Distances....

[BLAZE]

My brother and I took turns driving from (Nephi Utah to Spring City Pennsylvania) back in 1985 or '86.
http://www.distance-cities.com/search?from=Nephi%2C+UT&to=Spring+City%2C+PA "Non-Stop!"

That (I have to say) was the farthest I ever drove in my life. I love driving but that had me pretty wore
out.

The farthest I ever rode my motor cycle was from (Spring City Pa. to Harrisonburg Virginia) 260+ 1-way.
http://www.distance-cities.com/search?from=Spring+City%2C+PA&to=Harrisonburg%2C+VA

That was on my (Kawasaki KZ-650) I wish back then I would have had my Kawi-Valcan. It would have been
a better (less back breaking) ride!

We rode down to my grandma's house, she wasn't home, so we turned right around and rode back. FUN!

[Rifleman]

I'm sure you read about my travels on the Bandit, Paul.....crossed from Vancouver Island to Ontario in 4 days each way with a three day stop over to see some family. A bit of a sore butt, but it had to be done. I now wish I had slowed a bit and done it over longer time, but it's behind me now anyway. Speaking of distance now, I'll let you know how long my upcoming commute takes once I start work, although I expect to only do it every couple of weeks. I hope to work in oil country in Alberta and continue living on the Island.....should be about 600 miles or so, but that is still to be determined. Flying in and out may be a faster and cheaper option, though I do love to drive through the Rockies and you can well imagine why......tell ya what, I'll take some pix for ya ....

[Rifleman]

Anyone in the middle, ever/never visited the Atlantic/Pacific Coast (Sea-side) in their lifetime?

Indeed I have Paul, when I was married we'd bundle the kids into the car at 11pm on a Thursday and head east,.....get to the coast somewhere around Hampton Beach north of Boston on Friday. Spend a night in Lake Placid on the way home on Saturday and get home on Sunday evening just in time to hit the sack and be up for work on Monday Morning......good times driving through the Adirondacks and crossing Lake Champlain on one of three ferry routes.

On the other side, Wendy and I have take a few Bandit rides to the Okanagan area just for the scenery on long weekends. Great twisty roads and wonderful resort-like area all the way from Osoyoos, to Vernon. The ride in and out on Crowsnest Hwy 3 should only be done on a bike.....everyone who rides would love this one. The bench at 1:20 on this video is where Wendy and I sat for half an hour and drank in the beauty at Christina Lake BC. Great memories on the road !

[Fozzer]

I'm sure you read about my travels on the Bandit, Paul.....crossed from Vancouver Island to Ontario in 4 days each way with a three day stop over to see some family. A bit of a sore butt, but it had to be done. I now wish I had slowed a bit and done it over longer time, but it's behind me now anyway. Speaking of distance now, I'll let you know how long my upcoming commute takes once I start work, although I expect to only do it every couple of weeks. I hope to work in oil country in Alberta and continue living on the Island.....should be about 600 miles or so, but that is still to be determined. Flying in and out may be a faster and cheaper option, though I do love to drive through the Rockies and you can well imagine why......tell ya what, I'll take some pix for ya ....

Flippin' Norah, Ken!..... ...!

600 miles to work!

What does Wendy think of that idea?

That sounds like a stressful nightmare to me!

During my working life, at the various companies I used to work for, around the city, as a Electrical Engineer, my daily journeys to work never exceeded 3 miles....Home for din-dins every day!... ...!

Nowadays, I just pop down to Sainsbury's, and back, on my Bike, for goodies to eat.
I can see it from the bedroom window....(Sainsbury's ....and my Bike).

I'm not keen on long journeys now... ...!

My big Honda CB 500RR falling over onto my leg last Summer, has put me off a bit, and I only use my (more manageable) little, (bought new in 1993), Yamaha RX-S 100 for all my journeys now, which has restricted my long distance, high-speed, Motorbike travel!
(The Honda is stored indoors, and unused at present).

Motor Bikes are still my only means of daily travel... ...!

Paul.... ...!

[Bud Greene]

When I was a kid we moved from Tennessee to Washington.....It took three days by bus.....never riding a bus again

.... ... ... ...!

The size of the USA is enormous!

I'm pretty sure its possible to fit the whole of England just inside the State of California alone!

Four different Time Zones from East to West!...How do they cope with that?...making Telephone calls, etc!
Even the Folks across the other side of the road could be in a different Time Zone!

No wonder the Folks need(ed) monster Cars, with monster, gas-guzzling engines, to travel about in reasonable comfort!

I think twice about the distance involved in going to my local Supermarket!....(2 miles)... ...!

I wonder if the sheer size, and the distance needed to travel, prevents some folks from escaping from their present (unpleasant) location?

Anyone in the middle, ever/never visited the Atlantic/Pacific Coast (Sea-side) in their lifetime?

Paul...50 miles from the nearest Coast... ....!

As a child my folks would occasionally drive from Illinois to a beach in South Carolina. We typically took 2 days to make the drive (at a leisurely pace, frequent restroom and food stops).

I just recently moved from an Atlanta suburb to one of Georgia's more rural towns, and distance/time to anywhere is now a pain in the a$$ (the wallet in my back pocket hurts due to gasoline costs). Before the move, at a distance of less than 1/4 mile- 3 gas stations, liquor store, Burger King, Subway sandwiches, small grocery store, oriental massage parlor...NICE!
At my new location- nearest gas station is 21/4 miles. Nearest grocery is 7.5 miles. Nearest interstate (I-20) is 15 miles. ALL roads within 10 miles of home are two-lane but 55mph speed limit. Damn good thing I still work from home!

[Fozzer]

What happened to Weed CA (O46) Bud?

You were only 80 miles from the Pacific sea-side (Crescent City) then!

You are doing a lot of moving around!... ...!

Paul.... ...!

[Bud Greene]

What happened to Weed CA (O46) Bud?

You were only 80 miles from the Pacific sea-side (Crescent City) then!

You are doing a lot of moving around!... ...!

Paul.... ...!

I just do most of my flying out of Weed. I'm living far enough south to see plenty of those Redneck Dream Catchers hangin offa the double-wide house trailers!

[beaky]

I've driven from NY to Oshkosh twice (about 2000 miles round trip); non-stop (meaning only stopping for fuel) only once.
Drove from NY to Orlando nonstop twice; once solo. On that trip, I then drove from Miami to New Orleans in only 10 hours... then home from there in about 22 hours.
But the longest drive was definitely from NY to Taos, New Mexico... I had a partner, but did most of the driving. About 32 hours total, each way!!
I wouldn't call it "fun", really, but it has its moments. And it's not so bad if you stop, however briefly, at regular intervals, and after nightfall, when I stop for fuel I will park for about 20 minutes and take a power nap.

My wife and I have a retirement holiday already planned, although we are talking 15 to 20 years down the road. I mentioned to my best friend a few years ago that we wanted to fly into New York and then drive to San Fransisco, but no on the main roads, instead using the back roads a go via "Small Town USA". Well he emigrated to Australia with his family and they took a 10 week holiday getting their and part of it was to do what I had mentioned. He decided to to go Oz the long way around and went West instead of East He hired a Winnebago type wagon and set off. They did no more than a couple of hundred miles a day, stopping a few days when they really liked somewhere and then carried on. They did lots of day trips basically looking at the map having a goal for the night but diverting from the route to check stuff out. It took them just over 5 weeks. His verdict was................I should not wait until I retire......!

I concur. The second time I drove to Oshkosh, I decided to stop overnight at about the halfway point, at a lovely lakeside campground near Sandusky, Ohio... after taking a long detour off the interstate from Cleveland. Much more pleasant driving, a chance to see what the towns and country- and people- are really like, and I got a nice few hours' sleep, rising before dawn to do some viewing with my telescope in the super-dark sky there. When I have time, I prefer to travel that way. It definitely left me refreshed for the nightmare of going through Chicago on the interstate!

[beaky]

I love driving but that had me pretty wore
out.

It's a good tired, though... especially if you had a fun adventure. Only thing better is flying all day.

[beaky]

.........His verdict was................I should not wait until I retire......!

Matt

So that trip to San Francisco, and the Highway101 road trip to LA is all in the mind now...and firmly restricted to daily "Flight Sim" trips!

!

San Fransisco to LA via the 101, I have done that trip.......things that could go wrong, well...........We had borrowed my aunt's Dodge 600. A lovely convertible. The only problem was the colour, high gloss white with a burgundy interior. It would not have been out of place in an episode of Miami Vice being used as a pimp-mobile.....Anyway I digress. My wife and I though it would be a great idea to drive down to LA via the 101 with the hood down and having a couple of night stops. There is plenty to see, Hurst Castle for example. So off we set. Blazing hot day, not a cloud in sight. My wife had (still has) long blond hair. So she had a very fetching headscarf to hold down any wayward strands of hair. I was in the RAF at the time so it was a short back and sides. Now, my hair grows like weeds. I suppose at my age I should be grateful, hopefully it is an indication that in years to come it will still adorn my bonce.....? However, again I digress.......did I mention it was a blazing hot day and the roof was down........See where this is going....... Well we got as far as Cumbria about half way down when I started to notice a slight glow above that got more and more intense as the day went along. It was about this time that I took an executive decision and made a left turn and headed towards the I5, I just wanted to get to LA, get some industrial strength after-sun from a doctor and have some fun in Disney. My wife was not to impressed at leaving such wonderful surroundings and have them replaced by said I5, but she understood. So onto the I5 it was. Now as an engineer by trade, you tend to take things that other people say to you with a pinch of salt, especially if it is by your aged aunt. She said, "When you go over the San Bernardino Mountains, turn off the air con or the car will overheat".......yer, yer, what is the old bat talking about, this is a modern car (it was 1990-ish). So I5, San Bernardino Mountains coming up, it was dam hot, a/c on full. Now, the car has a feature on it that I had never seen before (although my BMW does today), no water temp gauge, just a big red STOP THE CAR NOW light. So we are cruising along, outside lain, well in the mountains, still going up when said light comes on and all power goes. Did I mention I was in the outside lane. Now I had the fun of swerving across all 740 lanes (or so it seemed to the shoulder), where the car then died........So we get out, open the bonnet and wait........in the midday sun for the car to cool down enough to start again. My head feels like it is on fire and my wife is seriously pissed that I knew better than our aunt. So after about an hour or so, the car started, but the light was flickering on and off. The only way to carry on, was open all the windows (the roof was out of the question due to my head) and put the heating on full to try and pull some of the heat from the engine. Eventually we arrived at a friends house in Hermosa Beach. The next day after a sorting my fire red head out, we went to Disney. Now we are talking the days before satnav. So my wife would have a map on her lap, I would ignore her and we would get lost, a pretty standard set up, one of which my wife was quiet use to, and I would pay for a while later (why I never learned beats the brown stuff out of me). So, I ignored her. We ended up in Inglewood LA. Now I am a live and let live type person and I do try not to tar people with the same brush, but when you are the only white face in a see of "brothers" it does make the old ring piece twitch some what. Now add into this that the car broke down and was peeing steering fluid all over the exhaust manifold and smoking very well, the ring piece twitching went into overdrive.......I will now cut this long story short it got better after that, maybe you are right though Fozzer, best to stay at home.

Matt

PS, To end said story, a local garage opened up on a Saturday, fixed our car, shared their lunch with us, sent one of the lads to the local store for some tea as my wife does not drink coffee, and only charged us for the parts as it was obvious we were on holiday and the owner did not want us to have a bad experience on our visit to LA.........So no matter what Quentin Tarenteno says about Inglewood in Pulp Fiction, it is not all true....................

Now THAT'S an adventure.

Reminds me of my old Fiat Spider, with the water temp gauge that would flip from a needle-width above Normal to the upper stop if you were to be so bold as to, say, sit in traffic for more then ten minutes. It would then promptly try to kill itself if I didn't shut it down.
It also reminds me of driving my uncle's "Frankenstein" Pinto, with some sort of massive engine dropped into it (I forget), from Berkeley to the Sierras and back, via Monterey on the way back. He gave me a collapsible 10-gallon water bottle and warned me to mind the temp gauge. I, uh, gave it a thorough road test. It did overheat a few times, but it was pure marvelous madness racing on mountain roads in that little beast.

[Fozzer]

Summer is slowly creeping up on me after a long, cold Winter, with the weather getting gradually warmer....

..and my Motor Bikes are itching for me to wheel them out again, and go for long rides around the lovely English/Welsh countryside....

Wind in the hair...flies in the teeth*... ...!

That's what I call; Magic!... ...!

Paul....Meep-meep.... ...!

* ..the nearest thing to a Sopwith Camel!... ...!

[Rifleman]

Call me when you're ready Foz....I'll ride with you ........You can be my wingman anyday ...... .....

[Apex]

My friends wife: 5'4", about 100 pounds, very, very smart. Will not fly, reasons unknown, or will not fly alone. So:

About 15 years ago she drives from MIT in Mass to Miami, middle of winter, non stop, in order to resolve a phone argument they had in which my friend threatened to divorce her (They resolved everything.) I cannot remember if she drove back or stayed here.

3 years ago: Drives from LA to Miami to join my friend, who had moved back here. (They had separated but were still together). Didn't like it here, so she drives from Miami to Tampa, didn't like it there, then to Jacksonville, nope, then to Chicago to see her Mom, then back to Miami, then back to LA.

They finally got back to living together in LA a little while back.

[Fozzer]

My friends wife: 5'4", about 100 pounds, very, very smart. Will not fly, reasons unknown, or will not fly alone. So:

About 15 years ago she drives from MIT in Mass to Miami, middle of winter, non stop, in order to resolve a phone argument they had in which my friend threatened to divorce her (They resolved everything.) I cannot remember if she drove back or stayed here.

3 years ago: Drives from LA to Miami to join my friend, who had moved back here. (They had separated but were still together). Didn't like it here, so she drives from Miami to Tampa, didn't like it there, then to Jacksonville, nope, then to Chicago to see her Mom, then back to Miami, then back to LA.

They finally got back to living together in LA a little while back.

That was a lot of mileage!.... ....!

Chicago to LA....>>>

..that sounds like Route 66, ....with a detour via Miami!.... ...!

Paul...just been to Sainsbury's, and back, on my Bike...distance = 3 miles max... ...!

[BLAZE]

It's a good tired, though... especially if you had a fun adventure. Only thing better is flying all day.

Yep, It was a fun trip. cigarettes, conversation and plenty of coca-cola helped get us through. thats
were I learned about the driving game (I think its called) 'punch bug' if I remember right. When ever
you see a VW beetle you punch the other guy in the arm. So you try to see the car first. That Hurt!

Oh yeah Beaky, Nothing beats flying, eccept for maybe hee.. hee!