What's the hardest part of your drive?

[mikeschn]

What's the hardest part of your drive?

I remember coming home from Myrtle Beach a few years ago. We left bright and early... Drove all day. By sundown we we in Cincinatti. Had about 5 hours to go. It was cold, dark, wet, and raining. And I was tired. Those were the longest 5 hours.

Had it been summer, I would have found a campground. But it was winter... end of December to be exact. There were no campgrounds. So I had to keep going. I said I don't want to do it this way again!!! Alas, I've not found a better way to do it.

Mike...

[traveler]

Well this is an easy one. When I plan to go somewhere and stay for a while, the hardest part of the drive is when I HAVE to head for home.

[mary and bob]

Mike: You should have stayed overnight at a Walmart. This past December we were heading home to upstate NY from a South Carolina campground, got lost in Maryland after crossing the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, it was dark and late, so found a Walmart with the GPS and stayed there overnight. Next day got lost again but this time in New Jersey because I didn't listen to the electronic GPS or the one sitting in the passenger seat [wife]. Had to listen to "recalculating" and " why didn't you listen to her" [the GPS] many times. Bob

[PKCSPT]

Going home when I get near the Twin Cities,,,, oh the traffic and speed and all the people.

[KenC]

Hardest part of my drive is having patience in Southern California traffic

[Catherine+twins]

My little town is on the side of a mountain (actually an ancient volcano). There are two roads into/out of town--up over the mountain (into the ancient caldera) with one tight hairpin corner and a narrow road along a cliff; and down the mountain and a wider road along a cliff. I really felt the mountain when I was pulling my 1500 lb pop-up behind my old Subaru! (I hope my foamie will be an easier tow.) So I'd have to say the last two miles are the hardest part.


Catherine

[mary and bob]

Catherine: Sounds almost like Los Alamos ??

[pete42]

Mike boy do I know that feeling but for me it hits in Kentucky around Lexington
hour and a half to Cincinnati another hour to home up I-71.

next time you find your self in that situation head over to my house I have electric hook ups.

you can take I-75 to Dayton head east on state route 35 or take I-71 to state route 35 and head west.
I'm closer to I-71 10 minutes than I-75 30 Minutes just let me know you're coming.

driving from Cincinnati to Michigan is one boring trip not what I call a scenic drive.

Pete

[IndyTom]

Catherine: Sounds almost like Los Alamos ??

That's exactly what I was thinking. It was quite an experience when this flatlander drove through coming in along the cliff and left by driving over the mountain and into the caldera.

Tom

[Catherine+twins]

IndyTom » Thu Feb 23, 2012 8:35 am

mary and bob wrote:
Catherine: Sounds almost like Los Alamos ??


That's exactly what I was thinking. It was quite an experience when this flatlander drove through coming in along the cliff and left by driving over the mountain and into the caldera.

Tom

That's home, all right! For the last couple of years all of our camping has been short hops up into the Jemez mountains (the caldera and its surrounding peaks) and beyond to the Nacimiento mountains, usually with my son's scout troop and in cold tents. This year we plan to go further afield and in more comfort!

Catherine

[nrody]

Wow, great question. The hardest part for me is entering LA County. Once you cross that line it is traffic, traffic, traffic. I am not sure where all those folks come from or where they are going.

[TENNJIM]

Going Home! When within three or four hours of home, there is always the tendency to push-on instead of pulling-in somewhere. This has resulted in some 14 to 16 hour drives too many times. Trying not to do more than ten hours/day anymore. Plus the distance home always seems much longer than the distance going.

Jim B / Utah

[legojenn]

For me, it's Highway 416 between Ottawa and the 401 in eastern Ontario. I've been up and down that road so many times I can drive it with my eyes closed. Since most of my camping trips end up in the US, It also means the beginning or end of a trip.

[Verna]

If I offend anyone with this, I apologize before hand.....

I HATE DRIVING THRU ATLANTA!!!!! The only time I've never had trouble driving through there was the Saturday morning after Thanksgiving at 8 am 3 years ago. Any other time, there is absolute gridlock. It's strange, though...if my sister drives, then we sail right through, but if I'm behind the wheel, then we're going to be sitting in traffic on the interstate for a while. She's driving through Atlanta next month when we go to FL.

Another one is the Scenic California 1. There are so many hairpin curves, such beautiful scenery, and everyone wants to go so fast, except for me. Yeah, if you were behind me last May, you hated me--sorry. The drivers behind me knew the road and I had never been on it. I still enjoyed the ride, but I was so tired of hairpin curves by the time I went across 199 to get over to I-5 up by Oregon.

Driving when you're too tired: Last year, my brother found a great deal on a thickness sander in Maryland. He asked me to go with him, and wanted to take my 4x4 truck since there was snow forecasted in PA. We took off at 7 am on a Wednesday, planning on spending the night in PA on the way back. BUT, the forecast changed, and PA was expecting 6"+ of snow (they ended up getting 6" to 18", depending on where you were). Now, we had no intention of being stranded on the road, so we drove 22 straight hours (including gas and necessity stops) and got back at 5 am on Thursday. At Columbus, OH I took over driving, still in a misting wet snow. I drove to the east side of Indy, but I pulled over with just 20 minutes of driving to go. I realized I was falling asleep with my eyes sort of open. I told my brother that we had a choice of either stopping and waiting an hour or so, or he could drive. I refused to drive any more. So, he finished driving to his house. I rested a bit and drove the 20 minutes to my house. I think it took me a couple of days to recuperate from that. I'm not trying that trick for a while.....too dangerous.

[mary and bob]

I drove near Atlanta a few years ago, as I recall it was 4 lanes of traffic running about 85 mph. Longest thru drive was Albany NY to Fort Worth Texas, non stop with only food & fuel stops, me and two other people Bob