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So I'm driving back home from TX on Friday/Saturday

A

ancientsanskrit

Hard-core CEG'er
Joined
Dec 6, 2003
Messages
1,138
Location
Dallas, TX
Last final is Wednesday and will be driving back home this Friday from TX (~1400 miles). Plan to do it in one shot. I suspect it will take me a solid 24+ hrs as I near IL and the road conditions deteriorate i.e. snowy.

I'm looking at the weather forecast, nice and sunny....and 28 degrees. :shocked: Good God, that's cold. Not really looking forward to the drive, but hopefully don't run into any snowstorms.

Any bizarre construction going down in that neck of the woods? I'll be driving 94E from Chicago, cutting through M14 via A2 back to Detroit. You may ask, why not just check out MDOT. Well, CEG > MDOT, in my experience.
 
In one shot? As on no overnight stops?! I tried a 14 hr. drive and had to stop at a hotel.
 
todras said:
In one shot? As on no overnight stops?! I tried a 14 hr. drive and had to stop at a hotel.
Click to expand...

Not trying to pat myself on the back or anything but I drove to Savage MN this past summer with a 911 and brought back a 07' 335i straight through and did it w/ about 3 hrs before I headed out, but let me say this, I'll NEVER do it again...EVER! My boss even told me I could've stopped overnight, wasn't the smartest thing I've done, that's for sure:eek::eek::eek: I applied my lesson with my trip out to NJ to pick up that Yaris though, got off of work at 7:00 p.m. on a Friday, went home and had dinner, came back to work at 9:00 and headed out to NJ with another guy and drove straight through, well stopping for about what turned into 1/2 hour of sleep, got to NJ and left the dealership at 1:00 p.m. Saturday and I drove until I was about 25 miles E of Cleveland where I stayed the night. Got up around 5:00 a.m. and drove straight to York Nebraska where I stopped for the night and then the next day, Monday, I drove to right outside of Denver where I needed to be by noon to deliver the car, alot of seat time for sure but what they hell, I like to drive!
 
When I was in school, I'd drive from Northern CA to northern Florida (Santa Rosa CA and Pensacola FL) or vice versa about four times a year, and usually, I'd do it straight through, or some semblance of straight through. I'd typically do it with a couple of 2-3 hour catnaps in the car sprinkled through the trip. About half the times I did the drive, I was by myself, and about half the time I had one or two people with me to trade off with for driving duties.

Google maps says ~2500 miles and ~36 hours driving time. I recall making it in ~40 hours total on a few occasions, and no it wasn't because of excessive speed, I was driving my parent's full-size '84 Dodge van, lol, not exactly a speed demon.


And for the record, I wouldn't do it that way again. It was cool when I was younger, and excited to be going back or leaving school for the semester, but these days, the 750 miles to Atlanta from Detroit are getting to be quite tiring going straight through.
 
todras said:
In one shot? As on no overnight stops?! I tried a 14 hr. drive and had to stop at a hotel.
Click to expand...

Wimp. When we picked up Puds car, we left at around 7:30 a.m. and didn't get home until 2:30 a.m. Only the hour or so spent talking to Pud and a couple of smoke stops and gas refills (with one stop in Iron Mountain for BK). It wasn't too bad. XM radio on the way over was a Godsend.
 
todras said:
In one shot? As on no overnight stops?! I tried a 14 hr. drive and had to stop at a hotel.
Click to expand...

Well, I stopped in Tulsa, OK when I drove from Detroit to here. I would much rather do it in one shot with a lot of coffee, but if the roads are bad or I am just too tired, I will probably call it quits near STL.
 
ancientsanskrit said:
Last final is Wednesday and will be driving back home this Friday from TX (~1400 miles). Plan to do it in one shot. I suspect it will take me a solid 24+ hrs as I near IL and the road conditions deteriorate i.e. snowy.

I'm looking at the weather forecast, nice and sunny....and 28 degrees. :shocked: Good God, that's cold. Not really looking forward to the drive, but hopefully don't run into any snowstorms.

Any bizarre construction going down in that neck of the woods? I'll be driving 94E from Chicago, cutting through M14 via A2 back to Detroit. You may ask, why not just check out MDOT. Well, CEG > MDOT, in my experience.
Click to expand...

Don't know on the construction, but come on man...you're from MI. This weekend's forecast is no good yet. I've made many looooong runs myself. I tried coming home from Mississippi in Jan97. Figured it was short enough to straight shot from 3pm or so. Took me 12 hours to get through IN due to unexpected weather and resulting traffic (spent 5 hours the first 20 miles from the IN border). Team driving's another story. SW Texas to home, my wife and I took turns between the wheel and the back seat of my crew cab. That drive began at 7pm after being up all day. Took 30+ hours (trailering, lower speeds). That was Sonora BTW, not that far from you in TX terms.

Anyway, like I say...been there done that, but let me put it into perspective. It's the off-season. Most places a bed at a Red Roof or Motel 6 is like $40. Bad roads after 15-20 hours of driving would be an absolute nightmare. I know from experience.

Either way, have a good trip.
 
Don't do it straight through. When I go back and forth from Grand Rapids to Dallas, I always do it in two days. Sometimes it's a good trip and seems like I could have gone straight through, but this time of year, you've got to plan for the unexpected with the weather, and you could very easily have a five hour delay somewhere.
 
also not trying to sound stuck up, but I drove from G.R michigan to Orlando florida with no stops to rest, just to get gas and eat drive through, took me 19 hours. I pretty much drank about 10 energy drinks to keep going, it was brutal, but fun!
 
If the weather gets bad you BETTER pull over, but with enough sleep before hand, you could pull the 24 hr drive off but only if you really have to, so I say break it down into a 14/10 hr drive over two days:idea: Be careful either way so you can come on out to our 0-16 Lions meet, you too Stazi!
 
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