Driving 2500 miles from Hartford, CT to Calgary CA 38 hrs on maps. Please help

[Txjxd]

I have to drive 2500 miles to Calgary from Hartford to get to school. I am 19 years old, I need to arrive in the 27th of April. I don't no when to leave on the 24th or 23rd, 24th would be 13 hrs a day driving and idk if that's what I should do, or should I stretch it another day. I plan on sleeping at motels when I stop then getting right back in the road. Please give me your thoughts, where I should stop, and any advice you have I appreciate any help.

[Southwest Dave]

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums !

You really have no choice, this trip requires a minimum of 4 overnight stops and the best part of 5 days to complete safely. Firstly mapping programs do not reflect real world drive times. They pretty much calculate the speed limits and divide it by distance with no thought for human needs such as rest breaks, the need for food and others like congestion and construction delays, never mind sleep. (It takes extra time getting off Interstate and checking in etc) In other words to do this trip in 38 hours is impossible, it's more like 45 + hours. Secondly, even if it were possible it, doing a one day marathon drive is one thing, to get up next day and do it again and again is a different animal, fatigue will set in and you will become a danger to yourself and other road users. What you need to do is divide up 4 days of driving an average of 550 miles, which is 10 hours per day and then you could leave yourself a shorter run into your destination on day 5. If you stop over near a major city try and find lodgings on the 'other' side of town so that when you leave in the morning you will be heading away from the morning rush into it. Try and find lodgings that will set you up for the drive with a good breakfast included.

Safe travels !

[Midwest Michael]

As Dave indicated, you absolutely need to plan for 4 overnight stops on this trip, so you the 23rd really is the very latest you can leave and safely make this trip.

Assuming you leave fairly early on the 23rd, you should be looking at overnight stops near:
Cleveland/Akron, OH
Wisconsin Dells, WI
Jamestown, ND
Swift Current, Sask.

Each of those drives are right around the 550 mile mark, and will be a full day on the road, and leave you at a spot at the end of the day with plenty of hotel options. Since your last day is a little shorter, you've also got some flexibility if you get a little later start that first day - where you could adjust your stops to say Youngstown, Madison, Fargo, and Moose Jaw.

[Txjxd]

Thank you, I'm going to leave at 1am Sunday morning the first day I will drive the most then reduce over next 3

[AZBuck]

Please read back over the advice you got. Both responders said you needed four overnight stops in order to complete this trip safely. You are now planning to do it with only three. Both responders indicated that you needed to evenly space out your miles driven on each of your WORK days in order to maintain a sustainable pace that will not wear you out. You now plan to leave in the middle of the night and drive a 'killer' day at the beginning.

You have been given sound advice that will let you have a safe and pleasant journey and you are ignoring it for a plan that will put your safety and the safety of everyone else who is on the road with you in jeopardy. Lack of sleep and changed sleep patterns are perhaps the biggest cause of accidents on the road. As bad as or worse than drunk driving.

Why? What could possibly be worth that risk to yourself and countless others?

AZBuck

[glc]

You need to leave TOMORROW, no later than noon!

[Midwest Michael]

Add me to the list of those baffled why you came on here for advice at all - if you are just going to ignore anything everyone had to say AND are hell-bent on engaging in homicidally dangerous behavior anyway.

As others have said, you are doubling down on the danger by not only taking significantly less time that is needed to complete this trip safely AND by driving at hours when your body will be expecting to be asleep. If you have any respect for the people with whom you will be sharing the road with, scrap this insanely dangerous idea.

[Rick Quinn]

Add me to that list as well. None of us are talking down to you. It would seem, from what little you've actually said, that you're more concerned about saving the cost of an extra night in a motel than you are in having a safe and enjoyable cross country trip. Even apart from starting a 2500 mile drive with a sleep deficit, by driving all those hours in the dark, you'll miss a lot of pretty countryside, and that's a wasted opportunity! Driving cross country is a big investment in time and fuel. If you're going to do it, do yourself a favor, and do it right!

Back to the notion of drowsy driving, here are some statistics for you:

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration conservatively estimates that 100,000 police-reported crashes are the direct result of driver fatigue each year. This results in an estimated 1,550 deaths, 71,000 injuries, and $12.5 billion in monetary losses.

That's every year, and I can guarantee you, every one of the drivers involved in all those crashes figured it would never happen to them. Even the most minor accident would be a lot more expensive than a night in a motel, so why push your luck (not to mention pushing the luck of all the innocent folks who will be sharing the road with you).

Spend today packing, get some sleep tonight, and leave tomorrow. And enjoy your trip! I wish I was 19, taking my first cross country drive!

Rick

[Txjxd]

I can arrive on the 28th of April so it will be 4 days, I booked a motel for my first stop in Wooster OH not far from Akron, after that Idk

[Midwest Michael]

So when EVERYONE who has responded to your post has told you that you need a minimum of 5 days to do this safely - and provided you numerous facts about exactly why it is extremely dangerous to do it in anything less than that - you think we're joking?

Wooster, OH is a reasonable distance to cover in 1 day - hopefully that means you've scrapped the very bad idea of trying to leave at 1 am - however Wooster is 30 miles south of Akron - which means it's 30 miles in the wrong direction! From Wooster, you are still 2000 miles from Calgary, meaning you still need THREE MORE overnight stops.