List of Longest Road Trips
If you know of really long road trips, let us know
In the Mad Trip book, we came up with more than a few lists of trivia. This is another such working list to document some of the longest road trips, mostly in terms of miles per day for trips of at least two weeks.
Don’t take it too seriously, it’s done in fun more than anything. We’re sure that somewhere, some family or couple took a longer trip than those listed. If you know of any that have been documented with videos, media coverage, and/or witnesses, please let us know. We want to come up with some interesting lists that show some of the folks who have taken the craziest road trips.
There are different lists for one driver versus two or more. For a couple categories, we dropped the 14-day trip requirement to as low as nine days due to the Wade family, who averaged about 900 miles a day on trips of nine and 11 days. That is a truly remarkable, insane pace, and had to be on this site somewhere.
It’s obviously harder on one driver to maintain the pace as it would be two or more. And when you add dealing with children, the trip can become even more challenging for one adult, depending on their age and temperament. Though with his 2013 trip, Kevin found that his kids traveled better than most adults he had been with on road trips.
Then there is the definition of what constitutes a road trip. Most agree that they should be continuous, with participants not resting for more than a few days. If you ask to define a few days, we’d say three at the most. When you drive from California to Florida, then stay at a relative’s house for a week before returning, that is really two separate road trips, not one. If you just stayed for two or three days before hitting the road again, that would count as one trip.
That said, we did include the Swiss couple who has been traveling in one vehicle since 1984 at the end of this list, even though they have rested in one place for longer than a few days. Driving more than 400,000 miles is impressive, even if you have to rest for a few weeks now and then. Many truck drivers have driven even more miles in their careers. Should we include the driver who racked up more than 10 million miles? While impressive, we tend to stay away from career drivers doing this for their jobs in favor of those doing this for the experience. Though some attempts to set a record are included.
Most agree that participants should stop at attractions, otherwise what is the point of the journey unless you just want to reach Aunt Grace’s house?
One more thing, if a driver or participant has a Wikipedia page, we provide links.
Enough rules. Let’s get to it.
Most miles per day, family trip of 9+ days, one driver, two+ kids
- William Wade, 38, Cherri Wade, 37, Pete Wade, 12, Ben “Coach” Wade, 10
Dates: June 24, 1982-July 2, 1982
Length: Nine days, 8,011 miles
Average miles per day: 890.1
Route: Los Angeles-Wyoming-Nebraska-New York-Tennessee-Florida-Los Angeles
Vehicle: White Buick Regal
Other: Cherri was a backup driver, but William did all this driving. Pete, an award-winning film director and editor, says his father “never stayed in one place for more than one night. We always kept pushing forward! And I’ve adopted that mentality for my road tripping.” More details at this Quora site. - Kevin Shay, 54, Preston Shay, 13, McKenna Shay, 10
Dates: June 29, 2013-July 15, 2013
Length: 16.6875 days [16 days, 990 minutes], 6,950 miles
Average miles per day: 416.5
Route: Maryland-Illinois-Dakotas-California-Texas-Tennessee-Maryland
Vehicle: 2001 Honda CR-V called Trusty Rusty
Other: No backup driver. This is the unofficial record for this category among trips of more than two weeks. Drove all night three nights. Documented in videos and a book.
Most miles per day, family trip of 14+ days, two+ drivers, two+ kids
- David Kravetz, daughter Marissa Noe, her children ages 7, 11, 12
Dates: Jan. 28, 2020-Feb. 18, 2020
Length: 23 days, 8,154 miles
Average miles per day: 354.5
Route: Kentucky-Nebraska-Montana-Washington-California-Arizona-Texas-Kentucky
Other: David Kravetz estimates he has traveled more than two million road miles, including two other cross-country trips of more than 8,000 miles. More details on this one are in the book, Less Beaten Paths of America: 8154: An Epic Family Road Trip Across America, and this blog, Less Beaten Paths. - Amy, husband, kids ages 9 and 11
Dates: 2018
Length: 21 days, 6,600 miles
Average miles per day: 314.3
Route: New York-Illinois-Nebraska-South Dakota-Montana-Wyoming-Arizona-Missouri-Ohio-New York
Vehicle: Minivan
Other: More details on Quora. - Evie Altman, Scott Orbach, three daughters
Dates: 2013
Length: 23 days, 7,200 miles
Average miles per day: 313
Route: Maryland-California-Colorado-Utah-South Dakota-Minnesota-Tennessee-Maryland
Other: Documented in Trip Advisor and email contact. Email from Altman said in part: “We did many quirky things along the way (Spam Museum, John Dillinger Museum, Duct Tape Parade, etc.) and saw great outdoor art installations in South Dakota, Colorado, and Tennessee. The kids could have done without the driving, but they had a blast and I think that when they look back at this trip, they will think of it as one of our most exciting.” - Herb Gaidus, Lorry Gaidus, Andrew, Tommy
Dates: July 10, 2001-Aug. 5, 2001
Length: 27 days, 7,319 miles
Average miles per day: 271.1
Route: New Jersey-Ohio-Iowa-Colorado-Washington-Alberta-Saskatchewan-Ohio-NJ
Vehicle: Lazy Daze RV
Other: One of many trips this family has taken. More details are at their website.
Most miles per day, trip of 14+ days, one driver, no kids
- David Graham
Date: 2000
Length: 28 days, 17,000 miles
Average miles per day: 607.1
Route: California-Oregon-Washington-Idaho-Montana-Wyoming-Dakotas-Minnesota-Wisconsin-Illinois-Iowa-Nebraska-Kansas-Colorado-Utah-Nevada
Vehicle: Rented Chrysler Sebring
Other: More details are on this Quora site. - G.S. Manikkuttan
Dates: Aug. 13, 2023-Nov. 19, 2023
Length: 99 days, 43,003 miles
Average miles per day: 434.4
Route: Across 25 states in India
Vehicle: White car with messages on outside, “Guinness World Record Attempt, Longest Journey by Car in a Single Country.”
Other: Documented by videos and Guinness World Records. - Gerard van den Akker
Dates: 2019
Length: 28 days, 7,891 miles
Average miles per day: 281.9
Route: Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Spain, Morocco
Vehicle: NA
Other: More details on Quora.
Most miles per day, trip of 11+ days, two+ drivers, no kids
- Pete Wade, 37, Jack Hooper, 30
Date: 2007
Length: 11 days, 10,182 miles
Average miles per day: 925.6
Route: Los Angeles-Oregon-Seattle-Vancouver-Edmonton-Niagara Falls-Washington, D.C.-LA.
Vehicle: Nissan 350Z
Other: Wade also took a 12-day trip entirely in the U.S. in 1990 with friends that covered 9,626 miles [802.2 per day]. More details are on this Quora site. - Tim Cahill, Garry Sowerby
Dates: Sept. 29-Oct. 22, 1987
Length: 23.9465 days [23 days, 22 hours, 43 minutes], 14,739 miles
Average miles per day: 615.5
Route: Argentina-Peru-Ecuador-Colombia-Panama-Costa Rica-Nicaragua-Honduras-Guatemala-Mexico-Texas-Dakotas-Manitoba-Saskatchewan-Alberta-British Columbia-Yukon-Alaska
Vehicle: 1988 GMC Sierra K3500 truck donated by General Motors
Other: Set a Guinness World Record for fastest drive along Pan-American Highway from the southern tip of South America to the northern tip of North America. Detailed in Popular Mechanics article, Cahill’s book, Road Fever, and Sowerby’s accounts. Stopped at gunpoint 17 times in three days in Colombia, bribed border guards with milkshakes, drove through many muddy, mountainous roads. - Joey Kincer, 27, Tom, Steve
Dates: July 17, 2005-Aug. 13, 2005
Length: 27.5 days, 12,537 miles
Average miles per day: 455.9
Route: California-Nevada-Colorado-Texas-Florida-Maine-Ohio-Dakotas-Washington state-California
Vehicle: Rented 2005 Chevrolet Uplander
Other: Covered all 48 contiguous states. Photos and more details are at kinless.com/roadtrip.asp. - Chelsi Savage, friend
Dates: September 2016
Length: 30 days, 12,172 miles
Average miles per day: 405.7
Route: Indiana-Colorado-California-Washington-Alberta-Saskatchewan-Montana-Wyoming-S. Dakota-Tennessee-Indiana
Vehicle: 2012 Toyota Corolla
Other: The friend drove only a few days. Documented on Roadtrippers. - Greg Cayea, Heather Thompson
Dates: July-November 2016
Length: 122 days, 36,124 miles
Average miles per day: 296.1
Route: All 48 states in contiguous U.S. starting with Arizona
Vehicle: 2009 Subaru Outback
Other: Stopped for two weeks. Documented in media, including here and here. Also detailed in book by Cayea called Vagabond Secrets. Held Guinness record for most miles in one country until broken in 2023. - Ken Wagar and wife
Dates: 2014
Length: 58 days, 15,266 miles
Average miles per day: 263.2
Route: Florida-Texas-California-Washington-Montana-Minnesota-Ontario-Michigan-Ohio-Kentucky-Florida
Vehicle: Honda Fit
Other: Retirement celebration and homage to Ken Wagar’s father, who took his family on many trips in station wagons starting in the 1950s. Documented on Roadtrippers. - Richard Meredith, Phil Colley
Dates: June 25, 2007
Length: 49 days, 9,942 miles
Average miles per day: 202.9
Route: Japan-Korea-China-Kazakhstan-Krygyzstan-Uzbekistan-Turkmenistan-Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey-Bulgaria-Serbia-Croatia-Slovenia-Austria-Germany-France-England
Vehicle: Aston Martin V8 Vantage
Other: First group to drive the full length of the Asian Highway. Details in media reports. - Horatio Nelson Jackson, Sewell Crocker, dog named Bud
Dates: May 23-July 26, 1903
Length: 63.52 days [63 days, 12.5 hours], estimated 4,500 miles
Average miles per day: 70.8
Route: San Francisco-Oregon-Idaho-Wyoming-Nebraska-Iowa-Illinois-Michigan-Ohio-Pennsylvania-New York City
Vehicle: 1903 Winton touring car with 20-horsepower
Other: First team to drive a vehicle all the way across the lower United States. Most roads west of Nebraska in 1903 were dirt and unmarked so mileage was much longer back then than using modern highways. Details are in Ken Burn’s documentary, Horatio’s Drive, and other reports.
Fastest time reaching all 48 states in contiguous U.S.
- Jay Lowe, Ted Jacobs, Kerry Maples
Dates: July 14–18, 2019
Length: 3.934 days, [3 days, 1,345 minutes], 6,619 miles
Average miles per day: 1,682.5
Route: Vermont-New York-West Virginia-Ohio-Tennessee-Georgia-Florida-Louisiana-Missouri- Illinois-Wisconsin-Dakotas-Nebraska-Kansas-Oklahoma-Colorado-Texas-Arizona-California-Nevada-Utah-Wyoming-Idaho-Montana-Oregon-Washington
Vehicle: Rented van
Other: Beat the Frey-Kersbergen team’s previous record for reaching all 48 states by about 18 minutes. Only stopped for gas and bathroom breaks. Documented on this Journo site and media coverage. - John Frey, Andrew Frey, Michelle Kersbergen
Dates: May 15-19, 2015
Length: 3.9465 days, [3 days, 1,363 minutes], 6,688 miles
Average miles per day: 1,694.7
Route: Vermont-New York-West Virginia-Carolinas-Georgia-Florida-Louisiana-Missouri- Illinois-Indiana-Ohio-Wisconsin-Dakotas-Montana-Wyoming-Nebraska-Colorado-Kansas-Oklahoma-Texas-Arizona-California-Nevada-Utah-Idaho-Oregon-Washington
Vehicle: Rented van
Other: Set record until broken by Lowe team. Documented through videos, Google maps, and this Facebook page. - Peter McConville, Pavel Krechetov, Abdullahi Salah
Dates: May 2022
Length: 4.9 days [4 days, 1,300 minutes], 7,400 miles
Average miles per day: 1,510.2
Route: Vermont-New York-West Virginia-Ohio-Tennessee-Georgia-Texas-Missouri- Wisconsin-Dakotas-Montana-Nebraska-Colorado-Utah-Idaho-Nevada-California-Oregon-Washington. Took flight from Seattle to Alaska, then another flight to Hawaii.
Vehicle: Rented 2022 Ford Escape
Other: Set record for reaching all 50 states of five days, 13 hours, ten minutes. This notation only counts time in contiguous U.S. Stopped at a few attractions like Grand Canyon and Mount Rushmore. Documented in the media, videos, and this website.
Most total miles
- Emil and Liliana Schmid, Switzerland
Dates: 1984-?
Length: 460,476 miles across 186 countries, stopped numerous times longer than three days
Route: Multiple countries
Vehicle: 1982 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ60
Other: Set a Guinness World Record for longest journey and kept going. They’ve stopped for weeks at a time, but then find somewhere else to go. More details at their website.
Kevin Shay is a longtime journalist and author of several books, including It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Trip.
