sot poll: how to break up a 1700 mi drive

[Bill R.]

30 plus hour runs straight, nowdays i'd go along with the rest and drive a leisurely 8 or so hours a day and do some siteseeing along the way and make a little vacation out of it...The trip would be a lot more memorable and enjoyable this way...

I have to do it in March, from Dallas to Connecticut when I move. I have my wife, two kids and dog, which will all fit in my e39 touring. The e34 is being shipped with the stuff, safe and sound, covered (sigh). The mileage is about 1700 mi. I figure that averages to about 24hrs of drive time. So how would you do it? Assume all the usual pro's and cons, accounting for the variables. Any commentary, or expressions of sympathy are welcome. And what if anything should I do to the car ('99 e39 540it 77k mi) in prep?

[Brian C.]

Great flick from the past.



Anyway Tim, although I admire your mathmatics, I just can't imagine how you and the wife and the kids and the dog named Boo could possibly average 70mph....let alone WANT TO. At that rate you'd be either so wired or so dead at the end that you'd never want to see the car again.

My vote would be to make it a 2 night sleep-over trip. Push yourself the first night as best you can. Then a good night's rest and a fun stop somewhere during day two for a couple of hours.....Six Flags...South of the Border...Stuckey's.....somewhere to unwind. Then back on the road for another couple hundred miles, stay the night, then you're all downhill the third day. Get Audio Books. They can last for hours, and though they may start out slow, once everyone is engrossed in a story, the miles will pass quicker.

Sounds challenging to me. My longest solo roadtrip was Gainesville, FL to Loveland, CO to Washington DC and back to FL during my junior year of college, '81 in my '76 Mercury Cougar. 10 days I'll never forget and a few I'll never remember.

Good Luck!

Brian C.

[JAlfredPrufrock]

A couple weeks ago I did ~1100 miles New Orleans to Milwaukee in 13 hours, I don't see a problem with doing 1700 miles in 24 hours.

[winfred]

at what 130 mph? i do 1100 miles at 70-75 and it takes around 20 hours of road time with a few piss stops and a bowl or two of wendys chili, my trip is about 99% interstate so i am not being slowed down by small roads

A couple weeks ago I did ~1100 miles New Orleans to Milwaukee in 13 hours.

[liquidtiger720]

Me being a 'kid' not long ago (well i still am), i vote for stopping in the middle overnight or flying me over there. There is no way I would last- when i was a kid. I could barely last from San fRancisco to Las Angeles - ~800 miles.

But now adays. I would drive it =)

[winfred]

worst i ever did was the 1100 mile one way to va run non stop and back the next day (i don't remember the reason for cutting the trip short but i was pissed to get back into the car so soon)

Me being a 'kid' not long ago (well i still am), i vote for stopping in the middle overnight or flying me over there. There is no way I would last- when i was a kid. I could barely last from San fRancisco to Las Angeles - ~800 miles.

But now adays. I would drive it =)

[winfred]

i vote for the half way motel, i've done the straight through thing a few times and have since said **** that after being barly able to keep it between the paint at about 3am and having large deer in the ditches on the last allnight run, the record for baton rouge la to winchester va was held by my late grandfather at a little over 20 hours and that's right at 1100 miles door to door with about a hours nap at a piss stop. delorme 2005 says dallas to hartford (you didn't say so i guessed a end point) is 29 and a half hours for the shortest route and it's pretty good