I tend to fly whenever it is more than 600 miles, but I have a friend who likes to drive.

We recently drove from Sacramento to Grand Junction CO...I think it was close to 15 hours...for an IDPA match the following day. Shot the match over 2 days, spent the night and drove back.

It was a long drive both ways and we left both places at about 0500hrs. Guys who did it in 2-days, stayed over in SLC...seemed a waste

A few weeks after that we drove to Tucson AZ for another match...about 12 hours. Compared to the trip to CO it wasn't bad, but still a lot of hours in a vehicle.

We usually rent a full size car...lot of gear...for these trips.

There are a lot of variables: your age, vehicle comfort, type of roads / volume of traffic expected along the trip, construction or other delays, weather, medical conditions, personal comfort, availability of alternate routes and destinations to stop at to rest.

I've done numerous longer trips (MI to ND, etc) around 12-16 hours driving time in one day in both a car and a one ton pickup towing a 40' trailer. The trip was pretty draining in both vehicles, despite not dealing with much traffic and having all kinds of interesting scenery along the typical route.

Most of my long trips have all been solo. Having someone in the vehicle to help share the workload such as navigation, planning rest stops, watching for traffic, or even splitting driving responsibilities would help dramatically.

Let's go back to the alternate routes point for a moment. Is this in a mountainous area, or other area with a severely limited option for alternate roads to reroute around a closure due to an accident, road damage, wildfire, or other reasons? If alternate route options are limited, this definitely pushes me toward budgeting two days. If the trip will be in a non mountainous area or otherwise has plenty of easily accessible alternate routes, then I wouldn't consider planning for one day off the table based on my personal considerations.

That having been said, consider budgeting two days for the trip. That way, if you arrive in one day, great, but having the second travel day available will relieve the pressure to just keep going regardless of how you're feeling (get-there-itis). That's kind of the whole idea, to give yourself some options so you don't feel as though you absolutely must push through regardless how you're feeling, regardless of delays which have increased your time behind the wheel significantly and so forth.

Either way, here are some additional tips:

Stop every hour (or up to two hours max) for a quick stretch, whether it feels necessary or not. Sitting in (more or less) one position for extended periods isn't good for you whether you're in the car, an office, or at home.

I'd personally time both the initial departure and breaks to avoid peak traffic near any major city, although this may not be possible to entirely avoid.

If you're using an app for navigation, make sure to download an offline copy of the maps in case you drop out of cell coverage.

Monitor yourself, if you get tired, start making mistakes, or anything feels off, take an extended break or use that as a stopping point.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: the_sandman_454,

I’ve done it, many times, but I see no reason to do so, now. It’s just more pleasant to get up early, drive, then have breakfast, putter, etc.

I usually try to be out of an urban area by 7AM, and stopped by about 7PM, but I putter some, in between. (Well, and I have to stop for charges, if I’m in the Tesla)

All of my family lives that far away. I always drive it in 1 shot. Heck, there were 2 times that I filled up for gas before getting on the road, rationed my fluids & only made 1 stop for gas cos family members were in the hospital & I needed to get there as fast as possible.

I have made many cross country road trips, if you need to get from point A to point B in a timely fashion, I'm your girl. My sister, on the other hand, will fall asleep 10 min into the drive.

In September I went on a fishing trip to Colorado it was close to 900 miles. I took two days going there but that was by design as there were some stops I wanted to make. Coming home, I decided to just see how the day went. Got up super early, felt rested, so I decided to plow through. It took me 14 hours but I was pretty damn sore that night. I was driving my new Colorado with great leather seats so the ride was good but I had to make numerous stops to stretch my legs with one nap stop in there somewhere. I'm 73.

I’d do it in a day, but know your limits. And it’s good to have a partner if you need a break. Risking your life and the lives of others because you’re tired is a no-go.

My wife and I routinely make a 12-14 hour drive from middle OH to southeast LA in one go. But it’s a long dang day. I typically drive and don’t often need the backup but it’s nice to know she can take the wheel if I’m starting to slow-blink.

For my response, I generally drive it in one day, 12-13 is my limit usually. I’m in decent shape, my eyesight and night vision isn’t a concern yet though it won’t be long maybe. My main travel vehicle is a Toyota Tundra that is awesome to ride in but I’m guaranteed to stop every 300 miles for gas.

I didn’t want to add conditions as it was a curiosity in general poll.

A few of the big hitters for me specifically:
Vacation time
Deadlines, I’m usually traveling for an event with a defined start time.
Weather, this time of year it’s hit or miss.
Highways vs freeway

All the mentioned items are a factor.

Is the way familiar or new
Freeway vs highway
Road conditions
Weather
Deadlines
Comfort
Copilot or not
How much daylight is available
How much vacation do I have

Thanks, it was interesting to see and was about how I thought it would go.

We recently did Chattanooga to the burbs north of Houston in one day. Longer than I care for.

In my youth, 30s I did 21 hours once and in my 40s would do TX to NW PA (19 hours) in one shot.

Anymore (47yo) 10 hours is good for me, start before sunrise and end around dinner time. It normally takes me 2-3 hours to unwind so I plan for that.

A to B, 10-12-14-16-18 hrs... two or four wheels, drive until you reach point B.

No point in wasting time...

Bottom line. It depends on you.
The physical you, age, sleep habits, pee breaks, blood sugar,....

I used to drive all day. But I usually stopped every 100 miles or so and ran around the car a few times. Now that I am getting old and decrepit, my longest drives are 2 hours to PDX for the kids, then back later the same day. Coming back is often very tough on the old man.

I did 1525 miles from Islamorada, FL to near Kansas City solo averaging 65 MPH door to door with 15 minutes of sleep. One thing that really adjusted my ability to drive long distance was doing a 350 mile canoe race in 62 hours with only 3 hours of sleep. After that sitting in a climate controlled car is nothing. At least I'm not paddling.

I moved my son to NC a few months ago, left AM Saturday, arrived back in Missouri Sunday night. Total over 1700 miles with a few hours sleep Sunday wee hours.

It really depends on the road, the weather, others in car (e.g. much different having screaming kids vs a copilot who keeps you alert and on the right track), and amount of daylight at that time of year.

A little over 10 years ago, I drove from Houston, TX, to Anchorage, AK, in October. 10 or 12 hour driving days on interstate highways was easy. 10 or 12 hour days in the Canadian Rockies was brutal where the 2 late highway was going through mountain passes, in valleys paralleling winding rivers, looking out for snow/ice, you had to be on the lookout for large wild life (e.g. elk and buffalo) stepping out of the woods, and the sun rose late and set early.

I favor one day. That said, all my long trips these days are with inmates in the back seat. I take a jailer on the longer trips so we can drive in shifts.