Delaware to Cali

Me and 3 friends are driving to cali in July we plan to drive nonstop the whole way only stopping in nevada to see the grand canyons just for half the day. We are going to rotate the driving in shifts so its literally nonstop. 2 people awake and 2 people sleeping and switching off every 10-15 hours. We also plan to only stop when needed for gas and use that same time to stretch/eat/bathroom etc. The date we are leaving gives us about 3 and a half days to 4 days to make it to check in at the rental in LA. Do you think this will be possible in the time frame we made. Any advice or suggestions appreciated!

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

The problem with your plan is that it simply is not safe. You're relying on people to be getting enough rest to safely operate a 2 ton vehicle at 70 mph, when the only sleep they are getting is while sitting up in a moving car. You're also doubling down on the dangers by trying to stop as little as possible - when in fact, on a speed run, you need to be making lots of short stops to keep your body, and mind active.

Even if you do make it without hurting yourself or anyone else, we can promise you that you will be beyond exhausted when you arrive in California - and will likely be unable to enjoy yourselves for several days after reaching the west coast. Plus - half of your group would be on a completely different sleep cycle.

You would do yourselves a huge favor by taking a much more sane approach to this trip - giving yourself 5 days to cover the miles, and stopping for a real night of sleep at least 4 times.

And for the record, the Grand Canyon is not located in Nevada.

As above, proper sleep and rest is a must on a long journey like this. The journey will be no fun, it will be fraught with danger and if you make it you will be exhausted. If you don't want to take your time and pay for Motels then it's better and safer to fly.

Ever tried sleeping for 10 hours in a car without lying all the way down?
Me either.

Not a very good plan.

What's the point of the trip?

Thanks for all the responses... I feel dumb about the canyon thing i was clueless LOL.. Say we were to make one stop to sleep just for one whole night is it possible to make it there in the time frame needed to get there in time?

No, you need to stop and sleep for 4 nights - each way.

Also our jobs all have the craziest hours so all four of us are used to the crazy sleep schedule the trip calls for. I just wanted to know if it was possible without the "exhaustion" obstacle. Also the point of our trip is to get to cali as fast as possible and maybe pick one place we all wanna see and make that the one and only longer stop

4 nights...?

Listen, you're going to do what you're going to do, but we can't make it more clear than we've already said.

If you want to safely operate a 2 ton machine at 70+ mph, you need real rest. You can't safely operate such a machine when all you are getting for rest is naps in a moving car. It's a simple fact of how the human body works - and no, there is nothing about you or your friends that will make you special or exempt from those biological laws. Attempting to break those biological laws means at some point during the trip your fatigue levels will make you every bit as dangerous as a drunk driver.

In other words, exhaustion is not just an obstacle that can be dismissed or overcome.

4 nights of real sleep is the bare minimum you need on a trip of this length if you care about safety.

So are you saying its immoposible to actually sleep for 7-8 hours in a moving car? Because when i drove to vermont I slept to make the time go by and when i woke up I was there! i slept the whole 7ish hours!

Also if we were to stop the bare minumum that would still allow a safe trip, how many days will it take until we arrive?

Getting a nap and getting the quality sleep you need to safely operate a 2 ton machine at 70 mph are two vastly different things.

You can try to come up with all of the excuses or rationalizations you want to, but what you've proposed is extremely dangerous and can not be done safely. There are plenty of habitual drunk drivers who try to come up with the same sort of excuses and rationalizations. What you want to do is every bit as dangerous. Just like it might take a drunk driver 100 times to get into a crash or get arrested, it doesn't mean the first 99 times were safe - you might try to move forward with your trip anyway - and you might even make the trip without hurting yourself or someone else - but make no mistake, there is no way to do what you've proposed safely.

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Also if we were to stop the bare minumum that would still allow a safe trip, how many days will it take until we arrive?

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As we have told you repeatedly, you need a minimum of 4 overnight stops to safely drive the 2800 miles you want to cover.

Ok I am just making sure i heard correctly this is my first time using this site and i feel you are being pretty aggressive and rude about it. I mentioned i dont know alot about this which is why I am prolly repeating questions

And i just dont get why the number of drivers doesnt seeem to make a difference to what your saying

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Originally Posted by Eshav1234

And i just dont get why the number of drivers doesnt seeem to make a difference to what your saying

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Sitting in a moving vehicle is fatigueing on the body. For some it can be boring with the danger of highway hypnosis, especially if all the driving is on interstates, Fatigue is cumulative. It is this accumulation which is the killer. It sneaks up on you without you being aware of it, and by the time you feel that extreme exhaustion, you are way beyond being a safe driver. Staying in the moving vehicle trying to sleep - which by then usually will not come - simply aggravates the problem.

The premise of your whole trip is incorrect. Anything based on an incorrect (false) premise can only bring up an incorrect (false) result.

You may have slept on your way to Vermont.... but did you then take over and do your stint at driving, and then repeat that the next day, and the day after and yet another day. A multi day road trip is not a collection of one day trips. It can be and often is, very trying on the body, even with the proper overnight stops. Don't think it compares with what you have done in the past.

Lifey

I'm going to chime in and agree: this isn't going to work.

When I was young once, three friends and I drove halfway across the country without stopping overnight. All four of us arrived at our destination ABSOLUTELY EXHAUSTED. I capitalize that to emphasize it. We had a few rules - we rotated clockwise every 2 hours. We stopped for food at the normal hours that one would have breakfast, lunch and dinner. If you were in the driver's seat, you drove for two hours. The other front seat person stayed awake and you talked, keeping you awake. The people in the back were expected to sleep. The problem with that was that the body didn't always want to sleep when it was time, if you did sleep you didn't sleep for longer than 2 hours before switching seats again, so we were all tired. Frankly, we were all probably a driving bomb about to go off.

No one has been rude to you. We simply recommend SAFETY above everything. If you take your time, you will enjoy your trip a lot more because you won't be exhausted. If you race, you will never want to road trip again. It's our goal to help folks to have the best vacations and trips possible. We love to share our passion, and that happens to be road-tripping in a safe manner.

You should probably get some plane tickets and fly. The gas prices will probably equal the plane fare, and then you have money for a motel when you get to California. And a far more enjoyable time!


Donna

Both the Navy and the Air Force have programs to try to prevent young people from getting killed on road trips. After all, the govt spent the money to get them trained and they don't want youthful foolishness to destroy that investment.

What they demand is that the sailors or airmen write up their travel plans and present it for discussion with their supervisors. If the plan is dangerous, they talk about it, and the supervisor can cancel the leave entirely if warranted.

You are going to do what you are going to do but if you were in the military, you wouldn't be doing this plan. You're grounded mister! Someday you'll see that it's not because we're mean - it's because we've had time to make more mistakes than you have.

Thanks for all the Good advice from most of you guys... Although We decided we are still going to drive and see how it goes but just leave earlier in case of anything happening to get in our way

If you are bound and determined to drive more than 600 miles a day, please follow these "Speed Run" procedures. It's the only way to do it that's even close to being safe.

I hitchhiked cross country and back. On the way out I caught a ride with a couple in a VW camper, in eastern Iowa. We drove straight through but the sleeping in the camper bedding was good. That is not the case in a sedan. I was 20,and they were mid-20.

The point in the above posts are from road trippers experience, safety and not losing friendships due to fatigued exhaustion.