I’m going on a 8 hour drive in a 2012 equinox for the first time, longest drive before was 2 hours back when I was a newer driver.
The car does not have any smart phone type features like the newer cars, it will connect the phone for calls but that is it, there is a charging port but I’m guessing its usb2 so it won’t be all that fast and may not keep up with the phone, I have a battery bank and plenty of cables though, I won’t be stopping for those Bluetooth FM cigarette plug things because I’ll just being doing this the one time and it doesn’t seem useful enough to me.
I am very confident behind the wheel but just curious if anyone has any tips I haven’t thought about before.
I don’t think I’ll get very tired driving but I am known to get a slump of energy a couple hours after lunch but I don’t think I’ll eat a very big lunch so I may not have much of a slump.
I am driving this car back, I came here in a truck with another driver, something interesting I noticed between trucks vs small cars is that the taller trucks leave you less exhausted and so you can drive longer with an easier time because there is a perceived slower speed of things moving in and out past your field of vision.
Thankyou in advance!
Update after the trip: I had to drive through the literal worst possible conditions, late night and with heavy rain, but it went super good, the car I was driving handled the rain no problem and I had loads of fun driving, I did not use the radio at all because I figured if driving tiredness was about stamina then less stimulation should keep my going longer, tiredness was not an issue and I did sip some mountain dew the whole time I realized that I could just not have a energy drop after the caffeine weara off by just drip feeding the drink basically lol, that was a great idea as I had plenty of energy the whole time and slept well after. Basically I just enjoyed babbling to myself and playing my mind radio. I think in hr future I am going to drive more because this was actually more fun than being a passenger in the car. I did stop about every 2 hours as I was coordinating dinner and stops for the other car I was following which had a dog and grandma and dad.
Embrace the analogue radio.
Do take rest stops - you won’t realise you’re tired until it’s too late.
Tuning in local radio stations while I’m driving through new places can be really cool. Also if you’re a sports fan there might be a ballgame on - good way to entertain yourself for like 3 hours.
Amen to rest stops. Every 2 hours is a good rule of thumb, just to reset your focus if nothing else.