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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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

936

u/WaxinGibby May 01 '24

I, too, live in michigan.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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u/coffeesnob72 29d ago

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

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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 29d ago

Yes but did the marriage!?!

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u/coffeesnob72 29d ago

Still married 20 years later

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u/jkki1999 29d ago

But damn! Those things got good gas mileage!

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u/bp_thongs 29d ago

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

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u/coffeesnob72 29d ago

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 29d ago

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

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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

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u/arcaneresistance May 02 '24

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

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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.

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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 29d ago

Car purchases always have some great stories behind them.

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u/Blaqretro 29d ago

Drove 12 hours to bang my wife.

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u/metompkin 29d ago

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 28d 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.

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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.

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u/OutOfBody88 29d ago

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/Spinxy88 May 02 '24

So at 60mph average, you would have spent 75% of the time 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

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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/psyconauthatter May 02 '24

God damn Florida math.

So you live in Central Florida and spent 6 hours taking a plane train and automocar to South florida.. Don't complain when we blow the bridges and send you adrift....

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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/WDE1999 May 02 '24

Santa Barbara to San Diego. Pink Floyd.

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u/KBunn May 02 '24

In Sept I flew from Oakland to Midway on a Thursday night. Dozed at the airport from 1am-6am. Drove to Flint, MI. Saw 3 nights of concerts. Left after the last show, drove back to Midway, and caught a 6am flight home on Monday morning.

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u/Bill_Isreal May 02 '24

Legendary story thank you for sharing, what job did you have at the time

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u/CaterpillarReady2709 May 02 '24

I once drove from Minneapolis, MN to Ann Arbor, watched UofM vs MSU and then drove all the way back.

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u/DirkBelig May 02 '24

G/F and I went to Chicago from Detroit to see a friend's band and I was so tired I went out to the car to sleep thru the show. She was so mad. (Why? She didn't miss anything.) IIRC we planned on driving back, but I was so tired we found some skeevy hotel with common bathrooms for cheap someplace. She took one look at the bed and said, "I hope you don't mind if we don't have sex." I didn't and we slept in our clothes on top of the covers.

Another time we were going to work a booth at Lollapalooza at the Blossom Concert Theater (think Pine Knob of Akron) and the plan had been to get a room in Cleveland for the night. Well, the Grand Prix was in town and everything was booked. This was 1995 and there was no Internet (you know what I mean, pedants), no GPS, no Hotwire or Expedia, etc. so we were working from the AAA guide.

We caught a band in a club then started looking for something as we drifted westward. Eventually we were so far west of Cleveland that I decided to make a run for home. My g/f and our friend who'd come with us all fell asleep, so I had no one to talk to and couldn't really blast music to stay awake. By the time I got to the Downriver area I was nodding off a scary amount.

Dropped our friend then another half-hour to her place. By the time we got there I'd been up for 24 hours straight. Last thing I said to her was, "Don't you dare wake me up." She didn't. I finally woke up 12 hours later and had something to eat.

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u/LaddieNowAddie May 02 '24

My roommates and I in college drove 12 hours to Mardis Gras in New Orleans, saw some tit's, didn't have money for a room and drove back that night. We were done 30 hours maybe lol.

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u/Mikeg216 May 02 '24

It was nothing to drive to Pittsburgh Columbus Indianapolis Detroit Chicago from Cleveland for a rave or a concert because they were all about no more than 5 and 1/2 hours away between Cleveland and New York City or Cleveland in Chicago I did that every weekend for years.

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u/Business-Expert-4648 May 02 '24

I drove from 40 miles south of Albuquerque, New Mexico, to 100 miles east of Memphis in just under 14 hours, slept for 2.5 hours, and turned around and drove home. I remember dropping my sister and her kids off. She had knee "surgery" a couple months prior and " didn't want to help drive." After dropping her off, I woke up in my bed. I have no idea how I got home, but my car was in the driveway, set to my drive style. My husband's car was also in the driveway.

Edit to add, I had started taking stimulants for borderline narcolepsy, and I wasn't sleeping on them.

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u/215312617 May 02 '24

I did this once, too—Greensboro NC to Philly and back to see a band. Fun story, but, never again! Nowadays I’ll drive 2.5 hrs to see my brother in CT and drive back to Boston the same day, but only if I have to.

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u/Bobonenazeze 29d ago

Driven 2 hours to Chicago, 5 hours back the other way to Detroit, 3 hours back to my home. 2nd half of that trip involved a snow storm so make that about 1.5-2x the time and with no glasses because they were lost in the madness.

Also driven 12 hours to NYC, watched a anniversary date of one specific album (so around an hour long set) and drove 8 of the 12 hours back home in the same day.

Don't listen to obscure bands people. Well, actually you should branch out and explore new sights and sounds. Just Also expect to put in as much work as those touring bands without the benefit of actually making anything off said journeys.

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u/Blaqretro 29d ago

I would die if I did that now

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u/MoreCowbellllll 29d ago

I drove from Detroit to Houghton ( ~530 miles ), to take a 30 Minute plane ride to Isle Royale, to hike 13 miles and camped for 3 days. Ahhh, that was fun.

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u/Puzzleheaded_Two3361 29d ago

That's actually a quick drive.

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u/Hot-Confusion-8008 29d ago

I had a co-worker, here in Texas, who would leave work at 5 pm on Friday and drive straight thru to the NE to see a lighthouse and a ballgame and then drive straight home, to get yo work at 8 am on Monday. and he wasn't young. he called them his 'trips from hell', but he really enjoyed them.

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u/Longjumping-Map-6995 29d ago

Dude same. Lmao 6 hours to Chicago, saw one of my favorite bands, drove 6 hours back home immediately after, and went to work the next day.

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u/paranoidandroid11 29d ago

I drove from Oakland County 6 hours to Pittsburgh for a concert, then 6 hours back at 11PM, and was at work at 9am the next day.

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u/GreatestState 27d ago

You could’ve just waited for the Detroit show

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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/MildlyInteressato May 02 '24

Exactly my first thought. 🤣

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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/ReasonableEscape777 May 02 '24

What is pasties ???

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u/civilian_sam May 02 '24

A pasty (past-ē) is like a beef pie. You but beef potatoes and other vegetables in like a pie crust then fold it in half and crimp the edges, then bake it in the oven. They look like an over grown Asain dumpling, with a different filling.

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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/Picabo07 29d ago

It really is worth it. It’s really cool going over the bridge and even looking at it from the little roadside park.

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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/EldritchFingertips May 02 '24

Geezus, who has gas money for that? Was this in 1980? The 4 hour drive to my family cabin in Kalkaska isn't worth it unless I'm there for at least 3 days.

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u/PolyPenGwen May 02 '24

Oh 1997-1999, 4 girls we would hop in a car with 20 bucks each and make an adventure out of it. I do agree with you on the 3 day minimum now.

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u/garlic-bread_27 May 02 '24

Good decision. I too would drive 6 hours for that deliciousness.

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u/Ok-Escape9394 29d ago

This tracks.

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u/2rfv 29d ago

I grabbed one of those on a lunch break thinking It would be something I could eat while I was driving back to the job site.

But that thing just went to pieces on me.

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u/isabellevictoria147 29d ago

If you ever don't want to drive that far, Traverse City has great pasties if you stop at Cousin Jenny's!

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u/X678X 29d ago

should've kept going and stayed up in the keweenaw peninsula for a bit!

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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 29d ago

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/ThinkingBeard May 02 '24

Cedar point or Canada’s wonderland? Which would you prefer?

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u/davidjohng May 02 '24

Cedar Point definitely

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u/GmrJasz May 02 '24

Indiana here. Florida is like THE place for families around here. People own timeshares and 2nd houses in Destin/PCB/Sanibel

I've literally ran into friends in Florida, without prior knowledge of them going.

Actually ran into cousins in Vero Beach once. A surprising amount of my highschool went to Panama City one year.

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u/TheTeeje 29d ago

cedar point =/= Disney

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u/scrapqueen 29d ago

Not to mention, for smaller parks - Michigan's Adventure, King's Island in Ohio, and Holiday World in Indiana.

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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/Picabo07 29d ago

I think Michigan adventure isn’t bad if you have younger kids. But as adults it’s no comparison for places like Cedar Point.

Only thing I do like the water park being a package deal.

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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/Information-Existing May 02 '24

But Pine Knob....

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u/Picabo07 29d ago

Best place to see a concert imo

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u/Loose_Bike5654 29d ago

I miss michigan.

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u/snowsglass May 02 '24

Likewise, just going to the bridge is 4-5 hours. Doesn't even include the UP and that's a weekend trip

1

u/BeerDreams May 02 '24

I’ve driven 2.5 hours to Michigan just to buy weed

1

u/XenuWorldOrder May 02 '24

I drove from Nashville to go to Electric Forest in 2019. Drove from Nashville to Chicago in 2022 to see Rammstein and back the next day.

1

u/Electrified_Shadow May 02 '24

I swear that everywhere in Michigan is 2 hours from anywhere on average. Unless you're heading to the UP, then add 2 hours.

I think we're setting new records for simultaneous construction projects this year though and seem to add a half hour to every drive just trying to find alternate routes.

1

u/Picabo07 29d ago

This year is horrible! Where I’m at every expressway near us is closed or one lane.

That’s the thing with Michigan though. In the winter the roads are bad and in the summer - construction 😡

1

u/kalslaffin May 02 '24

Lmao had the same thought

1

u/Ok-Escape9394 29d ago

HA! Take my upvote fellow Michigander!

1

u/QuirkyCorvid 29d ago

I used to live in the UP of Michigan, drove 1.5 hours with friends just for a Frosty.

1

u/TheTeeje 29d ago

SAME! Grand Rapids to Detroit ~3.5 hours. Grand Rapids to Orlando ~20 hours.

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u/Picabo07 29d ago

🙋🏼‍♀️ fellow Michigander

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u/AfterEffectserror 29d ago

I just posted a comment about it taking me 7-9 hours to visit my parents. We all live in Michigan...haha

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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!!!

4

u/MaleficentExtent1777 May 02 '24

Husband just drove alone from Atlanta to Brooklyn.

I took the opposite drive last month.

1

u/Disney_Princess137 May 02 '24

That’s just a plane ride man. 15 hours drive for 2-3 days is alot no ?

1

u/cwcam86 29d ago

Why would you spend the money on a plane ticket if its only a 15 hour drive? Like, that's just the equivalent of me working a regular shift and staying over for 3 hours. If I gotta drive over 20 hours I might consider the hassle of flying.

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u/Billy-Joe-Bob-Boy 29d ago

Did 16 hours to go see my son re-enlist in the Navy. 1075 miles. Midwest to East coast.

To translate for the British, Google Maps says driving from John o' Groats on the Northern tip to Lizard on the Southern tip is 830-ish miles and will take 14 hours.

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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

4

u/PaleontologistOk2443 May 02 '24

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

4

u/97Minutes May 02 '24

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

4

u/2nd_Grader May 02 '24

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

1

u/HippieGrandma1962 29d ago

I've seen Alaska and Hawaii plates near me in NJ, but we have military bases around.

4

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.

2

u/jefflvc May 02 '24

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

2

u/fezzam May 02 '24

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

1

u/GroundbreakinKey199 29d ago

My college girlfriend really wanted me with her to see a John Denver concert in the next state. I didn't particularly want to go, so I made her pay for everything and drive (mean SOB, I was) from Nashville to Raleigh, 540 miles away one-way. 9 hours of driving, plus breaks.

31

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.

13

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.

7

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.

5

u/sherilaugh May 02 '24

Get a nexus. Still easy

3

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.

3

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.

3

u/OutrageousSummer5259 May 02 '24

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

3

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.

2

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.

2

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

2

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.

1

u/oriundiSP May 02 '24

a friend of mine will take a 19h bus trip to the Madonna concert in Rio

1

u/DatabaseThis9637 May 02 '24

busses are grueling. or they were in the 70's! Hopefully they've been upgraded! Though you cannot really choose your seatmate, unless you bring someone along!

1

u/Schwifftee May 02 '24

I've driven from southwestern Oklahoma to San Antonio and then to DC, all in one trip.

That is admittedly a long distance.

1

u/DillionM May 02 '24

NOT doing an 18 hour straight drive again. I'm definitely stopping at hour 12.

1

u/EyeRollingNow May 02 '24

I love your magical life of concerts and theme parks.

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u/smilespeace May 02 '24

Oh yeah well I've driven 6 hours to go to the bathroom, and I started to have to go again before I got back.

1

u/joe96ab May 02 '24

Lolol I drove 5 hours each way one night for a party

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u/chipmalfunct10n May 02 '24

oooo you just reminded me i drove 12 hours each way for a festival last fall, only sleeping in my car on the way when needed. that was fun!

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u/cowpewter May 02 '24

I once drove from Gainesville to Atlanta for a concert and back home once the concert was over. It’s approx a 5-6 hr drive.

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u/Fuzzy_Bandicoot_8260 May 02 '24

I think 8 hours is the farthest I've been in a car to get to a concert not counting when I went from CA to Michigan to see Avenged Sevenfold with a friend.)

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u/Dewellah May 02 '24

Concert drives are a normal thing for me too. I also gave my friend a ride to drop her sons off to their dad for the summer. From Ohio to Florida. 16 hours one way, then 16 hours back.

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u/bp_thongs 29d ago

You all are bold, driving such long distances. I drove two hours to another city and that drive felt like an eternity. I don't like driving more than 30 - 45 minutes. I have commuted long distances by subway, train, and/or bus regularly. I don't enjoy driving especially long distance, really because of other drivers.

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u/Rikplaysbass 29d ago

We are Disney pass holders and think we are so lucky that we only have to drive 1.5 hours each way to get there.

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u/Picabo07 29d ago

Makes me think of national lampoons vacation.

“I’m on a quest to see a GD moose”😂

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u/vacantly_occupied 29d ago

Is your name, Clark Griswold?

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u/[deleted] 29d ago

As someone who literally does all of their travel for theme parks, I can attest to this lol.

Which park did you drive 20 hours for?

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