JamesStep@gmail.com wrote:
>> Say you drive 13 hours - that's about 68 miles per
>> hour average. Extremely ambitious.
>
> Ambitious indeed, especially when you factor in stops for food, gas,
> rest rooms, and delays due to accidents, construction, etc.
>
> AAA suggests that 50 miles per hour of driving is a realistic average
> on long trips when you factor in the things mentioned above.
This is ridiculous.
Cannonball Baker drove a loaded 2 ton truck from NYC to Los Angeles, a
longer distance, on much, much worse roads, in 5 days, 17 hours, and 30
minutes in _1926_, and that wasn't even his fastest run. The current
record is 32 hours, 51 minutes.
There is a motorcycle club called the "Iron Butt Association", the
qualification for joining which is that one has ridden a motorcycle 1000
miles in 24 hours. Numerous members of that club have ridden across the
US in 50 hours or less, from Halifax to Vancouver in 90 or less, and
visited all of the "lower 48" states in 10 days. Some have ridden
across the US and _back_ in under 100 hours.
Hell, my mother drove from Norfolk to San Diego or vice versa in less
than a week several times in the early '60s, and that included time out
to see a few tourist attractions.
Driving 2500 miles in a car on four lane controlled-access highways in
six days just plain isn't any kind of big deal.
--
--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)
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