road trips

When making long road trips, I would usually rather go alone, especially if I have made the same trip before, its a sense of freedom of the open road and the liberation of being alone, making all the calls on the wheres and whens. THis may not apply to you married fellas out there because you may no longer have that option anymore, but as for me, I like flyin solo.... anyone else feel this way.. or not? why?

I don't mind having my dog along, she makes for decent company. My wife on the other hand, I always feel like I can't get there fast enough.

Long road trips have taught me the following:

-quiet tires are a godsend
-diesel Suburbans are really good road trip vehicles
-the fast in fast food comes from needing to find a restroom, fast
-with enough sleep a few nights before, I can drive pretty freakin' far

YMMV

Yup, I love long road trips alone. I have done the trip from here in Wa State to East Texas and back, as well as Moab etc.... While I do enjoy the company of my wife and kids... I like driving it solo. I decide where to sleep, when to pee, when to eat, route, etc... Besides, my wife is not much of a navigator. I once made the mistake of letting here navigate the leg from Grand Junction Colorado to East Texas.... she picked the most boring route.... all the way across the entire state of Texas. YUK!!! I prefer the Kansas/Oklahoma route. Still not a damned thing worth seeing in either of those states.... but at least it *seems* like progress when you can travel through a couple different states in one day, as opposed to driving across Texas. Miserable.

I enjoy my vacations from my family, not with them. (they would likely concur...I'm not the easiest goon to put up with) I figure that they "got me" the other 50 weeks, so the least they can do is allow me a spot of holiday - where I go away and bother other folks whom I don't have opportunity to annoy on a regular basis.

Wifey is a mostly safe driver, probably safer than I, but she flatly sux at urban interstate... LOL like the 'mixing bowl' up in VA south of DC where everything merges. (she came to a full stop at the bottom of an on-ramp) I thought if we didn't get killed right away, I was gonna have to find somewhere SAFE to pull off and kill her myself. That was xmas '03... I doubt I've rode 50 miles with her since then.

I like long road-trips... but I can't seem to put away the miles between cat-naps like I used to... PBJs make great road trip food...LOL I cut em up into quarters just like mumsie used to do. Coffee or Mountain Dew to wash it back. Iron Maiden, Pantera, or the Nuge for tunes

Depends. I do like travelling alone when I'm A) not in a hurry, or B) in a hurry. For A, it's so I can stop and see anything I want. For B, it's so no-one's bitching at me if I decide to sleep one hour in twelve and press on (I get pretty "road ripe" that way, but it also allows me to cover serious ground...)

OTOH, I am fortunate that my wife travels very well and makes a damn good naviguesser. She doesn't mind spelling me at the wheel if I need a break, but generally prefers to let me handle the driving. We did SFO-ATL and back a few years ago, and once when I drove SFO-IND round she rode with me on the return leg.

Nice thing - she's still got that "sense of wonder" at things that have become old hat to me - and like to see out-of-the-way stuff as much as I do. She now understands why I keep a whole batch of USGS topo maps lying about - I may want to go to the middle of nowhere for a REASON.

One thing we'd like to do - after we get something useful banked and convert one of the XJs into a travel rig - is to take a month or so off and drive around the country. She's never really done any OTR trips for fun - and those few she did do were usually with her kids while "single-mom"-ing it, so those certainly weren't any fun.

As for my part, I do like having someone to natter at every now and then while I'm on the road, but she can also entertain herself well enough that I don't have to, and that allows me some time to meditate (which is also a necessity.)

Woody - a fortnight is more than enough time for Coast-to-Coast with a little fun tossed in - come out and visit us "Lefties" sometime. If I can do SFO-ATL-SFO in six days, you should be able to manage...

5-90

i like solo road trips. gives ya' time to think about stuff. no debates over the radio station either.

- mt. dew is a staple.
-what goes in one end must eventually exit the other, though it's
usually about halfway between planned rest stops.
-don't speed in new mexico
-it's wierd how I-40 is a 75 zone pretty much all the way accross going west, but going the other way it's 70....
-if 2 cans of fix-a-flat doesn't work, you're gonna need a new tire.
-my personal best time is from barstow, ca to abingdon, va. 2350 miles in 49 hours flat.
i would definitely pick up right now and go if i had the time....

Two problems with long road trips. I developed sleep apnia, which means I've got to have a place to plug in my breather when I stop for the night, and I don't smoke anymore. With most any old MOPAR iron it used to be 6 hours driving munching nuts, drinking Diet Coke and smoking. Stop for gas, pee, buy more coke and smokes and nuts and hit the road for another 6 hours. Some long trips: Georgetown, SC to St. Charles, MO in 20 hours; KC, MO to Laramie to Boise in two days; Reno to Denver in one day; Colorado Springs to Williams, AZ in one day. Now days we do the 740 mile Huntsville, TX to St. Charles, MO run twice a year. We do it right at 13 hours one way. I miss the Ozarks and interstates hypnotize me, so I like to take a more scenic route if I can.

Oh, yeah. Make that three problems with long road trips. The third problem is two boys who always come along with us. Between the two of them fighting constantly and me yellin' all the time, it's a real life zoo wagon rollin' down the highway.