• Welcome to the Contour Enthusiasts Group, the best resource for the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique.

    You can register to join the community.

road trip tips

Quite a few trips now I've been tired on the trip home and knew better than to risk wrecking the car, so I pull over in places that are usually busy 24 hours a day and take a few hour nap. I did it coming back from Buffalo, and I did it coming back from Carlisle. Had I tried to make the trip, the car wouldn't be in my driveway right now.
 
trust me i know. i tried to sleep the night before SZ when i got home from work. couldn't do it. So i left early, at like 1-1:30AM figuring i'd get to the meet point with some time to go to sleep. well, i tried again but i couldn't sleep, so i basically sat there and stared at the trees for 2 hours until 5am came and we hit the road. so when we got there at like 4-5pm, i had been on the road for 14 hours and awake for like 30.

i dunno wtf it is...i can sit there tired as hell, lay down to go to sleep and that's it. can't do it. it's torture actually...
 
TGO said:
...the 2 hours by myself on the way home were murder for me...i literally stopped at every rest stop it was so bad.
Click to expand...

That sounds exactly like my trip from here to Detroit to Cincinnati and back. My passenger was useless...he slept way too much to trust putting him behind the wheel.

I left Saturday night and drove all the way from Wilkes-Barre to the last rest area before the Ohio state line and tried to sleep for the planned 3 hour stop. I couldn't sleep because of the broken power seat I was in so after sitting there for 1 and a half hours I just left. I tanked up on coffee every hour for the next 20 hours and I was doing good. Once the sun set and it got dark Sunday night I was fighting to stay awake. I was hitting up every truck stop and rest area and sometimes gas stations for coffee. I literally went through about 35 cups of coffee, most were the 24oz size. I played a dangerous game and looking back, I regret it.

Next time I am going to plan more sleep breaks into the agenda.
 
I was just being an idiot on the Buffalo trip. I was offered housing for the night and I refused it because I really didn't want to impose.

I'm almost positive Shawn and his parents knew this and let me go on my way.
 
yeah i hate doing it. i wasn't jacked up on coffee though. i was popping these energy pills i had like candy though...but right around where i split up from Brapple and them they stopped working for me. it would have been nice to have someone else in the car with me...preferrably able to drive stick, but those are the breaks.
 
i went for a day trip to the shore and after a whole long day in the sun and swimming around. i tried to drive home. well it was really hard. i fell asleep in stop and go traffic.
 
yamaha racer 686 said:
i went for a day trip to the shore and after a whole long day in the sun and swimming around. i tried to drive home. well it was really hard. i fell asleep in stop and go traffic.
Click to expand...

Done that before. Fell asleep on the NJ Parkway in stop and go traffic. My foot slipped off the pedal and I almost hit a Lexus. That woke me up enough to get some sleep at the next service area.
 
Longest trip for me with the SVT was: 10 hours, 47 minutes/Total Est. Distance: 692.73 miles. That was out to Grand Rapids for SZ.

You're really going to take the SVT Andrew? Didn't you just put the new engine in the car?

GPS story, not as funny as crashing into a building or driving off the road but still...
This happened locally.

Cop: License, registration and insurance card please. You were traveling the wrong way on a one way street.
Guy: But, officer my GPS told me to turn right.
Cop: Didn't you see the Do Not Enter signs or the one way signs?
Guy: My GPS unit told me to turn right.
Cop: Didn't you notice that the cars parked on both sides of the street were all facing you? Or, the cars that were traveling at you in both lanes?
Guy: Well, the GPS said to turn, so I did.
Cop: Here's your citation. Make sure you pay more attention to where you are going and stop relying on that GPS unit so much.

:crazy:
 
kidSVT said:
how long do you think is a "safe" traveling distance for the CSVT? hours and/or miles.
Click to expand...


furthest i drove mine was 720 or so miles and 12 hours to kalamazoo for SZ in 2002.

i have to say i didn't have any complaints about it. actually i was more uncomfortable in the volvo, but i am older and in worse shape now too lol
 
I took the Mystique 1,600 miles round trip all in one day non stop and it took it like a champ. The only times I stopped was to go to the bathroom, get gas, get more coffee, ate once, pick up the bumpers and a two hour nap. All of the stops were under 10 minutes except for the two nap and the front bumper.

I think the trip took me like 28 hours straight driving. Car never overheated, AC worked good when needed, very reliable.
 
LUCA said:
You're really going to take the SVT Andrew? Didn't you just put the new engine in the car?
Click to expand...

Well i was prepared too.. but apparently my friends parents want to take their daughters car (Scion TC) to Arizona University... So they suggested that we take her car out to CA, and do whatever, but then on our way home drop it off at here school and catch a flight back, which might work out better. I think the drive back would be not fun cause we don't really have a destination, because would be driving HOME...

So hopefully we can get a ride to an airport somehow.. and then use Airtran Airways's "X-fares" and get home cheap.
 
Items needed (per a H.S. Thompson idealistic):

1 large Bently
1 English chauffer
3 scantilly clad super models
1 bottle tequila
1 bottle water
2 cases beer
1/2oz good herb
8 ball of fine colombian
1 .357 Magnum and 2 boxes of shells
generous amount of Peyote

If you remember anything after the first 100 miles, you did it wrong...:crazy:
 
kidSVT said:
how long do you think is a "safe" traveling distance for the CSVT? hours and/or miles.
Click to expand...

The car can go farther than you can. Drive until you're ready to take a break, and you'll never have to worry about the car.
 
i had no idea you got down like that! coolest old man evAr! :laugh:



Trapps said:
Items needed (per a H.S. Thompson idealistic):

1 large Bently
1 English chauffer
3 scantilly clad super models
1 bottle tequila
1 bottle water
2 cases beer
1/2oz good herb
8 ball of fine colombian
1 .357 Magnum and 2 boxes of shells
generous amount of Peyote

If you remember anything after the first 100 miles, you did it wrong...:crazy:
Click to expand...
 
High school and college were damn near a john Hughes movie for me.

Blend Sixteen Candles, Ferris Bullers Day off, and the Breakfast Club. Stir in some Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Animal House and St. Elmo's fire. Pour the whole thing over Arizona State University during the decadence of the mid 80's.

I am the result.:crazy:
 
hehe...well, i've seen how you party twice now...i should have said i'm surprised about the herb and the yayo. great visual though lol!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top