The itch that Slate scratches, the one that it sort of doesn’t

[KevinRS]

In the early 1980s I had a friend who road-traveled a lot as part of his job.

He taught me that making occasional stops, even short ones, makes longer trips seem shorter. I tried it. It works.

For example, there was a greasy-spoon cafe along the highway in Eloy, AZ about halfway between Tucson and Phoenix. The food and service there were surprisingly good. Stopping by there for a meal made an otherwise-boring trip a much better experience.

Not hungry? Just go to a gas station to top off the tank and/or use the loo. What's important seems to be getting out of the saddle and taking a break rather than just driving straight through.

Most people are likely to try to just push through to get to the end of the drive, but stopping every couple of hours is probably healthier and safer.

 

[Luxrage]

For people worried about road trips, you've got to ask yourself, what is the longest 1 day of travel road trip you make, each way?

This, 100%. I've posted about it before, but your phone is logging every minute of your location history whenever you have it with you (if you're turned it on as most people do). Everyone has a really easy way to look at years of past travels per day and see what kind of mileage they really need. I did this and found that my longest day-trip drives comes up to a little under 190 miles to reach the furthest junkyard from me that has a good rotation of cars. And there are plenty of places I can recharge the Slate if I stop for lunch on the way, which I always do on those particular trips.

Google Maps calls it your Timeline, not sure what Apple users have it under.