"RG" wrote in message news:KvV_b.977$h23.385@fed1read06...
Longest single stretch
ever on one of those trips was from Des Moines, Iowa to Westport, CT in
28
hours
straight through. I had planned to stop overnight in Columbus, OH, but
when I
got there, the guy I was going to visit was out of town. I just kept
going. Look
on a map and see what it was. Those were the days!


Using today's roads, that's 1165 miles according to Garmin's City Select
mapping and routing software. Covering that in 28 hours yields an average
speed including any and all stops of 41.6 mph. Sounds about right. Makes
my butt sore just thinking about it. As a younger guy, I used to drive
about 75-80k miles a year (in a car) on business. Much of that was done
in
1200+ mile non-stop marathons. Probably couldn't do it today if I had to.
I still enjoy cross country driving, but I'm no longer conditioned for the
24 hour runs. Although the equipment I drive today sure would have been
nice to have back then.



I always figured 50 mph average for long trips. Best ever was when I got
out of the Tech School at Keesler AFB in 1964 and another guy and I drove
back to California. With a 2 hour stop in Tuson, AZ we average 63.9 mph for
the 2500 mile trip. But driving through Texas at 3 am I ran in the 100+
range. Car would do 146 MPH. Those were the days.