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My wife wants to go visit the relatives for Christmas. She does not have a drivers license, so I would have to do all the driving. Airfare is sky high and so we are forced to drive.
The relatives live 480 miles from our house and she wants to start driving at dawn and attempt to make it all the way. She estimates if we average 60 miles per hour and stop for a hour and a half on the way to get gas, bathroom breaks and two meals, we can make it to Columbus Ohio in about 10 hours.
To me that is a long way to drive especially during the Christmas Weekend when there is a lot of traffic and possible bad weather and icy roads. I want to break the long trip up where we drive 5 hours each day and stay at a hotel after driving about 240 miles. She does not want to take so much time off work. We are at a stalemate.
Would you drive the ten hours on Christmas Eve and then stay for three nights and do the ten hour drive back four days later, or is that too much hassle? What would you do?
I have driven farther than that in one day - about 520 miles. If you're on freeway most of the way the roads should be fine and not slippery unless it's snowing.
I drive Raleigh - Orlando a couple of times a year. It's about 550 miles and takes me 9-10 hours. That is about all I can do in a day. This is a flat and straight interstate drive the whole way and still takes its toll on me. If you added mountains and winter weather I would not do it in a day.
If I were driving your route I might have a stopover location in mind and see how the weather is and how I feel at that point and make a go - no go decision then. Good Luck !
480 miles in one day is an easy open road drive and it would save you some motel and food costs. Then you'd have an extra day to visit.
I drive 600 to 800 miles a day on most trips, taking a break of 15-20 minutes every 2-3 hours. My last road trip recently of 1850 miles took nearly 3 days.
Assuming you are young because her parents are still with you, 10 to 12 hours should not be a problem. Just stop every 2 or 3 hours to stretch and walk around a little. Use gas stations or rest areas for your break.
It is 500 miles from our home in Delaware to our house in SC. We drive it in one day, but there are two of us at least who are driving; however, my husband and I have both driven it in one day by ourselves. 10 hours should not be a problem, but if it is, then stop. Since your wife is not driving and you are, then you make the decision on whether to drive straight through or not. You might want to start the evening before Christmas Eve and get several hours in.
I used to drive by myself to visit my parents in another state (right at 500 miles). It'd take me 8-8.5 hrs; I only did it once a year. I didn't like it by myself, but it was do-able. Hubby and I together routinely vacationed from central IL to the gulf coast--850 miles--and always did it in one stretch (14 hrs). Usually we swapped off driving, but one trip was in a company vehicle that I wasn't approved to drive, so he did the whole 14-hr trip. We've lived out-of-state from family for over 20 years, and for the better part of it, we've been 500+ miles away. We never took more than 1 day to drive there. Now, however, we live over 950 miles from family, through mountains with a rock-slide detour to negotiate, so we will take 2 days to drive. Bummer.
Save the hotel expense and give the extra time to visiting with family. You can do it.
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I have driven long distances *by myself* very often.
Just some advice, after a while, DO NOT use cruise control.
It will keep your mind more attentive to the road conditions.
Take breaks often, if there is an interesting place *on the way*.
Use the Road side stops, just to stretch your legs.
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