Mondays Question of the Day - May 5, 2014

How long do you prefer to drive between stops when you travel by car?

For almost 20 years now I have been making the 7/8hr trip to visit my family.  For 12 I've bee making the 9/10 hour trip to see DH's family.  That's a lot of time in the car!  Especially considering we used to make it to each place multiple times per year!  (I hate traveling by the way.) 

When I was a kid; my step-dad hated making rest stops.  When we did; they were quick.  DH prefers to stop every 2 hours.  It used to annoy me; but then he does nearly all of the driving so I've always tried not to complain.  I just want to get the traveling part over and done with and just be there already!   He likes to stretch his legs.  Now that we have kids and drive a bit larger size vehicle we stop only as often as necessary!  Which is less than he would like and more than I would like.   3 stops on the way to see my family makes the 7 hour trip a 9.   I don't think we've made it to DH's mother's in less than 10 since having kids either.  The last time we made it to my family's we only stopped ONCE!  I was so happy!  Granted; it was a 45 minute stop still...but it was only once!  (I sincerely thank the inventor of the portable DVD player for their undeniable assistance in this accomplishment.   Oh; and Quiznos is awesome for having things like small tubs of Play-doh and sidewalk chalk as the prizes in their kids meals!)

We do an 8-hour drive a couple of times a year and generally do two 15-minute breaks to switch drivers, etc.

The only time we stop is when we need gas. At that point, we'll use the restrooms and stretch a bit.

We left for West Virginia around 7:00 Thursday morning and our first stop was at a Sheetz because my GF wanted coffee and the restroom. Then we stopped in Pittsburgh at Penzey. Our next stop was our final one....the Homer Laughlin Fiesta outlet. Not too far from there was our motel. So basically three stops for a 7-hour drive. Had it been just Rick and me, we wouldn't have hit the Sheetz that morning. On the way home from Ohio, we stopped once and that was for gas. It's a 5-hour trip out across I-80 from the western PA border to our place, not to mention the travel time to get out of Ohio.

I don't really like to stop; I want to get there. And since I do all of the driving, I'll just drive until I need gas and stop then. 

I've never really drove that far; farthest was from here to Chicago, which was about 5 hours, and we stopped once to eat. I would probably stop every 4 or so hours to stretch. And I like driving.

I've never driven more than two hours (and even after that, I'm whining when I get out and stretch), but my boyfriend has driven for about six hours to take us all camping. We usually stop after four to get food, and his car makes me carsick no matter where I sit, so I would honestly prefer if we stopped every half hour!

My first time driving "far" was only about 45 minutes and I was going pretty fast so it might have been even shorter than that... my dad made fun of me for having a leg cramp by the time we got home, lol. My hometown is super small. You can drive in and out of it, anywhere in any direction, within twenty minutes as long as there isn't any crazy traffic. The convenience spoiled me.

Usually i go until I need to go to the bathroom or need gas. It can be between 4-7 hours, depending!

We also drive until one of us needs to go or we need gas. There has been times when I 'invent' a need to go!

I prefer to keep going unless I need gas.  I am same way with shopping and HATE summer shopping as things go bad but normally I go out first thing in am and hit EVERY store I need to for next 2 weeks.

Every break from driving ads up and then you may get sidetracked/spend more money on snack/drink that you do not have in car leading to more pee breaks

pinkdagger said:

 
his car makes me carsick no matter where I sit, so I would honestly prefer if we stopped every half hour!

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Oh I know all about being car sick.   Sea Bandz are lifesavers for me now!  I used to take Dramamine and sleep (unless I was doing the driving).  But now I put those on before we leave the house and don't take them off till we've been there a while.  My head/ears still have pressure troubles that can be really uncomfortable; but at least I'm not nauseous and all that!  My mother and I have driven up together and taken turns with the driving because the carsickness is a lot less while driving.  I made the trip solo once and had to stop and sleep a little at a rest stop!

Ugh, I get car sick, too. It is just awful. I think it's caused by my medication. Ginger ale helps a lot, I keep a bottle in the fridge for when I have to ride in the car. My husband knows when to pull over because he says he can see me turning green. :nausea: Long distance trips are a real pain, so I don't go anywhere anymore.

We have kids so we usually stop half way. A trip to my sisters is 6 hrs and we stop half way to eat lunch and let the kids run a bit. I too am a fan of DVD players and iPads. I would prefer to keep moving and get to our destination.