some whiskey before going into Canada.
Colorado Springs- Austin AFA graduation 95' ( saw Clinton speak Whoo-Hoo!) 16 Hours straight through from 3 pm tp 7am.
San Diego to Ft. Stockton. Probably only 13-15 hrs drive time, but the a/c went out in Yuma. Oh yeah, it was summer. Waited for it to get dark before continuing on through. Got to Stockton, checked into a motel at 3am, slept to 2pm, and drove to Austin. Frankly, though, it was the 'girlfriend' in the passenger seat that made it a long trip. I actually remember her complaining that she was worried driving without the a/c was going to make her face break out. 'Cause that was the major issue for that trip. Haven't thought about that in easily 15 years...
By myself: Santa Fe to Washington, D.C. - stopped overnight somewhere in Alabama, did the rest of it stopping for meals and to rest in the room of not resting. D.C. to Austin twice. First one was in a moving truck to move some stuff from there to Tx before moving back to D.C./NY for a few years. Stopped in Mississippi somewhere and crashed in the front seat until a cop came and tapped on the glass. They were searching for some dude who shot two people and was seen in that area. I left. Second time was moving back to TX for good. Stopped overnight in Baton Rouge which was a mistake. I would have had more rest if I kept driving. Denver to Austin. Stopped about three hours north of Austin because the person in the car following me in the moving van I was driving for them needed to rest. Ugh. I have done many long road trips with others to include Austin to LA for Rose Bowl over Michigan, D.C. to New Orleans, Santa Fe to LA, D.C. to Texas a couple times not moving and others. I have taken many road trips. I am about to take another from Austin to Santa Fe next week. I don't plan on stopping but for fuel and food and fecies.
11-12 hours. 735 miles. My mother lives in Taos. She harassed me when I told her that I drove 90-95 mph. through Dalhart and Dumas and the Panhandle (because it was "illegal." She's a Christian fundamentalist and insists on The Law.). The roads in New Mexico suck, so I didn't drive as fast there. On my honeymoon, with my now ex-wife; we drove to Estes Park, CO -- about 1,000 miles but we switched drivers when we bought gas and food.
