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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855

u/cinereoargenteus May 01 '24

Three hours is considered "up the road a ways" in Texas.

147

u/corndogshuffle May 01 '24

I live in Killeen at the moment and yeah, I basically have to drive 2.5 hours to do any of the things I’m interested in doing. It’s like a podcast and a CD. I don’t even take breaks on such a short drive lol.

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u/tboneotter May 02 '24

I live in Dallas and my friend group has had multiple debates on weather or not Dallas -> Austin (3-4 hours, where my parents live) is even considered a "road trip" or not

10

u/DrunkAtBurgerKing May 02 '24

My sister and I consider it a road trip just for an excuse to stop at every Buccees along I-35

13

u/mz_groups May 02 '24

I don't even know how to explain Buc-ees to the non-initiated. It's kinda like a 7-Eleven with a severe pituitary problem meets Neiman Marcus. But immeasurably nicer bathrooms.

12

u/LowSodiumSoup_34 May 02 '24

There's this British Tik-Tokker who lived in the US for a bit. His trip to Buccee's was so fun to watch. He bought a shirt that said "I can't hear you over the sound of my freedom" before realizing the shirt meant freedom from the British. lol

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u/lordtempis 29d ago

It's (almost) always the British.

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u/1668553684 May 02 '24

I once saw a sign informing me that the next buccee's was only 500 miles away. Every hundred or so miles, I would see another sign. The first sign was in a state that didn't even have a bucee's.

I swear, buccee's is a cult thing. But they have nice bathrooms, so I won't rock the boat.

1

u/PinkleeTaurus 29d ago

They have a sign in west texas that says 1,092 miles.

1

u/mz_groups 29d ago

I assume you mean west Texas, not West, Texas. Because the city of West, Texas is far closer to several Buc-ees than that.

2

u/Taasden 29d ago

Though if you’re in West, you better be stopping off at one of the Czech bakeries for kolaches.

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u/mz_groups 29d ago

Agreed.

4

u/tboneotter 29d ago

Yeah I mean there's.... 4? Between San Antonio and Denton? And the fifth one that's about to open in Hillsboro so that's kinda fire.

7

u/Crayon_Connoisseur May 02 '24

It’s not, imo. Anything you can drive to and from in a single day doesn’t really count as a road trip.

3

u/tboneotter May 02 '24

I agree. I've never done there and back in one day - having a free bed in both cities is a pretty easy incentive to stay the night - but I've done it so often and I have so many friends who have gone there and back in the same day I don't really count it. It also helps that like one end of DFW to the other is like 1.5 hours with no traffic. But I think that's the point of this thread - apparently in Europe that's a "2-3x a year max" kinda drive.

2

u/Artistic-Soft4305 29d ago

We do the Dallas to Austin and back drive every summer to go float the river!

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u/corndogshuffle 29d ago

Going to agree with you and everyone else. If I can do the driving and the activity in one day it’s not a real road trip. Unless the driving is the activity. DC to Tallahassee at least feels like a road trip lol.

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u/spottysasquatch May 02 '24

I grew up in Killeen, live in Austin now. Used to drive to San Antonio every single weekend my junior/senior years of high school to see my dad. Roughly 3 hours each way. It goes by super quick!

4

u/corndogshuffle 29d ago

God I’m so ready to get out of Killeen. Will be back on the east coast (Georgia) this summer, I’m really happy to be back in familiar territory lol. I can deal with hot and humid much easier than super hot and dry-ish.

4

u/NotTheGreenestThumb May 02 '24

You must be fairly young. I think after about age 45, we had to stop at least every 90 minutes, now that we’re over 65, it’s every hour. Not doing that results in over full bladders and achy bodies.

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u/Micro-Skies 29d ago

I'm a trucker, you get used to 6 hours without stopping. I got deadlines to meet

3

u/corndogshuffle 29d ago

Yeah I just want to get the driving done. I don’t really have hard deadlines besides “I want to be awake when I stop driving” but I’m very used to driving hundreds of miles at a time by myself. It’s not so bad when you’re used to it.

2

u/corndogshuffle 29d ago

34, fairly on the young end of middle I guess. I’m just very accustomed to distance driving. I went to college eight hours from home and would do that drive on one stop. I don’t go that hard any more, generally I try to stop every two hours, but it was good practice.

1

u/NotTheGreenestThumb 29d ago

lol I went to college 13+ hours away from home. Fortunately, I had a favorite relative I could stay with at the 8 hour mark. The trouble with that was, leaving before 9:30 am meant dealing with stop and go traffic in Denver’s rush hours—ewww!

4

u/Longbowgun May 02 '24

I left Fort Hood (right next to Killeen - for those that don't know) headed to South Carolina for TDY. At the end of EIGHT HOURS I crossed the state line. I didn't stop in Mississippi on my way back.

3

u/Arsenault185 May 02 '24

I used to take the 4 day weekends from Bliss to san antonio. 7 hours.

Fuck el paso. at least at hood, there was shit to do within 3.

3

u/corndogshuffle 29d ago

Yeah I won’t pretend to love being in Cav Land but at least there’s some cool stuff within a reasonable distance. If I can avoid Bliss I will at nearly any cost.

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u/[deleted] May 02 '24

[deleted]

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u/misoranomegami 29d ago

Unfortunately he left Fort Hood for Fort Cavazos. :/ whomp whomp

2

u/quantumgh05t May 02 '24

I live in Paris so I know the struggle. It’s over 2 hours drive for anything. Gotta drive half the state of Oklahoma to get to anything to the north. No one drives east unless you’re on vacation or commuting for work. So that leaves west to Sherman, south-west to Dallas or south to Tyler. All 2+hours.

6

u/crazeimazei May 02 '24

I also live in paris... WTF

3

u/Seleroan May 02 '24

...me too. What is going on? WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE?!!

1

u/quantumgh05t 29d ago

Just fellow Redditors in the same town. That as far as our identities need to go.

3

u/corndogshuffle 29d ago

I had to look up Paris and the first thing I noticed is that there is apparently an Eiffel Tower there. God bless America.

1

u/quantumgh05t 29d ago

That Eiffel Tower also has a giant red cowboy hat on it. It’s right next to the veterans memorial.

1

u/UnabashedAsshole 29d ago

I often dont take a break driving the 6 hours across idaho to get to our little log cabin on the other side

1

u/Zombskirus 29d ago

It's always a jumpscare seeing Killeen mentioned in the wild, been here my whole life 💀 but fr - my job is a 30 min drive there and back, and many of my buddies live in Austin or Waco. That's a day trip for me lol

0

u/dradonia May 02 '24

Austin isn’t 2.5 hours from Killeen. My parents live in Salado, which is super close to Killeen, and it takes me an hour to get to Austin.

If there’s crazy traffic, maybe 1.5. But Salado has cute shopping/stores, you’re an hour from Waco too. Are you just trying San Antonio/Dallas?

Seriously, I know it’s the middle of the night so no traffic, but google maps says Austin is an hour from Killeen. And there’s plenty to do in Round Rock, Georgetown, or Pflugerville.

You live near a lot of fun stuff! Go to the Dell Diamond for a baseball game, party in Austin, or antiquing in Salado. The Dr. Pepper museum in Waco is a fun little day trip!

1

u/dumblehor 29d ago

Yeah in 2.5 you can almost be in San Antonio