How do you prepare for long distance trips?

Topic: How do you prepare for long distance trips? (Read 3618 times) previous topic - next topic

How do you prepare for long distance trips?

July 31, 2006, 01:08:50 PM

So how do we all prepare for long distance trips?

My parents live in Florida and its about a 1100 mile trip to visit them. When ever my family has traveled in the past it has not been without problems. Now when I drive alone I like to keep it as uneventful as possible. My last voyage down I was able to only stop for gas, and stop for food only once. I can make it in a little over 17 hours. But i'm sure I can do it faster.

Now how do you prepare for long trips? What do you do to the car? What spare parts do you take for your 18+ year old car? What things to check before you go?

Now I'm not one to stop and sleep and I like to stay up the entire 1100 miles and drive strait through. What food/drink do you like to take along with you that keeps you awake? How do you prepare sleep wise the days before?

How do you prepare for long distance trips?

Reply #1 – July 31, 2006, 02:06:57 PM

Quote from: CougarSE

What food/drink do you like to take along with you that keeps you awake? How do you prepare sleep wise the days before?

you'd want to ask baxo on that. Since that's what he did coming to cat jam 06!!

How do you prepare for long distance trips?

Reply #2 – July 31, 2006, 02:20:00 PM

What to take... another car... just kidding :D

What to do to the car...
check fluids, hoses, belts and brakes, change oil if you feel it's necessary. Make sure you have a spare tire... with air!.. a jack and lug wrench... just the basic stuff.

Stuff to pack extra...
electrical tape
duct tape
zip ties
tools- basic metric and standard set with various ratchets, screwdrivers, pliars etc.
flashlight
It's also good to have some oil and antifreeze with you.

food and drink...
I'm a pen 15e-aholic so some bottled pen 15e maybe some tastykakes and a big bag of m&m's .... great diet, I know... it's good to much though and easy to handle while driving. (But that's just me)Don't forget the grocery bag for trash...

sleep...
that's on you Claude. It depends on how you are. I drove from the Florida border to Maryland on 3 hours of sleep. But when I get in "the zone" I can drive quite a while before getting tired.

How do you prepare for long distance trips?

Reply #3 – July 31, 2006, 04:54:40 PM

Get plenty of sleep and don't drink caffiene. Caffiene is a diuretic (sp?) and makes you pee a lot more often than you think. Who wants to stop at a rest area every two hours? I sure as hell don't.
Music has always been the best thing for me on long trips. The longest I've ever driven was 12 hours in one day. I went through more CDs than I can count, but it kept me awake and kept me from going stir-crazy.

How do you prepare for long distance trips?

Reply #4 – July 31, 2006, 04:59:36 PM

yup, i'd take, (and always do) a good set of tools, plenty of music, and i usually drink gatorade or the like on long trips...not so much soda.
For something to eat, i usually just stop at a fast food place, but since i'm hypoglucemic, food comes often for me, and i have a high metabolism too...

Another good thing to take would be a cell phone, in case you break down, or God forbid, get in an accident.

How do you prepare for long distance trips?

Reply #5 – July 31, 2006, 05:06:49 PM

Hmm, I don't have that problem with drinking caffiene.
Not unless I drink a lot of it. I'd probably only down 1 maybe 2 -20oz. bottles on a trip like that.

How do you prepare for long distance trips?

Reply #6 – July 31, 2006, 05:11:55 PM

im not sure about the Caffiene thing, i drank 3 monster energy drinks on the 6 hr drive to ohio and didnt stop to pee once, or even have to, and im pretty sure they are all Caffiene. if you have a cb radio u may want to take that just for fun, or maybe even use it incase u get stuck somewhere, but i like to listen to all the trucker convo's lol.

How do you prepare for long distance trips?

Reply #7 – July 31, 2006, 06:04:00 PM

[sarcasm]
How do I prepare my 21 year old car for long trips? I park it and disconnect the battery. Then I get into my Neon. I fear my t-bird will never be worthy of long trips.

[/sarcasm]

How do you prepare for long distance trips?

Reply #8 – July 31, 2006, 06:08:31 PM

How do you prepare for long distance trips?

Reply #9 – July 31, 2006, 06:13:31 PM

forgot the attatchment

Edit by Thunder Chicken: Forget the attachment. We've had complaints - go here for details

How do you prepare for long distance trips?

Reply #10 – July 31, 2006, 06:18:42 PM

bring a TFI module and TFI tool, along with a timing light

How do you prepare for long distance trips?

Reply #11 – July 31, 2006, 11:14:49 PM

Baxo DOESN'T prepare for long trips. He just leaves! LOL

How do you prepare for long distance trips?

Reply #12 – July 31, 2006, 11:42:52 PM

hmm, I drink 1-2 liters of moutain dew for every 2 to 3 hours of driving and I only usually stop every 4 hours or so. Bring music, it will help. As far as staying awake, I have stayed more then 72 hours straight while driving to idaho and back acouple of times and I was fine. I dunno, maybe thats just me though. Bring a freind if you can. Road trips are fun.

Oh and if you smoke, I go through about a pack a day, but when I drive as much as 3-5. So I would buy a carton.

Long Trips

Reply #13 – July 31, 2006, 11:56:19 PM

I've made my share of long hauls Claude and I've gathered some good tips from them. As far as sleep goes. Don't just worry about getting a good night's sleep the night before you leave on the trip. Make sure you get a good amount of sleep the night before that as well.
As you're going down the road, don't forget to take in the scenery. Don't stare straight down the road like a lot of people do when they drive. It's no big deal if you do it on a 1, or 2 hour trip. If your going on a long trip like your talking about though, doing so can tend to make you go kind of gagga, or get drowsy.
On a long trip like that. I like to time my departure, so that I'll arrive at my destination when it's still light out.
I like to take 2 gallons of antifreeze mix, 5 quarts of oil, electrical tape, spare (and the supporting cast of equipment that go with it) and a road atlas. Oh yea... I like to take a bunch of goodies to snack on. It tends to break up the monotony of a long trip.

Vic

How do you prepare for long distance trips?

Reply #14 – August 01, 2006, 12:31:07 AM

I burn a few MP3 CD's and toss some clothes and the laptop in the car. I make sure the fluids are all OK and check the tire pressures. I fill the car and load up on junk food at the gas station (I hate stopping) and make sure I've got the cell phone. That's it. I know the T-Bird is up to any trip. I'd trust it before I'd trust that ed Volvo, that's for sure. It gets better fuel mielage too. I will be taking it on a 600 mile trip this weekend, as a matter of fact, while the Volvo holds the driveway down (call me paranoid, but it was while making this same trip last Christmas that the Volvo spit its engine out)...

I used to keep tools in the car, but that was back when I drove a carbureted Chevy. Honestly, on an EFI car, there ain't much to can fix on the side of the road with no parts, so I don't carry any tools (except a small trolley jack and an X-type lug wrench). The only tools I need are my cell phone and CAA card :D