Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Arizona > Phoenix area
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 08-26-2014, 05:08 PM
 
3,826 posts, read 9,518,547 times
Reputation: 5165

Advertisements

Have driven from Toledo and Grand Rapids back home to Arizona. My experience is pretty much the same. Shoot for Missouri the first day, someplace between OKC and Amarillo the second and drive into Phoenix the third day.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 08-26-2014, 06:36 PM
 
16,411 posts, read 30,397,394 times
Reputation: 25558
I think that some of these drives are optimistic.

Amarillo to Phoenix is 750 miles .... and you are doing that after TWO very long days of driving.

Fatigue puts you in great danger on long drives.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-26-2014, 06:44 PM
 
9,197 posts, read 16,705,168 times
Reputation: 11339
Quote:
Originally Posted by jlawrence01 View Post
I think that some of these drives are optimistic.

Amarillo to Phoenix is 750 miles .... and you are doing that after TWO very long days of driving.

Fatigue puts you in great danger on long drives.
Not optimistic; realistic. That's only about 10 hours per day on the road. What do you think you're doing the remaining 14 hours of the day? I rested. It's not like you're at home running errands and doing chores. You get food, relax in a hotel room and get more sleep than normal. I wasn't the least bit fatigued when arriving in Phoenix.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-26-2014, 07:56 PM
 
3,826 posts, read 9,518,547 times
Reputation: 5165
I can't sleep once I start a long road trip. I've done a couple of two and a half day drives to get from one end of the country to the other. If I get tired I pull over and take a cat nap for an hour. Did one move in a U-Haul and left central Pennsylvania around noon on Wednesday and pulled into Phoenix early Friday evening. Got lucky and did not hit any weather and seemed to time my drives through major cities during off hours.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-26-2014, 08:19 PM
 
Location: Arizona
8,310 posts, read 8,719,514 times
Reputation: 27827
Quote:
Originally Posted by jlawrence01 View Post
I think that some of these drives are optimistic.

Amarillo to Phoenix is 750 miles .... and you are doing that after TWO very long days of driving.

Fatigue puts you in great danger on long drives.
What fatigue? Driving isn't hard. Stop at the motel in early evening, get a good meal, and sleep like a baby. When you get up hit the road again.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-26-2014, 10:23 PM
 
Location: Rural Michigan
6,341 posts, read 14,742,759 times
Reputation: 10551
Quote:
Originally Posted by jlawrence01 View Post
I think that some of these drives are optimistic.

Amarillo to Phoenix is 750 miles .... and you are doing that after TWO very long days of driving.

Fatigue puts you in great danger on long drives.
Everybody is different & the vehicle you're in can make a big difference as well- in a new, full-sized car with a good radio & poofy-seats, I can run pretty hard - I've done mid-michigan to Phoenix in two days, just by handing off to the wife for about 100 miles on the 2nd day & resting my eyes for a while. day one was west Tulsa, day two was Phoenix.. I've also done the drive in 3.5 days, and for me - that was exhausting - if you leave early & check into a hotel @ 4pm- it seems like you're wasting road-time.

If I remember correct, mid-michigan is about 30~ish hours of on-the-road-moving @ 60+ mph time - you can divvie those hours of seat-time up however you want, but shutting down early on day 1 lengthens day 3..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-27-2014, 02:34 AM
 
Location: Phoenix, AZ
6,408 posts, read 9,028,166 times
Reputation: 8507
Quote:
Originally Posted by jlawrence01 View Post
I think that some of these drives are optimistic.

Amarillo to Phoenix is 750 miles .... and you are doing that after TWO very long days of driving.

Fatigue puts you in great danger on long drives.
Very realistic.

I moved out here from just outside of Scranton, PA. Day 1 I drove to Lexington, KY to visit family that had recently moved there. From there I drove to Tulsa, OK. From there I drove to Gallup, NM and only stopped because family AZ recommended not to make my planned approach at night.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-27-2014, 04:53 AM
 
Location: Michigan
10 posts, read 11,510 times
Reputation: 10
Thank you everybody for all the advice. How are the mountains? I was told that driving thru New Mexico is the hottest part of the trip with the fewest gas stations and places to stop. That that is the area I should be the most concerned about. Did any of you have any problems. I drive a 2011 GMC Terrain, front wheel drive with only 33,000 miles on it so I'm comfortable my car should be able to do it.

How much did it cost for the toll roads?

Thanks again! I am really looking forward to this trip next year. I had originally planned on doing it in April buy my nephew's wife is a teacher in Arizona and will be done with school by the end of April so they wanted us to come in May so she can spend more time with us.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-27-2014, 07:21 AM
 
Location: Chicago W Suburbs
487 posts, read 751,390 times
Reputation: 619
Some people get lulled by the sounds, vibrations of the engines on long drives, train rides, flights, etc. I'm one of them. So fatigue, if you want to call it that, sets in on long drives. That's why I would want a second driver to switch off on a long trip like that. Other people do fine driving for hours on end.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-27-2014, 07:50 AM
 
Location: Verde Valley AZ
8,775 posts, read 11,941,712 times
Reputation: 11485
Quote:
Originally Posted by jlawrence01 View Post
I think that some of these drives are optimistic.

Amarillo to Phoenix is 750 miles .... and you are doing that after TWO very long days of driving.

Fatigue puts you in great danger on long drives.
Checking mileage online I see that Oklahoma City is 925 mi. from Cottonwood and according to the drive time I hit it almost right on. The longest straight through drive I ever did was 1,200 miles from McMinnville, OR to Prescott and that one took me exactly 24 hours. It said drive time was more like 19 hours so I don't know why it took me so long! I did hit snow from about Bakersfield to Prescott and that did slow me down some. I LOVE to drive and can do it for hours on end with no problems but I really do try to stop as often as I need to.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2022 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Arizona > Phoenix area
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 12:43 PM.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top