poutanen

Yeah this was my advice about the energy drinks, coffee, etc. It's great for 5-7 hours or so but then you crash worse. Better to pretend your doing something athletic and treat your body and mind to water and good foods.

If you want a mild dose of caffeine through the night, have a tea.

Argo

I make about 6the cross country drives a year from 14-30 hours straight through usually.

I pack my truck the day before.

I nap after getting off work for 2 hours usually then start driving later in the evening usually planning around traffic time in big cities in route so I'm not stuck in rush hour

I pack snacks and drinks in the truck as well as a pee bottle. I usually have energy drinks in that mix just in case.

I get 7 hours on a tank of diesel so I stop at half tanks and try to make predetermined stops so I have small goals in route, makes time for faster.

I have 4-500 high energy songs on my phone to play while driving.

For the kids I bring a DVD player and 6I movies or hit redbox on the road.

Mix salty snacks with food so your not pissing every 30minutes.

If I get tired I roll the window down, sing, look around alot, stop the truck for a minute to walk around and do pushups or something to get blood flowing.

I can typically average 70+ MPH overall for a trip. Vail to San Antonio is 1000 miles and takes 15 hours. I used to do San Antonio to mt hood and it was about 33-34 hours....

Argo

Also. I have been doing these long drives for a long time and know my limits, I have stopped on a few occasions and got a cheap motel for the night. Beats death....

ThunderChunky

QFT

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LiVeRideFcK

Well shit I'm glad I asked. I was about to pack a box of 5 hour energies and just load up for the drive, but sounds like water is the better option. I will be by myself so the social thing wont really work but you all pretty much covered everything else . I didn't think about the rush hour thing so new plans have changed up the schedule a little bit (rookie mistake) to make room for a nap before I leave . Thanks for mentioning that. Just downloaded a couple stand up comedian performances and thinking about downloading my favorite morning radio podcasts to keep me up(great idea). I'm thinking that a quick nap, in the middle/end of the trip, might be in order. Do you think rest stops would be alright for crashing for an hour? they have always sketched me out a little. I think that pretty much covers it. Oh and piss bottle, check. Dope, thanks guys.

Leave Wednesday, snow; arrive Thursday, snow; Ride Friday, Bluebird. Fuck yeah.

Argo

Rest stops are fine.... Lock the doors. I travel with a handgun usually too...

poutanen

I would if I could get an ATC in Canada. Of course that's next to impossible. So mine stays locked up at home unless I'm heading to a range, gunsmith, or border lol

Milo303

First and foremost, do NOT push yourself past your breaking point. Don't be that guy....

I've been unfortunate to have driven under some seriously extreme conditions and do have a couple of tips

Usually tiredness related to driving for me atleast, is more associated with boredom than anything.

With that, I found having snack food like beef jerky to keep your mind and body doing things really helps.

Another couple of things are bring the handy dental floss sticks that you can use with one hand. This will keep your mind going, and you should be doing it anyways ( =

This one may sound odd, but it helped me on rough nights..... I picked up a metal extendable back scratcher and would scratch my head, my back, arms, whatever I needed to in order to keep my senses sharp.

But seriously, an 18 hour push is pretty ridiculous for someone who isn't used to that. I had many 30+ hour days while working for my former company, but believe me, I was seasoned for it and it was still stupid.

So really you should plan for a nap in here, your chances of dry running an 18 hour trip starting at 1pm is almost zero so don't try it.

If you don't want to actually lay down and sleep, 30 minute naps are the best way to go. Any more and you go into official sleep mode and you won't recover but 30 minutes is the most affective nap time in the driving world.

I'm giving you advice but I can't express it enough, do not make a stupid mistake and fall asleep at the wheel. Life is short enough as it is, don't shorten it due to being impatient.

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"When I do good, I feel good; when I do bad, I feel bad. That’s my religion." - Abraham Lincoln

2813308004

A few years ago I did 8000 miles in two weeks. Just drove around the country because the availability of the money was temporary.

Anyway, my tip is pick songs you know by heart—songs you sing along to because it keeps you awake.

Another one is spicy food—I had a bunch of tabasco slim jims and hot pork rinds.

I also took 30 minute naps like milo every few hours—I also did some stretching whenever I stopped.

john doe

I was a courier for over 5 years doing 45k miles a year. Some days I would be sent out of town and do 8 hours of driving for one delivery. St Louis to Kansas City then directly back a bunch of times. Here's my tips.

-Biggest is the 15 to 30 minute naps. Never go longer because you then enter deep sleep and will wake up wanting to go right back to sleep.
-Talk radio and comedy albums to listen to. I'm a huge Howard Stern fan so having Sirius radio was the greatest thing in the world for my job.
-I like energy drinks BUT only the ones with low or no sugar. Also never drink them all at once. Sip them over the course of many hours. Sipping prevents the spike and crash of energy drinks. Currently in a 12 hour work shift I will go through less then a 16oz Monster Rehab. I do drink a bunch of water though.

Where are you driving from. 3 friends and I made the drive from St. Louis to Denver a few weeks ago to snowboard. Went in one stretch ~14 hour only stopping for gas. Same driver the whole time. From Keystone back took us 24 hours because of a fucking snowstorm. Kansas is a giant shit whole of nothing.

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