INFORMS Open Forum

In honor of National Road Trip Day (5/26), what is the longest/best/worst road trip you've ever taken? My longest was from Key West back to Baltimore - that was rough.

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Jill Capello
Membership Associate
INFORMS
Catonsville MD
jcapello@informs.org
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It was spring break, 1988. Two classmates (only one of whom could drive) and I left Colorado Springs after a day of classes and headed south on I25. At Albuquerque, we turned west on I40. We reached the Grand Canyon around 6am. After viewing the sunrise, we continued west to visit the Hoover Dam and then Las Vegas. After spending several hours in Vegas doing (what else?), we turned southwest on I15, finally stopping in Barstow, CA, for some sorely needed rest after driving over 1,100 miles. Over the next several days we continued on to Miramar Air Station, home of Top Gun, stopped in Anaheim, stopped at Stanford University, and headed northeast on I80. At Cheyenne, WY, we turned south on I25. When we arrived back in Colorado Springs, we had covered over 3,000 miles.

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Erick Wikum
Wikalytics, LLC
Maineville OH
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That sounds awesome, Erick! My spring break road trip story is a bit different. We were returning back to Philadelphia from St. Petersburg, FL, and we were SO CLOSE to home when we got to the final toll booth and realized we were plum out of cash. This was pre-EZPass days (or maybe they existed but we were undergrads who just wanted to go on a spring break trip and didn't think all of the planning through). We had to pull over before the toll and scrounge my friend's car for any loose change until we came up with juuuust enough to get us through and home sweet home. 

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Kara Tucker
Editor
Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences
Catonsville MD
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Original Message:
Sent: 05-25-2023 22:10
From: Erick Wikum
Subject: Fun Post - National Roadtrip Day

It was spring break, 1988. Two classmates (only one of whom could drive) and I left Colorado Springs after a day of classes and headed south on I25. At Albuquerque, we turned west on I40. We reached the Grand Canyon around 6am. After viewing the sunrise, we continued west to visit the Hoover Dam and then Las Vegas. After spending several hours in Vegas doing (what else?), we turned southwest on I15, finally stopping in Barstow, CA, for some sorely needed rest after driving over 1,100 miles. Over the next several days we continued on to Miramar Air Station, home of Top Gun, stopped in Anaheim, stopped at Stanford University, and headed northeast on I80. At Cheyenne, WY, we turned south on I25. When we arrived back in Colorado Springs, we had covered over 3,000 miles.

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Erick Wikum
Wikalytics, LLC
Maineville OH
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I worked in Silicon Valley at a major database company in Redwood Shores, CA in 1996. I got a new job in Chicago, and a car to drive there. I embarked on my longest road trip, 2100 miles. I was stupid enough to drive with only bathroom breaks and gasoline. California, Nevada, and Arizona were hot and dry, with easy driving conditions.
It was New Mexico that was a challenge up the mountain where there was a severe snowstorm. The gas station attendant told me there was a chain advisory due to blizzard conditions and I did not have chains on my tires. Going down the mountain was treacherous. I saw a semi-truck with its trailer dangling over a frozen river. I was driving about 20 miles per hour with my hazard lights blinking until I got to Texas, where there was a severe rainstorm, Oklahoma and Missouri were smooth travel all the way. Illinois was boring and I keep dozing off briefly. After all, I was driving for more than 24 hours. I arrived in Chicago exhausted and hungry.

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Andrew Acosta
Data Scientist
Milesius Capital Resources LLC
Chicago IL
andrew@acm.org
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My life has been full of road trips.  I guess the longest was right after high school graduation in 1959. My friend Bill and I embarked on a tour of the west from Philadelphia. We hoped to get to Alaska on the Alcan highway.  There were no interstates in those days.  Mostly we camped, but we did have some planned stops with friends and family.  Our trip started in earnest at Grand Teton, Yellowstone, and Glacier NPs.  We did not however get to Alaska.  We did drive to Yellowknife, a town on the Alcan Highway not far above Banff and Jasper NP. Then we turned back to visit Seattle, Northern California, Yosemite, the LA area, the Grand Canyon, and Tucson. 

One of my best memories is of the Glen Canyon Dam site, which was under construction. It had not flooded the country yet, but a mammoth dam face was being built.  It was quite a wonder for two 18 year olds.

From Tucson we pretty much went straight home, making the old Chevy Nomad station wagon (probably worth a fortune today if it was still around) cover about 8000 miles or more in something over 2 months.  It was quite an adventure, remembered in detail our whole lives.

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Bruce Hartman
Professor
University of St. Francis
Tucson, AZ United States
bruce@ahartman.net
website:http://drbrucehartman.net/brucewebsite/
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Longest: Seattle, WA. to Norfolk, Va. via Los Angles, CA., St. Louis, MO., Cleveland, OH. and Long Island, NY. 

Best: Took a week of leave with a friend while stationed in Italy
 Vicenza Italy, start
Mont Blanc tunnel, delayed by avalanche
Geneva, sat in on a lecture on US College system,
Belfort, only French fortress not captured during the Franco Prussian War, saw a Sherman tank in the middle of the fort
Worms, where Martin Luther met the Emperor
Luxembourg, drove through
Malmedy, site of the WWII massacre
Bastonge, another Sherman tank,
Waterloo, saw a working Sherman at an Army surplus store 
Arnhem, more tanks,
Antwerp,
Reims, to visit the cathedral
Paris, the Louvre was closed, 
stopped on the Maginot Line,
Heidelberg, dinner at the O'club,
Innsbruck, stopped at McDonalds
Back to Vicenza

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Kenneth Schultz
Unaffiliated
Englewood OH
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My longest international road trip was from Cape Town to Johannesburg in South Africa, about 885 miles.  There is almost nothing between these two cities, almost a desert, literally.  It was difficult to stay awake.

I tried to drive the entire A1A in Florida, from the Georgia/Florida boarder to Key West, but I made it to Key Largo and turned around back to Miami.  I was just tired of driving.

Finally, I made a few trips from Gainesville, FL to New York with my fraternity brothers.  

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Michael Washington
Health Scientist
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Dulles VA
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