Longest you've driven without sleep breaks?

Meghan54

Lifer
Oct 18, 2009
11,684
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I did a pair of 22-23 hour drives last week, from Savannah, GA to Wellfleet, MA (on Cape Cod.) and the return trip. Did it without sleep breaks, although did make numerous pit/coffee/gas stops/walk-the-dogs stops (more stops for the dogs than coffee, unfortunately. Such is life driving with 4 dogs, one a puppy.)

So, longest you've driven without sleep breaks?
 

franksta

Golden Member
Jun 6, 2001
1,967
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12-14 hours. That's at the extreme limit of what I felt comfortable doing. Haven't done that in years though.
 

HAL9000

Lifer
Oct 17, 2010
22,021
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hmm well the longest I've driven without sleep (not non-stop) was various trips I made during a stint of being awake for 79 hours, so if that counts... It wasn't a single journey though. It wouldn't take 22 hours to drive the entire country so... The longest drive in that time was about 2 or 3 hours.
 

Demo24

Diamond Member
Aug 5, 2004
8,356
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by myself 12hrs roughly from Ga to MD. With a partner we worked a bit over 12hrs, and then burned through the night for another 14hrs or so from Texas back to Ga. That one was rough as we'd been doing some really long hours for the past 2 weeks almost with little sleep. Things got really rough when we got to Atlanta around 7or8am. Was kinda nice to drive on deserted highways, but bad being so tired with traffic. Also no where to get food at 4am, so we were feeling ill by the time we got breakfast.
 

EightySix Four

Diamond Member
Jul 17, 2004
5,122
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27 hours, Dallas to Barnstable Town to catch the ferry to Nantucket the next morning. Really didn't bother me too much. I mean it sucked yes, but just kind of did it.

EDIT: I would never ever recommend anyone do these drives in their life. FInd someone else to do shifts with you or something. If you decide to though, audiobooks are your friend. Music will lull you to sleep, but intellectually interesting things help immensely.
 
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3chordcharlie

Diamond Member
Mar 30, 2004
9,859
1
81
I cut myself off when I dummied straight through a stop sign at about 36 hours of being awake, with maybe half of that actually driving.

Longest continuously behind the wheel was maybe 7-8 hours or so.
 

the DRIZZLE

Platinum Member
Sep 6, 2007
2,956
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Hermitage, PA to to Chicago on a motorcycle. It was probably only 10 hours. I have no idea how people do saddle sore 1000s.
 

the DRIZZLE

Platinum Member
Sep 6, 2007
2,956
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My Little Rock, Arkansas to Tucson, AZ trip was on a 500 twin that I rode coast to coast. :biggrin:

That's pretty nuts.

Mine was on an SV650. It was part of a half cross country loop. On that trip I learned how all the little things really make a big difference in fatigue. Vibration, lack of wind protection, etc. When I'm in a position to own more than one bike I'd love to have something really set up for serious touring.

edit: I can understand the hallucinating. About two hours into the day after my ride from PA to Chicago I pulled over at a gas station and took the windscreen off my bike for no apparent reason. An hour after that I pulled into a rest stop and barely knew where I was.
 
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MagnusTheBrewer

IN MEMORIAM
Jun 19, 2004
24,122
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That's pretty nuts.

Mine was on an SV650. It was part of a half cross country loop. On that trip I learned how all the little things really make a big difference in fatigue. Vibration, lack of wind protection, etc. When I'm in a position to own more than one bike I'd love to have something really set up for serious touring.

The one thing ALL of the major bike manufs. get wrong is the seat. Every bike I've ever owned after the first one had a custom seat. The after market is your friend.
 

the DRIZZLE

Platinum Member
Sep 6, 2007
2,956
1
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The one thing ALL of the major bike manufs. get wrong is the seat. Every bike I've ever owned after the first one had a custom seat. The after market is your friend.

I'm a short guy so I actually had my seat modified by this guy. http://greatdaytoride.com/Home_Page.php

He rips the stock seat down to the pan and rebuilds it with different types of foam. Then he puts the stock cover back on.
 
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ElFenix

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Mar 20, 2000
102,389
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left austin at about 1 pm and got to nashville about 3 am or so.
 

herm0016

Diamond Member
Feb 26, 2005
8,503
1,117
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Denver to Houghton MI. i have no idea how long it took. i pulled into Houghton and nearly passed out i was so tired.

1200 some miles.

i have driven for a few hours to the shop after being up for 30 hours plus on a job site also.
 

RockinZ28

Platinum Member
Mar 5, 2008
2,171
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101
Left SoCal about 9am or earlier, got to Quakecon in Texas about 10:30am next day. Just stops for gas/food. That was a SOB drive and I'll never do it again.
 

x26

Senior member
Sep 17, 2007
734
15
81
I did a pair of 22-23 hour drives last week, from Savannah, GA to Wellfleet, MA (on Cape Cod.) and the return trip. Did it without sleep breaks, although did make numerous pit/coffee/gas stops/walk-the-dogs stops (more stops for the dogs than coffee, unfortunately. Such is life driving with 4 dogs, one a puppy.)

So, longest you've driven without sleep breaks?

New Orleans to Palm Springs CA--1,800 miles--All I-10.

32 hours .

Did that trip a few times in the 90's and before...
 

Doppel

Lifer
Feb 5, 2011
13,306
3
0
I can't go for more than several hours hours without at least somebody else driving. I find myself daydreaming while awake, and not daydreaming like thinking about something else but I realize my mind has literally gone elsewhere with my eyes open and I start to have a mild out of body experience. Is worst of course if music is off, no audio book, no conversation and it's a warm day outside with the sun gently beating down upon me saying "Go to sleep."
 

Murloc

Diamond Member
Jun 24, 2008
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I never traveled much far alone, there has always been people to shift drivers.
 

Vette73

Lifer
Jul 5, 2000
21,503
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I just worked a 12 hour shift and was awake 4hours before that. Got off, came off, and got in the car with the wife an drove from NC to N.VA. I made it about 1/2 hour from the house we were going to but I think I did a couple 2 second eye close drifts.
Even though I was only 1/2 away I pulled off the road to a reststop and slept for a couple hours. I know looking back, esp after my nap, that I would have went to sleep and wrecked if I had not stopped.
Never did that again, I was lucky.