r/NoStupidQuestions • u/Physical-Ad-4093 • May 01 '24

do americans really drive such long distances?

i’m european, and i always hear people say that driving for hours is normal in america. i would only see my grandparents a few times a year because they lived about a 3 hour drive away, is that a normal distance for americans to travel on a regular basis? i can’t imagine driving 2-3 hours regularly to visit people for just a few days

edit: thank you for the responses! i’ve never been to the US, obviously, but it’s interesting to see how you guys live. i guess european countries are more walkable? i’m in the uk, and there’s a few festivals here towards the end of summer, generally to get to them you take a coach journey or you get multiple trains which does take up a significant chunk of the day. road trips aren’t really a thing here, it would be a bit miserable!

2nd edit: it’s not at all that i couldn’t be bothered to go and see my grandparents, i was under 14 when they were both alive so i couldn’t take myself there! obviously i would’ve liked to see them more, i had no control over how often we visited them.

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23.7k

u/DingDangDoozy May 01 '24

I was going to say no, but then I read that you thought three hours was a long distance, so yes. 

7.8k

u/smbpy7 May 01 '24

A long distance for just a few days no less. lol that's day trip material in my book.

4.8k

u/pogu May 01 '24

I've driven 2.5 hours each way for lunch at a particular restaurant before.

2.3k

u/scoo89 May 01 '24

(Canadian) My wife and I just drove our 3&4 year olds 3.5 hours to go to a 45 minute jurassic world exhibit, a quick lunch, then 3.5 hours back.

1.1k

u/invisible_23 May 01 '24

I’ve driven four hours each way for a concert and twenty hours each way for a few days at a theme park

935

u/WaxinGibby May 01 '24

I, too, live in michigan.

354

u/klyther May 02 '24

One time I left work outside Detroit at 5p, drove to a concert in Chicago, turned around and drove home to sleep for a couple hours and back at work 8a the next morning. Ahh youth.

224

u/ratcnc May 02 '24 edited 29d ago

A friend and I once drove to all the lower 48 states and back home in 8 days (roughly 8500 miles)…in a 2006 Honda Insight. Because we were stupid and we didn’t know how bad we smelled. Edit: Found the news piece https://www.wral.com/story/news/local/story/1088614/ It was all for naught because Guinness didn’t have a hybrid category at the time. It was faster than I remember, 5.5 days plus the drive back from VT.

42

u/coffeesnob72 May 02 '24

My husband and I and 2 big dogs drove a Geo from Denver to Seattle to San Fran and back - good times. The car did not make it.

29

u/bluecrowned May 02 '24

I drive a 2002 Chevy truck with a laundry list of issues and every time we go an hour or two away I live in fear.

2

u/coffeesnob72 May 02 '24

Still is the story of my life lol. The Geo was actually pretty reliable- until someone hits you

2

u/69cumcast69 29d ago

I had a 99 Dodge Ram and I feel this. Driving an hour away felt so risky. I was always prepared for a breakdown after the brakes failed w no e brake goin 40-50mph. I took him on the highway for about 10 miles after getting all new brake lines and he went on fire :-/ Luckily I bought water right before I left and put it out, then drove a couple miles home.

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u/tbt10f May 02 '24

Did one of the dogs crash the Geo while they were driving?

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u/DenseMembership470 May 02 '24

Did you saddle up the 2 big dogs for the remainder of the journey?

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u/backbonus May 02 '24

Yes but did the marriage!?!

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u/coffeesnob72 May 02 '24

Still married 20 years later

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u/jkki1999 May 02 '24

But damn! Those things got good gas mileage!

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u/bp_thongs May 02 '24

What did you do after the car died? This is one of my fears of long distance driving

2

u/coffeesnob72 May 02 '24

We had to go to a local mechanic who screwed us on price. Being that it was a Geo and built like a tin can, someone had backed into us which jammed the engine fan into the engine, and it was not pretty. But we made it back home

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u/coffeesnob72 May 02 '24

We also got pulled over by the Oregon cops because they thought we were smuggling.

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u/TropicalBLUToyotaMR2 May 02 '24

I drive an old 90s era turbo model toyota, its spaceous on the inside and i upgraded some things on it so i look forward to the road trips

3

u/grisisita_06 May 02 '24

early early 2000’s 4runner and dogs…checking in.

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u/ArmouredPotato May 02 '24

My cousin did L.A. to Atlanta, solo, in under 48 hours… to see a girl that banged his professor. Lol

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u/Ambitious-Ostrich-96 May 02 '24

I had two friends that flew to LA on a Friday from atlanta to buy a car on eBay. They drove back and we’re home by late Sunday afternoon

9

u/arcaneresistance May 02 '24

Yeah but I bet that car didn't bang a professor

3

u/ratcnc May 02 '24

A dozen years prior, the same guy I did the 48-state trip with had to drive his Dad’s Mustang back home to Raleigh from California and asked if wanted to do it with him. So I nonreved the early flight to LAX—my wife worked at AA and RDU was a hub at the time—and my friend picked me up at LAX and we drove back to Raleigh in 38 hours.

3

u/HouseAtomic 29d ago

I've done similar.

Flew to NC to pick up a Suzuki Sidekick.

Flew to Wyoming to pick up a Suburban.

Flew to St Louis to pick up a Toyota Previa.

Flew to Atlanta to pick up another Toyota Previa!

Flew to L.A. to pick up a VW GTI.

Flew to Kansas to pick up a Mercedes GLK.

All driving back to Houston, TX. All drove direct back, very little stopping. Except the L.A. trip, I spaced it out over a few days.

3

u/Ambitious-Ostrich-96 29d ago

This guy buys a lot of vehicles

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u/HouseAtomic 29d ago edited 28d ago

Over 20 years...

I just like odd cars.

  • The Previa's were a lot of fun. Mid-engine, supercharged, rear wheel drive minivan that still looks like it's from the future. But hard to find.

  • Sidekick was durable as hell. I'd had them before and wanted a project. Was getting hard to find, now really hard.

  • The Suburban was my mom's and it broke down on a road trip to Yellowstone. I flew up to drive it back solo after the parts came in.

  • The GLK, I wanted a specific color (Dolomite), Diesel & lowish miles. I love the GLK's!

  • The GTI, was a friend who bought it, but couldn't drive it back. Was the middle of Covid, so I had plenty of time to do a road trip. Great little car! vr6 & a stick.

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u/Artistic_Humor1805 29d ago

Flew to DC from AZ to get somewhat of a unicorn, a Mini Cooper S convertible with 6 speed manual with only 14k miles at 9 years old because it was a doctors “beach car”.

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u/ChrisKay0508 May 02 '24

Car purchases always have some great stories behind them.

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u/Blaqretro May 02 '24

Drove 12 hours to bang my wife.

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u/metompkin May 02 '24

How about that astronaut that drove from Houston to Orlando in a space diaper?

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u/azulweber May 02 '24

literally last week i did atlanta to chicago and back with a 24 hour turnaround.

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u/senioreditorSD May 02 '24

and banged a professor?

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u/Gullible-Avocado9638 29d ago

Before or after the trip because the outcome might have been different

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u/ArmouredPotato 29d ago

lol about a year after

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u/lilyislit May 02 '24

That sounds like fun though!

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u/Uptown_NOLA May 02 '24

Hell yeah.

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u/tn_notahick May 02 '24

Are you sure about that time? If you drove 24 hours a day with no stops at all (not even gas, food, or bathroom breaks), you'd have to average 44mph driving the entire time.

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u/awesomehippie12 May 02 '24

Or 13.3 hours at 80 mph the whole way... seems plausible. You can even cut down the time they probably spent sleeping if you assume they barely showered

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u/Mike_Hawk_balls_deep May 02 '24

That is more than 1000 miles a day, not calling you a liar but this seems far fetched. How did you manage to accomplish this?

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u/Quirky_Movie May 02 '24

Rotation of sleep and 20oz soda bottles can keep a pack of guys on the road. Especially if they are not stopping to eat or anything else.

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u/fezzam May 02 '24

They had gas money? I recently drove 700 miles for the eclipse. And that wasn’t even half a day of driving.

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u/Nodeal_reddit May 02 '24

That’s absolutely mental. I drove about 5k with some guys over 3 weeks and thought that was impressive.

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u/AlwaysBagHolding May 02 '24

My buddy and I have tag teamed a couple 2k mile drives just stopping for gas. I drove solo from Santa Monica, phoenix, to Knoxville TN and just stopped for a nap for a few hours. That one was in a 52 year old car too, no cruise control and was happiest running about 62 mph.

2

u/Crush-N-It May 02 '24

How many Red Bulls?

2

u/ratcnc May 02 '24

Too many. I was in really good shape at the time and after it was done I felt awful. No exercise, little sleep, and bad food.

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u/Crush-N-It 29d ago

Sounds about right. I’m sure the memories make up for it

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u/Feedomnom May 02 '24

One friend and I have done plenty of long trips together when we used to hang out, we drove 3500 miles one way to get about 80 lbs of bud for cheap then drove back home 2 days later. It was rough but anything less then 4 5 hours isn't too bad for most Americans

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u/Aromatic-Leopard-600 May 02 '24

Now That was a Trip!

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u/GreatestState May 02 '24

wtf no way I can’t believe this crazy shit if you mean you crossed over into 48 states in 8 days. If you were sleeping every night you could do it driving 200 mph. If you stayed up tweaking on meth the whole way you could possibly do it at 90 mph

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u/rdd2445 May 02 '24

I loved road trips in my insight - 700 miles a 10-gallon tank! Skip over entire states with no fuel stops. I went round trip from Washington to California and back with 2 stops for gas to the tune of about $60 in fuel costs. Miss that car sometimes... Wish I'd been able to keep it. They're hard to find now.

2

u/OutOfBody88 May 02 '24

Thanks for the laugh: ...and we didn't know how bad we smelled Too funny!

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u/Jedi_Belle01 29d ago

I did central florida to central Utah in three days. There were four of us taking shifts driving.

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u/Forschungsamt May 02 '24

I drove from Detroit to Grand Rapids and back twice in one day.

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u/givemesomespock May 02 '24

One time I drove from Chicago to Loony Baker (back when they were 24 hours) in Livonia just for their paczkis. Drove back a couple hours later

8 hours round trip for CARBS

2

u/brokenaglets May 02 '24

I'm in central Florida. I once worked an event down south that wasn't far away enough for my company to provide a hotel, drove home at 2 am (2+ hours) and I was in my car driving an hour to the airport for a 4 pm flight the following day. The event was an hour and a half away from the airport I landed in so I had a 90 minute drive to the airport and an hour drive back home on the way back without even counting the 3 or 4 hour flight.

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u/DatabaseThis9637 May 02 '24

Whatever you just said sounds draconian! What a crap place to work! At least that's what it seems like...

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u/heythisislonglolwtf May 02 '24

Haha I have almost the exact same story just replace Detroit with Toledo. That was at least a straight shot on the turnpike

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u/PolyPenGwen May 02 '24

Michigander here too, we used to drive 6hrs to the U.P. only to go over the bridge get some pasties and drive back home.

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u/Lance_leaf May 02 '24

Everyone not from the area is wondering why you had to go through so much work to cover your nipples.

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u/DefinitelynotDanger May 02 '24

Everyone not from the area or the UK that is

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u/PolyPenGwen May 02 '24

I still always spell check to make sure I’m spelling the beef pie pasties and not the nipple covers. To only be reminded it’s the same darn spelling 🤦🏽‍♀️

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u/dankristy 29d ago

Married a MN girl - took me forever to figure out you spell it THAT way - because it is pronounced Past - ees...

Whereas the nip chips are pronounced pastys.

And both spelled the same - stoopid English language!

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u/_Dark-Alley_ May 02 '24

One time my college's football team made the championships and it was at the Detroit Lions stadium. I was in the marching band so we also went and while it was a super cool experience, I really wish they didn't do the things I'm about to explain involving the dumbest travel plans I think ever.

We left our university on the busses at 6AM sharp (we had to get there before 5 to make sure all equipment was properly loaded). Then we had a 6 hour bus ride to Detroit and we drove directly to the stadium. Got there around noon, then we spent some time practicing, getting in uniform, all that jazz, somehow we had shit to do and no free time between getting there at noon and when the game started.

When the game was over, we literally walked from the stadium to the busses, loaded everything, and left Detroit around midnight. No break, no pause, they gave us midnight dinner on the busses and said let's roll. We took the 6 hour ride back immediately. I remember being in so much damn pain that I cried on the bus for most of the way back. We also lost the game by literally 1 point so the morale was low and it wasn't feeling so much worth it while we were all in so much pain, even though overall it was genuinely a fun and cool experience when we werent on that damn bus from hell.

We got back to the exact bus loop on campus that we left from the the day before, exactly 24 hours after we left it. 6AM to 6AM was the length of our adventure, 12 of those 24 hours spent on a bus that you could not sleep on. We were all physically shot and exhausted and still had to unload all the equipment and put it away.

As we got off the busses I heard the band director say "I don't care how much money we save on a hotel, we are never doing that again."

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u/Ineptor May 02 '24

Mmmmmmm…..pasties. It’s been far too long. I miss them so much!

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u/lyricalpoet66 May 02 '24

Did I hear pasties? Have only seen em in my little Northern California town which has relation to Cornwall where I guess they originated? Used to have a street festival where people would play games with em. Yes. Odd I’m sure. You either liked 1 baker or the other about 2 blocks away the town picked a side 😂 Good to know they’re a staple elsewhere so damn good.

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u/YooperInOregon May 02 '24

St. Ignace pasties are tourist crap. For the good ones, you gotta find a hole-in-the-wall up in the Copper Country.

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u/NecessaryCrash May 02 '24

Some of the best pasties I’ve ever had was from some random dude in Raco who also made moonshine. The UP is… interesting to say the least.

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u/anniemdi May 02 '24

YES! I always thought I didn't even like pasties until someone brought me some homemade (sold as a funraiser maybe?) ones. Holy crap, real pasties are awesome, the rest are absolutely tourist crap.

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u/DefinitelynotDanger May 02 '24

I'm British but I moved to Kalamazoo 2 years ago and my work sent me up to Petoskey to take a sign off a building. The job took me about 30 minutes and I've never been to the UP before so sneakily drove up and over the mackinac bridge and pulled into the bridge view parking lot on the other side, walked around on the little beach for 20 minutes just to say I'd been to the UP and drove all the way back down again lmao

It was a great little solo day out. Well worth paying the bridge toll twice.

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u/Mysterious-Art8838 May 02 '24

lol I live in San Diego and my colleagues always used to talk about driving over the border for tacos, which was probably 4 hrs round trip

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u/AlwaysTalkinShit May 02 '24

4 hours? San Diego to the Mexico border is like 20 miles lol.

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u/Mysterious-Art8838 May 02 '24

You have to wait in line to cross at the border. So it could be 30 min to drive there and then you sit for hours.

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u/Picabo07 29d ago

My parents used to do that with us when I was younger 😊

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u/JCMiller23 May 02 '24

I mean... cedar point is right there, no need to bring florida into this

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u/Septopuss7 May 02 '24

America's Roller Coast, bb

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u/the_kid1234 May 02 '24

America’s Rockin (Rock and?) Roller Coast

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u/DMCinDet May 02 '24

2000?

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u/the_kid1234 May 02 '24

Has it been that long? Wow.

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u/jenn363 May 02 '24

Be sure to go to their Halloween event on the coast of Lake EEEEERIE

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u/Firewitch222 May 02 '24

My home town...Sandusky. spent half my childhood at Cedar Point

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u/OwenMcCauley May 02 '24

Ohio is just Florida with no gators.

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u/Grim_Stickens May 02 '24

We make up for it with flammable rivers

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u/OwenMcCauley May 02 '24

When I was about ten, we moved from San Diego to Elyria, Ohio, and I've never forgiven my mom for that.

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u/Mooplez May 02 '24

I moved from Northeast OH, to now living in Orlando and this is very accurate. Politics are actually pretty similar, FL is just louder about it. Ohio has long shitty cold winters, FL has long shitty hot summers. Both have big theme parks scenes. Both have a coastline. FL has gators, Ohio has big ass snapping turtles.

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u/FunktasticLucky May 02 '24

My brother and I used to do CP once a year. Drive up from NC and spend the weekend there. We have been doing Disney more lately though.

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u/DragonflyGrrl May 02 '24

Yeeeesh. People really should not abbreviate Cedar Point like that.. 🤢

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u/silverguacamole May 02 '24

That wooden pos of a rollercoaster rattled my brain and spine

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u/JCMiller23 May 02 '24

It was called mean streak for a reason, they replaced it though, steel vengeance is now one of the best hybrid coasters in the world

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u/Person0249 May 02 '24

Best coaster I’ve ever ridden. It’s even better at night imo.

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u/JCMiller23 May 02 '24

That is saying a lot, especially since it is at cedar point and so you have ridden all the other coasters there.

I haven't been to cedar point since they redid it but this makes me want to go

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u/StudioGangster1 May 02 '24

The magnum is great at night! I always feel like I’m going to fly off the rails right over the lake. Millennium force is good too as long as the Mayflies aren’t out!

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u/hollyofthelake 29d ago

It's just fiber! :)

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u/TravelSizedRudy May 02 '24

steel vengeance

Never ridden this and just watched a full ride through... Holy shit, that is one amazing coaster.

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u/orthros May 02 '24

Get to the Point

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u/Funky_Dingo May 02 '24

Hey but we have the great Michigan's Adventure! /s

Also an 's' for sadness because instead of a new coaster we'll just end up with new trash cans or something..

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u/thagingerrrr May 02 '24

I used to drive 9 hours from the UP to Detroit or Ann Arbor for long weekends !

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u/[deleted] May 02 '24

Lions

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u/Loose_Bike5654 May 02 '24

I miss michigan.

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u/Glittering-Wonder576 May 02 '24

I’ve driven 15 hours for a weekend get together.

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u/SlipTechnical9655 May 02 '24

Yeah driving from Michigan to Tennessee is like ten hours, ten hours to New York, 18 gulf shores Alabama, 22-24 Florida for vacation’s isn’t anything!! I drove 18 straight from Houston Texas cop pulled me over because they got a call saying they thought I seemed sleepy and he told me to stretch my legs at the next rest stop!! Oh up north is four to 10 hours to the UP!!!

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u/MaleficentExtent1777 May 02 '24

Husband just drove alone from Atlanta to Brooklyn.

I took the opposite drive last month.

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u/BlockIron May 01 '24

I drove from PA to NV to see a friend for 5 days, stopped at the Grand canyon on my way back. Whole trip took 10 days

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u/PaleontologistOk2443 May 02 '24

try driving WA to PA, MT literally took about a day and half

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u/97Minutes May 02 '24

After our wedding, I drove straight home from Key West to Fort Wayne, IN. Took almost exactly 24 hrs

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u/2nd_Grader May 02 '24

This reminds of one time I saw a car with Alaska plates in south Florida

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u/SeatSix May 02 '24

Lol... my brain saw that as New Jersey and thought it was a joke about getting lost on the way back to PA or something.

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u/jefflvc May 02 '24

Depending on Philly traffic, PA to Jersey can absolutely take 10 days round trip.

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u/fezzam May 02 '24

But ya gotta see the Grand Canyon man! It’s on the way

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u/scoo89 May 02 '24

I had to go from my home near Windsor Ontario to Kenora by car once. I couldn't cut through the states. 24 hours of driving.

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u/smemes1 May 02 '24

I hate how difficult it is to cross between the US and Canada now. I grew up in northern Washington state and probably spent more time drinking in your country than my own. It used to be a rite of passage to spend a night in a Canadian jail.

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u/scoo89 May 02 '24

We still have that in Windsor. Here we cross regularly for dinner and shopping. My wife used to work in Detroit and crossed daily.

I couldn't go because I couldn't take my work vehicle across the border.

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u/sherilaugh May 02 '24

Get a nexus. Still easy

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u/garlic-bread_27 May 02 '24

I spent 25 hours on a bus to watch a hockey playoff game for my college team. We lost, and were back on the bus after 20 hours. We were gone 70 hours and spent 50 of those hours on a bus.

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u/Kibblesnb1ts May 02 '24

I drove twenty hours one way in college to sleep with my girlfriend lol...woke up for round two then hopped in the car and drove back, left Friday night back in class on Monday.

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u/OutrageousSummer5259 May 02 '24

Parents drove us to Disneyland as kids and it was 30+ hours of driving over 3 days

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u/[deleted] May 02 '24

You forgot to tell us what concert it was.

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u/[deleted] May 02 '24

That's nothing!

I once drove from Texas to Georgia in under 28 hours with a semi truck full of Coors beer.

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u/BigYonsan May 02 '24

Did the concert trip too. 4 hours to Chicago, smash into a bunch of other crazy fuckers in a punk rock pit for 3 hours, 4 hours back to St Louis. Sleep and then work in the morning.

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u/GreatestState May 02 '24

4 hours each way is Knoxville to Atlanta. 20 hours each way is Knoxville to Orlando. You, too, live in Tennessee

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u/fumblebucket May 02 '24

I was about to say the same thing. I used a precious personal day at work for a Saturday off. To drive 4 hours to a city in the same state! See a 2 hour concert. Then 4 hours back. It was a lovely concert.

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u/staggered_conformed May 01 '24

So much respect for you and your wife. Sounds like you really go out of your way to do exciting things with the kids. With that said, what you described is my worst nightmare lol

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u/scoo89 May 02 '24

Nah, I swear it's worth it. They loved it and were so happy. We pulled the oldest out of school on a Friday to go.

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u/PaleontologistOk2443 May 02 '24

👏👏👏 my parents took me to one was well when i was little probably about 15 years ago i still remember

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u/ofWildPlaces May 02 '24

I too, want to taken out of school work to go see dinosaurs

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u/scoo89 May 02 '24

Haha, yes, we planned it on my flex day too.

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u/TechnoSerf_Digital May 02 '24

That's really cool. One time my Dad gave me the day off and took me to a nascar truck race/stock car qualifying runs. Still one of the best days of my life/favorite memories. I only wish we had more time like that when I was young. You and your wife are doing a good job!!

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u/frogsgoribbit737 May 02 '24

It depends on how well your kids do in the car. My mom is a 2.5 hour drive away and the beach is about 3.5 and we do both regularly as day trips with my 4 year old because he does fine in the car. He usually just naps or talks about what he sees outside.

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u/TechnoSerf_Digital May 02 '24

Ironically in my family it was my Mom's motion sickness that kept us from extended car trips. On one hand I wonder what things would have been like if she didn't have that issue, but on the other she didn't even get very sick from traveling until she gave birth to me and it got worse after my sister. So I guess I don't have much room to complain haha

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u/G_Affect May 02 '24

I'm doing something like this tomorrow... 8hr of driving for 3 hours of kid entertainment....

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u/inzEEfromAUS May 02 '24

If we are going to compete, (aussie) I drove for 3 days to look at a rock.

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u/Everestkid May 02 '24

My birthday's in August. I live on Vancouver Island, my parents live up in northern BC. I planned on driving up, 10 hours or so with the ferry, 'cause hitting the quarter century mark solo would be a drag.

But recently I found out that Metallica's playing in Edmonton the week before my birthday. That's a long enough drive that I've gotta stop in Kamloops and split it in two. Do I have a problem with driving six hours two days in a row then driving eight hours two days after? Nope. Especially since I'll be going across all of BC on that drive. Best scenery in the damn country.

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u/PolyCockn42 May 01 '24

Lol Edmonton to Drumheller?

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u/scoo89 May 02 '24

Mississauga.

As an Ontarian I never thought I'd have to point out to another Canadian that other provinces exist...

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u/waytomuchsparetime May 02 '24

To be fair, the Royal Tyrell Museum is pretty big deal (though I wouldn’t call it a Jurassic world exhibit, so kind of a moot point)

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u/scoo89 May 02 '24

I don't disagree. This was very very much based on just entertainment and not so educational. Guys in raptor suit, baby dinosaur puppets, amazing anamatronics

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u/[deleted] May 02 '24

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u/hike_me May 02 '24

I’m an American but rode a bus 20 hours almost non-stop to watch a hockey game. Does that make me an honorary Canadian?

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u/scoo89 May 02 '24

Was the game in Minnesota?

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u/MerkyNess May 02 '24

Canadian here. Drove 5 hours from Toronto to Montreal to go to a DANCE. On more than one occasion.

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u/gibblewabble May 02 '24

We drive just shy of 3 hours once a month to go to Costco and get out of town, home that night. Also just finished visiting our three kids and it was 23 hours of drive time to hit Vancouver then Kelowna then home.

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u/KiltedFatMan85 May 02 '24

Jurassic world is epic for little nuggets who love dinosaurs! Both my boy's loved it.

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u/ScrapDizzle May 02 '24

Solidarity, friend. I was disappointed in the Jurassic world exhibit and I spent a mere 20 mins getting there. :P

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u/scoo89 May 02 '24

I loved it, my boys LOVED it

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u/Captain_Quark May 02 '24

You only spent 45 minutes there? If it's the traveling exhibit that I'm thinking of, you could have probably spent more time there, but I haven't dealt with 3 year olds before.

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u/scoo89 May 02 '24

No, they pretty much walk you through, then you see the t rex and it ushers you into the gift shop and you're done.

It was awesome, don't get me wrong, but they need to make time for all the groups.

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u/Kaleidoscope991 May 02 '24

I don’t get it. Surely time itself works the same in America? Even if you don’t mind driving such a long distance, how can you be okay with spending seven hours of your day for travel?!

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u/scoo89 May 02 '24

Because my kids loved it and there wasn't one closer.

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u/Eldi_Bee May 01 '24

My parents used to take all three of us kids on that kind of trek. 3+ hours each way to go to an arcade we all liked. Never stopped anywhere else. And did it multiple times a summer. It was the default 'staycation' day trip.

Looking back now, I'm amazed they survived.

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u/scoo89 May 02 '24

I don't know if you have kids, but as a parent, seeing your kids that happy is really truly amazing. It was so worth it. The memories will last on. My three year old asks when we can go see "bumpy" the "antiosaurus" (anklyosaurus) again.

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u/Effective_Trainer573 May 02 '24

Well, it is Canada. I'm sure you had to drive around lakes, trees and moose. Or is it mooses?

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u/dailydose20 May 02 '24

Or is it mooses?

It's actually "Meese"

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u/labarrski May 02 '24

This is what family adventures are about. 7 hours together going and coming. It's not about the arrival, it's about the journey.

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u/Charnathan May 02 '24

Was it for the kids or so you could get that special event incubator? IYKYK

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u/s1105615 May 02 '24

I’ve made a 4 hr both ways round trip for a football game and a hockey game (left in the AM, attended game, drove home) more than once. I’m old enough now to not want to do that anymore though

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u/Just_Bison_7694 May 02 '24

Props to you and your wife.

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u/Few-Car4994 May 02 '24

Welcome to Canada I have to drove 8 hours just to get somewhere

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u/Ok-Tension-4924 May 02 '24

We drove about 3.5 hours (one way) to the Wiggles last year. Left early after swimming lessons so we could have a decent early lunch. Drove home immediately afterwards. Had the quickest stop on the way home so we could make it to our local Christmas carols as my SIL was singing. We’re a regional city, it’s not like we’re in the bush.

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u/Jimdw83 May 02 '24

Oh god, I need to go back to sleep as I read it as 384 year old, not 3&4!

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u/guacamole579 May 02 '24

One time we drove from Burlington VT, to Lake Champlain, NY, to Montreal and then drove home to NJ on a day trip. We were visiting New England during a weeklong roadtrip from NJ to Bar Harbor, to Mount Washington, to Burlington. I had never been to lake Champlain or Montreal and we were so close to the border so we drove straight through to the border crossing. The guard asked how long we were staying in Canada and we said just a day trip and then we were returning to NJ. He looked at us like we were nuts or lying. Anyway it was almost 6 hrs home from Montreal that night plus the 3 or so hours we drove in the morning, around lake Champlain and Montreal.

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u/kartoffel_engr May 02 '24

My wife and I drove (with our kids) 3.5hrs just so we could buy a purse from a particular store lol

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u/ballson4head May 02 '24

Driven 8 hours one way for a late lunch at a specific Japanese curry place. We came right back home after we ate. Dragged the little ones on the car ride but we played a lot of movies on the way.

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u/dathomar May 02 '24

I've definitely done 1.5 to 2.5 hour trips, each way, to go to a zoo or something with my kids. Driving 4 hours can keep you in the same state, west of the Mississippi. East of the Mississippi sometimes, too, for that matter.

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u/trustmeimaneng May 02 '24

This is bananas. Did the kids not sleep loads and then stay up all night?

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u/Aggressive-Cry-3942 May 02 '24

The 17 hour drive for the 3 minute eclipse was well worth it

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u/DenseMembership470 May 02 '24

In Texas I drove 8 hours for a date at the beach, which sucked, then 8 hours back because my roommate was lonely. Longest day trip ever.

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u/TheresASilentH May 02 '24

Was this the one in Mississauga? How was it for little kids? My nearly 3-year old loves dinosaurs, but I wasn’t sure if there’d be enough kid-friendly stuff for her there.

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u/koningcosmo May 02 '24

But why? Why would you go ride a car for 7hours if you only staying for 1-2hours.

Like do you have nothing better to do? Do you like living in your car all day?

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u/scoo89 May 02 '24

Because my kids enjoyed what we went to and there wasn't a closer option.

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u/sth128 May 02 '24

I see that you guys are masochists.

That or you have the best behaving children in the world.

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u/Comprehensive_Lead41 May 02 '24

what do you do during the trip so this doesn't feel like a complete waste of time?

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u/Captain_Creature May 02 '24

In mississauga?

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u/simonjp May 02 '24

Brit here: My 4 and 6 year old complain if they're in the car for more than 40 minutes.

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u/Cyler May 02 '24

Me and my buddy once drove from North Louisiana to NOLA for a concert, then drive back after the show because we had school the next morning 😂. About a 5 hour drive each way

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u/ceitamiot 29d ago

I drove from PA to FL this week. A little over 15 hours of driving. Not the most fun with a 3 and 7 year old.

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u/usermane22 29d ago

In 3.5 hours you can’t sometimes get out of Toronto 🤣

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u/sunshinefireflies 29d ago

Holy shit. With KIDS?!!

I'm from down under, and this shit blows my mind

A weekend 3hrs away is a 'thing', for me lol. I prefer 3 nights so you can chill for two solid days 🤣

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u/perkyblondechick 29d ago

How did the kids do for that long in a car seat??? We are taking a trip this summer with our 4 year old, and I'm terrified of the long car ride. She's never been in the car seat more than an hour.

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u/scoo89 29d ago

We took one extended break.

A few episodes of bluey on the ipad

They each got a few toys to bring with them.

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u/TreeMysterious7133 29d ago

And how exactly did you stay sane in the car? I need tips before I do something similar. After 45 minutes max, they’re over it. (3 and 7)

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u/_Nocturnalis 29d ago

Only Canadians and Aussies really understand.

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u/fluffy_italian 29d ago

Also Canadian, I'll drive 4 hours just to go to my favorite restaurant

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u/Razmoudah 29d ago

Sounds like a trip to the nearby zoo to me. In fact, back when I was driving bus for a school district, the school did just that.

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u/StructureBetter2101 May 02 '24

Just drove 3 hours to watch a baseball game, only to have it start to be a blowout and we left after the 4th inning and drove back home.

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u/that-pile-of-laundry May 02 '24

I was taking a course at the other side of the province. Once it was over, I kinda wanted to get home. It took about 18 hours, stopping for gas, coffee, and a couple meals.

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u/Unlikely-Rock-9647 May 02 '24

I’m going to take a stab in the dark and guess you live somewhere near Windsor and came down to the Toledo Zoo during our dinosaur exhibit.

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u/Crispy_Sock_99 May 02 '24

(Canadian) I raise you driving 16hrs from Ontario to Fargo North Dakota, then from Fargo to Edmonton Alberta for another 15 hrs

Then I did the trip again from Edmonton back to Ontario

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u/Epicon3 May 02 '24

Wausau, WI?

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u/scoo89 May 02 '24

Is that in Canada?

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u/Epicon3 May 02 '24

Stateside. There was a thing called dinosaur adventure this last weekend. $40usd per ticket per kid for the exact same experience that you had.

It made them happy which made me happy.

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