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Age? Gender? Solo or with someone? What kind of vehicle? You can get some sleep in the car if you can put the seats back. I would avoid rest areas and instead park in the car park of a large travel plaza. People do it all the time. Not recommended if you are a single female.
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Been in the large truck stops recently? A good number of them are subject to the same amount of crime as the rest areas. I have heard on many of the trucking blogs all of the safety tips that need to be followed if you are staying overnight, especially from women drivers. And then you have the lot lizards.
I have been lucky so far at the rest areas although they are generally not too safe. I had a guy try to break into my car while I was sleeping in the driver's seat on US-395 , 2 hours south of Reno.
I did 16 hours a few years ago..........1000 miles door to door. It was probably 2-3 hours past what I should have done.
Left at 3am, arrived at 7 pm. Timed it to get through major areas at off peak times. New Suburban got 600 miles to a tank of gas so only needed to stop once.
I drove from Chicago to Dallas a few years ago. It took 16 hours and I regretted not getting a room. It was rough. I had my at the time 6 year old son with me. We stopped for gas and food. But I hit bad weather even though it was spring time. Bad thunderstorms, hail, tornado warnings. lol
I hate road trips.
Remember what it says in Google Maps will be underestimated once you factor in stops. I drive straight through 18 hours with stops about 4 times per year (there & back in the summer and again in the winter). I don't have a problem with it, but I'm different than most. I ENJOY driving. Driving gives me energy, relaxes my mind and I feel the most mental clarity when I am driving. For me, I am 1,000 times more awake during the last 4 hours than I am during the first 4 hours, but I've always been a night owl and hate mornings. For my trip, I start about 7 in the morning and get in about midnight (1 hour time zone change...its 7 am to 2am going west to east). On my first couple trips, I tried stopping at about hour 12 and found that I was struggling the second day (like I said, not a morning person) to find the motivation and alertness to finish the trip.
However, if you don't enjoy driving and it is more of a chore, I wouldn't recommend trying to drive over 10 hours straight. Like I said, I enjoy it and it actually gives me energy because I'm in a happy place.
That being said, I would NEVER think about doing a 23+ hour road trip straight through.
You would be highly entertained researching how bull haulers make their long runs (they are exempt from several regulations limiting drive time for other drivers hauling non-live loads).
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Not smart.
