Octang Frye

Many years ago, my antipodean uncle visited and, with his wife, drove around the UK and Ireland in three days.
It blew my mind such a thing was possible, knowing what an epic trip it was traveling down to Cornwall every summer holiday.

Finally done it. We drove 1900 miles this weekend, picking up a puppy. Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Missouri, Illinois, Kansas, Colorado.
John O'Groats to Land's End is 894 miles. I did the majority of the driving but it was nice to switch out. Living over here gives you a different perspective on distance.

A former co-worker claims to have drive from Southern Florida to Colorado Springs non-stop in 24 hours.
Folly, hubris and a young person's conceit.

scrubbedexpat091

I've done a lot of road trips around the western and south western US, as well as Milwaukee to San Diego one way once. Most recent was Vancouver, BC to Palm Springs, Calif. We left at 4am local time, drove to Medford, OR and arrived there around 6pm, then left there at 7am and arrived in Palm Springs at 11:45pm on day 2, so 40 hours or so with all our stops.

We only drove that trip as we had nobody to watch the dog, so had to drive, normally we would fly though, I get too sore driving in our Mazda 2, simply not comfortable after 1-2 hours....lol

If gas were not so costly in Canada, and I had the time and could rent a car one way (fly back) I would drive across Canada to the Atlantic side, but it would cost too much $$ and require more time then I have off in a year.

joto

I've only done two long distance road trips, and both were due to moving and didn't want to put the dogs on a plane. First was from MA to CO and took about 3 1/2-4 days. I am not comfortable driving more than 5-600 miles in a day, so we had the route and hotels planned out by AAA. Same again, but from CO to CA, with a short detour to the Grand Canyon as DS wanted to see it.

kimilseung

I managed Cornwall to Merseyside in 10 hours, what's that, 350 miles?, two years ago. Bloody UK traffic.

Giantaxe

Did a 2,500 mile road trip to Idaho earlier this month. Always fun driving around the American west.

carcajou

South Florida to Colorado Springs in 24 hours - no way. It used to take me 11 hours just to drive from Miami to Pensacola (700 miles), still in Florida. According to Google Maps, Pensacola to Colorado Springs is twice as long (1,368 miles).

I did have a relative once who drove from Indiana to South Florida in about 24 hours straight (1,200 miles). Foolish thing to do if you ask me.

Nutmegger

[QUOTE=Octang Frye;12522983]
We drove 1900 miles this weekend, picking up a puppy. /QUOTE]

Here's the most important part of your post. Do tell us about the puppy!

Octang Frye

I only use one eye at a time and hence have no depth perception, so to gauge distance, I flip between eyes and my brain makes a calculation. On a road trip, at night, as I get tired, I'm constantly switching between eyes. It's very taxing and usually I can only manage about 500 miles a day. So I'm feeling a little accomplished to have made it this distance and be back in time for work.

Traveling through Missouri, we encountered thunderstorms and torrential rain and then suddenly, BLURRRRRRRRRRR! Tornado warning! Take shelter immediately!
The only problem was where. Do we stop? Get in a ditch? Drive to the nearest bridge and wedge ourselves in the corner? If we had encountered a tornado, we couldn't cross the median and flee in the other direction because there was a cable barrier.
We opted to "outrun" the weather which was sketchy because the rental car had 30,000 miles and pretty much bald front tires.

Anyway, the puppy is Byrdie, a Leonberger and she's a little angel. We picked her up as a spare to join our two boys, also Leos.

It's fun to visit the rest stops when you cross state lines and sample the coffee and take a bio break. Thank goodness for satellite radio/internet.
When I moved out to Colorado from Atlanta in the late 90s, I pulled a 4x8 U-Haul with my little 4 cylinder Camry. I was only going to spend 6 months here and then return to Atlanta,
and my company only paid relocation once a year. So I put a transmission cooler on my car, and a tow hitch, and figured it would serve well when I returned, instead of towing my car behind a bigger U-Haul truck.
Back then, you used an Atlas, and printed out the journey on Autoroute and had 13 sheets of directions/maps. My antenna snapped off and I could only pick up Christian AM stations. Heading through Kansas with the wind was awful.

Nutmegger

Long life and happiness to Byrdie. I've never met a Leonberger in person, but they look like lovely dogs. And don't tell her she's a spare . . .

Octang Frye

I married into a big dog family. Unfortunately, they don't always live a long time and they're very social creatures, so you always need two. Wife used to have Irish wolfhounds but I don't think I can handle that. You're lucky to get to 6.
Leonbergers are part Saint Bernard, Great Pyrenees and Newfoundland. They're very affectionate, loving, sensitive dogs. Very intelligent and distinctive personalities. Don't drool but shed a lot.

Octang Frye

Oh yeah, complaint: Kansas has a toll to use I-70. It's an interstate! How can this be?
We got a ticket in Kansas for 92 in a 75. $190 something. BS.

ddsrph

Nutmegger

My friend has Scottish Deerhounds, who seem to be lucky to make it to eight. But the bottom line is, no dog ever lives long enough!

Octang Frye

Gorgeous. Bowie is 160 and Bugsy is 130. Former is more Newfie and the latter is more Pyreneese.
A happy, loved, stimulated dog will hopefully endure better.

Octang Frye

Exactly, that's pretty much a dog's only fault. They don't live long enough.