Whenever we’re traveling long distances, I always prefer driving at night. Our latest excursion to visit Kath’s parents for Christmas is no exception. Our cat-sitter bidding us good-bye, we took off around 10 PM and I drove all the way through to about 6 AM. It’s great because there’s no traffic except for trucks. At 3 in the morning, you just blow down the highway with your brights on and nothing in your way. No glare from oncoming headlights, and moonlight is a lot easier on the eyes than sunlight. You don’t have to worry about cranky kids because they’re all asleep.
At 6 AM, though, I felt fatigue finally kicking in. So I pulled into the next rest stop, sat back and closed my eyes. The rest of the family didn’t even stir. Police and security patrols were in the area so I didn’t have to worry about miscreants. Slept for an hour, woke up refreshed, and hit the road again for a few more hours until we stopped and had breakfast. Afterwards Kath took over driving for a couple of hours while I got some more sleep in the back, then I took back over and got us the rest of the way. Total travel time, not counting breaks, fourteen hours.
PAD
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Have a Merry X-mas!
I wish you and all you love a wonderful Holiday weekend. I know your 3 oldest daughters will be missing their Grandfather this year. I’ll say a prayer for them and for everyone that is feeling the pain of a missing loved one. Thanks for a great year of blogging and I hope to see you back in Texas next year.
Keep Hope Alive,
Jesse Jackson
A merry Christmas to you and your family.
It’s not yet approved for this use in this country yet but Provigil, available in Europe, is an excellent way to stay awake withoutthe side effects I’ve found from caffiene and other legal stimulants. It’s used to treat narcolepsy and drowsiness caused by sleep apnea but it also is marvelous for those times when you just want to stay alert for a few hours.
I’m not urging folks to run out and try it, but I hope the FDA gives it a chance. I could esily see it abused but given how many are killed each year by sleepy drivers it might be worth the risk.
That said, I find a quick nap will recharge me for at least a few more hundred miles.
Man, yer a bigger man than I am,
Gunga Peter! Driving at night for me is taking everybody’s life into my hands. Besides the strong narcolepsy trait that runs through my family, night driving for me is just dangerous. Wish I could see better at night, but I just can’t. Having said that, the last time I drove that length of time, I got up at the crack of dawn two years ago and drove 15 hours straight to Indiana, listening to an audiobook that I could not put down (so to speak). That book: Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything.
Glad you got there safe, Peter. Best to you and your family. Have an equally safe trip home.
Actually, Provigil is in use, but is classified as a controlled substance, so it very likely will not be available OTC for some time, if ever.
PAD, glad to hear you had a safe trip. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy Hannukkah!
-Rex Hondo-
Well, I don’t care much for driving at all, but working second shift I do most of it at night and agree I like it best. I’m so used to it that I have to think about where I’m going in daylight. Things look different when you can actually see them.
Ah well, happy holidays to everyone.
I hate driving. I mean, I can drive and all that, I just hate doing it; I’ve never even owned a car (a fact which boggles the minds of most people).
Only once have I sat behind the wheel for like 4-5 hours of straight driving, and I’ll be satisfied if I never have to do it again.
And that one time was when my wife (still girlfriend at the time) moved from Iowa to Colorado. Seeing as how my wife has never had a driver’s license (not owning a car, this isn’t an issue normally), we enlisted her mother as help, both for the drive and the move.
I mean, I’ve made several other trips by car to the length of 12 hours, but I don’t know how anybody can drive that long at one time.
My buddy Paul makes the 12-hour road trip somewhat frequently between Colorado and Iowa – in fact, he’s on the road right now, somewhere on I-80 crossing Nebraska most likely, with his family to see his relatives.
But me? Yeah, if I never have to do it again, I’ll die a happy man. 🙂
I know what you mean. I drive for a living and I love the fact that I can make more money driving at night/third shift. I hope for only the best for you and yours in the coming year.
We did the “travel at night” approach for our final flight east when we moved — we took a red-eye. Katherine slept very well; we didn’t sleep a wink and were basically dead.
I’m not enough of a night-owl to feel like I can make long drives safely, but it certainly sounds like a great approach in theory. 🙂
I wish everyone a terrific holiday!
TWL
First and foremost, Happy Hannukah and Merry Christmas and other applicable holiday greetings to all.
Peter, I’m minded to agree with you for a reason I’ve found; if someone is driving at night, they most always know what they’re doing. Especially on the Interstates. I like to think that I’m a pretty good driver (well, don’t we all?) and the moron factor seems to go way down after 10:00 or so on the roads.
I operate better from about 2 am till 3-7 pm. I used to drive I no longer own a car.
I only miss a car when we go grocery shopping.
My wifes rythms are 180 degrees different. She loves the 12-2am time of the day.
My favorite full moon thing to do is Yoga in my backyard.
Happy Hannukkah, Peter
In the ole ATL? Have a safe return trip & thanks for your vocal support!!!
One thing that helps is the appropriate soundtrack. What works best for me is comedy. Came out this time with various Bob & Tom clips, Lewis Black, Bill Hicks, etc. Just TRY to sleep…
The best thing is when it snows at night–not so heavy that you skid off the road and hit a tree, that’s in no way shape or form “the best thing”, no, I’m talking about just the way the ehadlights illuminate the flakes as you go by them. Shut off the radio and watch them go by, like stars in front of the Enterprise. But don’t get hypnotised by it, on account of the trees.
The best thing is when it snows at night
Want to know the worst?
Driving at night on the backroads of western Illinois in late summertime.
Just try it some time – your windshield will be almost glowing due to the number of fireflies smacking it along the way. 😉
Ah, the long drive…
On my longest drive, when I moved from California to Michigan (HUGE mistake), I discovered that sleep deprivation is quite the hallucinagenic ($5.00 say I spelled that wrong).
I made the trip alone and tried my best to make it in one shot. Then late the second night I figured it was time to get a room because there were far too many flying saucers tethered to lamp posts on the side of the road.
Naturally, when I got my room I couldn’t sleep.
RE: These holiday things.
Peter, I’m not one for the holiday spirit and all that but I want you to know that it is my hope that your holiday endeavors excede your expectations, and the same should be applied to your family and, while I’m at it, to everyone here in your online living room. I avoid alchohol so I’m issuing a toast to you all with a cup of coffee. This group, a cup of coffee and hot plate pizza rolls….
Note:
If Glenn thinks he can slip out and not be recognized… Tough titty, buster.
Regards,
Mitch
A couple years ago, before my Dad died, (well, that’s completely superfluous once you read the rest of the story) we drove from Philly to Atlanta for my cousin’s wedding. He went because it’s his brother’s only son, I went because my cousin’s the only other male Scullion until Brian was born. And to make sure my just-out-of-the-cancer-hospital dad ddin’t, you know, drive off the road. Counting the Waffle House signs became a game. So, both of us being, well, thick Irishmen, we decided to just drive straight through, no stops, no nuttin’, until we get to the Sheraton. Drives like that, bonding experiences. Drives like moving my sister in law from Philly to Newport, Rhode Island–less fun than having a boil lanced.
It’s all in the perspective.