drive more than 500 miles in one day

Soonforget, you are right, when you are out to just cover ground, you are only going to cover ground, not make discoveries, find random adventure, or stop to look around. But sometimes it is gratifying to cover a lot of distance, for example, driving from Detroit to Ft. Lauderdale to go on vacation in December, a 1600 mile shot down I-75 I’ve done by myself at least 5 times. Most of the ground covered is in the middle of nowhere (I have to be careful and not run out of gas in the hills of Tennesse) and usually in the middle of the night because I can never leave on time. The gratifying part is watching the outside temperature gauge slowly climb, meaning palm trees are one more degree closer, vacation that much nearer. I have my own measure of velocity: change in temperature over change in time. Once I made +5 degrees F in less than half an hour. The drive is too long to track miles, you don’t feel like you’re making progress. Best run ever: myself and one friend made it from Detroit to Key Largo in less than 21 hours.

I keep seeing this entry in my completed goals and it says “NOT WORTH IT” underneath. So I’m going to be clear.

I definitely think this is not worth it if you are travelling alone. I also think this is not worth doing if you are passing through beautfiul landscape and your goal is simply to drive from Point A to Point B, without so much as a glance to the side of the road at the ‘Moccaisin Shop’ or ‘The World’s Biggest Matchbook.’ I think there are so many wonderful sights to see, to drive more than 500 miles in a day would mean you are not stopping much. Although, I drove 700 miles in 11 hours.

I also drove with a friend once from Detroit to Fort Collins, CO in 21 hours I believe, although she did most of the driving. We took a timeout to drive around and look for homemade cherry pies, but alas, we never found them. And we did the 21 hours without staying anywhere overnight. How crazy!

So, in conclusion, I think it’s worth it if you have someone fun to ride with and you are very impulsive and don’t have a deadline to meet, like a trucker delivering a payload.

I helped my brother move out to NYC 2 years ago. Then drove home alone. I’m sure I didn’t help the cause by listening to football on AM radio nearly the whole way back. I kept having to stop to buy more coffee and caffeine pills. When I finally got home, after 695 miles, I couldn’t sleep!

I’ve also driven to Detroit from Los Angeles twice, but my sister was with me, and we had lots of fun. I would love to make this trip again, as long as I am with someone fun. I definitely wouldn’t recommend driving long distances alone.

I did this about four times. Once from Missouri to Upstate New York in two days. The second day from Indiana to New York was about 800 miles. Then there was the return trip…Also I drove straigh from Missouri to Texas which was about 700 miles. Did it in under 13 hours!