View Full Version : How far would you drive, and how often, to do an activity?
Spartana
10-26-12, 12:47pm
A while ago I read something written by Vickie Robbins (co-author of YMOYL) called Square Mile Living. The concept was to use the resources near your home to fullfill all your needs and activities. To try and find new and interesting things close to home. However, like many people in SoCal, I often go much further away to participate in activities I like that aren't nearby. I often drive 100 miles from my home (200 miles R/T) in one day to go elsewhere just for the day. It's very common for people in the LA area to do that and you'll see millions of people driving 100 miles south to go to San Diego for the day, or 100 miles north to go to Santa Barbara for the day, or the 100 miles (approx. 90 minute drive) up to the local mountains and then driving that same 100 miles back later that same day. I do this alot myself but usually stay several days since I'm not working and have the free time. However, one other thing that is very common and, well... sort of crazy to me... is that many people here will drive 300 - 400 miles one way (600 - 800 miles r/t) just for the weekends. They go to places like Las Vegas, the Sierras, Mexico, out into the desert, Monterey, etc.. They leave right after work on Friday, drive 6 or 7 hours to their destination, stay (and play!) all day Sat and half day Sunday and then do the drive back home Sunday afternoon. And they do this each and every weekend all year round! That would kill me. While I am very willing to do the 100 mile drive down to the beach so I can play beach volleyball and play in tournaments, or do other things like visiting friends and relatives (and I do usually stay several nights with my sister), I just could never do those super long weekend trips just to go skiing or hiking or gambling or whatever except VERY occasionally.
So how about you? How far would you drive, and how often would you go, to participate in activities, visit people, etc... that were far from you area. For myself, I'm trying to concentrate more and more on the concept of "square mile living".
I am SOOO biased Re: this. I would say, no more than 20-30 minutes, once or twice per/month, even then, the activity would have to be spectacular! Otherwise, if it can't be had with a short few minute drive, then it's out.
A couple years ago, my Dad and I drove a few hours up from my house (48° 41'N) to go swimming up in the Arctic Ocean:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/59/Welcome_to_Tuktoyaktuk_cropped.jpg/800px-Welcome_to_Tuktoyaktuk_cropped.jpg
Spartana
10-26-12, 12:58pm
Ha Ha Bae - just a short little road trip I see :-)! But then I guess if you live "next to" the state that borders on the Arctic then it IS a short drive. Of course you have that other country (Canada) in between but if you don't count that, welll then you are right next to Alaska!
Yeah I'm getting more and more like you Mrs. M. I'll still drive far to see the sis, friends and play certain sports (which are all in the same area and I can do at the same time) but otherwise that's it. My sister on the otherhand is one of those people who will drive far on weekends to participate in sports. She drives up to a ski area in the Sierras (Mammoth) on weekends to ski - it's a 700 mile r/t drive! She'll drive down to Mexico to sea kayak, or out to the colorado river to wake board, etc... All long distances, all just for a day and a half. NO WAY I'd do that but it's very common here.
Spartana - in truth, we drove Washington -> BC -> Yukon -> NWT, never going through Alaska, as the Alaskan ferry return trips were all sold out, so our clever plan to do a leg back via water was abandoned.
ApatheticNoMore
10-26-12, 1:14pm
It's very common for people in the LA area to do that and you'll see millions of people driving 100 miles south to go to San Diego for the day, or 100 miles north to go to Santa Barbara for the day, or the 100 miles (approx. 90 minute drive)
Amtrak runs that route, so you don't have to drive :). Though it's more expensive than fuel for a compact car, Amtrak pretty pricey these days, but hey it's not easy being green.
However, one other thing that is very common and, well... sort of crazy to me... is that many people here will drive 300 - 400 miles one way (600 - 800 miles r/t) just for the weekends. They go to places like Las Vegas, the Sierras, Mexico, out into the desert, Monterey, etc.. They leave right after work on Friday, drive 6 or 7 hours to their destination, stay (and play!) all day Sat and half day Sunday and then do the drive back home Sunday afternoon. And they do this each and every weekend all year round!
Yea that's crazy. I could see taking a long weekend and taking the train though. Driving is pretty tough on the body IMO.
So how about you? How far would you drive, and how often would you go, to participate in activities, visit people, etc... that were far from you area. For myself, I'm trying to concentrate more and more on the concept of "square mile living".
I mostly stay local as it comes naturally. I think it's good for me to get way out of town sometimes though, it's really a perspective I need. Local seems claustrophic, confining in some sense. I get so wrapped up in my little worries and struggles, lose all track of the big picture, the world is bigger than all that. When I get 2 or 3 hours out of town I can have that (and where do I go, INEVITABLY I go to nature, whereever I am I gravitate to oh there's some hills there, oh the sign says there's a lake there, better stop to see it, to the mountains, to the beach, and if it's a few hours away even the vegetation is different, it's a different world).
Well, for the majority of our activities, those are within a 2 mile radius.
*Farmer's Market
*Bike trails
*Pool (we have access to 3)
*Picnic/Parks
*Church & Church social events
*Movie theatre (a rarity however, during the Summer the kids & I will go to the $1 Family Movies)
*Meeting friends at an open air restaurant for lunch
*Taking the kids to a friend's house or party
*Hosting parties or BBQ's at our house or Neighborhood potlucks
*Fishing
There's more.. but those are a few things that come to mind that are within a mile or two.
When we're at the homestead, it's absolutely crazy how far the relatives will drive to go somewhere. This past weekend, FIL just wanted to drive to a hardware store. We were going to go along (as we had something we needed). However, were just fine with going to the nearest one 15-20 miles away. Instead, we were in the car for an hour to go to the major city. For a 20 minute walkaround/purchase. Yikes. And the same for when they go out to eat. There's some great little restaurants in their immediate area. Instead, they'll drive an hour either way. I guess sometimes maybe they just want to get out of the area. However, the driving is just so much, I think I'd go out of my mind. :) Yet, they are accustomed to being in the car - a lot (and I am not). Factoring that most of the family members have a 45 minute commute one way to work. If we lived out there, I think I'd be as sustainable as possible and plan a 1 trip per week day into town for lunch, shopping, recreation. But.. even living here in suburbia, there's days that I stick near the house (and don't go 'anywhere') with exception of taking kids to school.
I tend to agree that a simple life is probably one closer to home if one can pull that off, ie live close to work, etc and that is how we planned it when we moved to our present house in the middle of the city. I am so averse to the horrible traffic around here (maybe all the Californians who have moved here and love to drive:) that I try to limit myself to what goes on within a one or two mile radius. I rarely get on a freeway anymore as I just don't need to. Most of our needs are within a short distance to the house. Work is the furthest distance at four miles. I tend to volunteer and "recreate" in my neck of the woods too so that it feels like I live in my own little village rather than a huge city. There are some things I like to do outside that boundary (and do on occasion), but the hassle and cost (gas) of getting there usually convinces me not to. We do on occasion (maybe twice a year) drive the 250 miles to the coast for a long weekend. All in all, I like to stay close to home.
San Onofre Guy
10-26-12, 2:02pm
In 1989 an early storm opened Mammoth for skiing the Saturday before Halloween. My roomate at the time and I drove to Bishop Friday night slept next to the car, skied from 8:00-1:30 then drove back to attend a Halloween party. Mammoth is 320 miles from me. For many years I drove it once or twice a month during ski season.
When I lived in northern New Jersey once or twice a month I drove to either Maine or the Lake Placid region both 5-6 hours each way.
Now at 50 and pretty long stressful hours during the week, I don't stray far from home, although in March we rented a truck and drove to Los Olivos, four hours each way to eat a great lunch, have some wine and buy some old wine barrells to reuse as our rain catchment system!
Miss Cellane
10-26-12, 2:41pm
I really don't like driving. If I have to drive 3 hours or more, I prefer to spend the night and get some rest before getting in the car again. It's a 6.5 hour drive (375 miles) to my brother's house, 7 hours at least with stops, and I like to have two nights minimum there to recuperate--driving really exhausts me. Seven or eight hours in the car is the most I can handle in a day if I am doing all the driving. I visit my brother and his family two or three times a year. This says something about our relationship, I'm just not sure what.
Around home, while I'd like to go to the supermarket 3/4 of a mile down the road, it's the most expensive in town. So I go 2.5 miles for most stuff, because that's the end of town with the most useful stores. My end of town has the touristy, boutique-type stores. It's a fifteen minute drive to the next town, which has a big mall, lots of big box stores, a movie theater, and, just opened, a Trader Joe's. I used to get out there once or twice a month, but with the TJs there now, it might be a bit more often.
I could see doing a 200-300 mile round trip in a day for a big event or to visit a museum or National Park or the like. But I'd do that once a month, at most. Certainly not every weekend.
Originally posted by Spartana.
Yeah I'm getting more and more like you Mrs. M.With me, it involves age (mostly), that, and being content and totally happy being at home. I'm such a home-body. Home, is my retreat.
I drive 70 miles RT to work per day :( But since that's the only bad part about my job and living close to there would be way more expensive for a job that may not last more than a few years, it's not worth moving there to shorten the commute. As for fun stuff, easily 3hr drives for a day thing like skiing. Up to 7 or 8 for a long weekend camping or staying in a condo. Lucky for us though, we live about an hour from a national park so we go there probably about once a month or every other month on average. Some people I know ride their bikes there once a month! I wouldn't, however, want to "live where I play". Wildfire threat, wildlife threat (eating the pets and garden), winter storms and fewer amenties make life in the mountains unappealing.
I do think some people get a little too local. When we were moving back from Phx, I looked through our AZ guidebooks and realized we really had been all over the state in our 3 yrs there! Some people who grew up in Phx had never been to the Grand Canyon, even though it was 3 hrs away. There is such thing as being in a bubble, IMO. At this point, a few hours in the car is well worth exploring some place I've never seen before.
Since we live out in the country, limiting driving is an on-going concern to us. It is 15 miles to the nearest grocery store and about the same distance to the library and church. DH is still working full time so he does many of our errands on the way home from work. Tomorrow we are combining trips to vote, to the grocery, and to the cleaners. I have made a commitment to leaving my van in the garage 3 days a week. Not perfect, but the best I can do right now.
Tussiemussies
10-26-12, 11:51pm
Would drive two hours for great activities. Luckily I am in NW Nj where they have a Skylands Visitor Guide listing all the happenings each weekend and they are at the most an hour away. It is really nice to know what is going on...: )
I drive 60 miles round trip to go golfing 3 or 4 times a week. For a little day trip I generally try and keep it under 4 hours there and back. Tomorrow we are going to Chicago to meet my son and his family for lunch. Its about 3 hours there and back flying. We usually fly now if it would take longer than 2 hours to drive. We generally take a trip every two or three weeks.
I cannot stick to a mile radius, but I rarely drive more than four or five miles to do anything. Two exceptions are the hour-plus drive to see my daughter and her family. Sometimes I stay overnight to spend more time with my grandsons, but most often they come down here because, well, because I am the naughty grammy and I have some pretty cool stuff here.
The other one is coffee, sometimes breakfast, with my friends. All of them live in another city and once a week I drive up there, probably averaging forty-five minutes driving.
My preference is to just stay home, so when I do go out somewhere I try to combine doing several things.
I used to love driving and would often travel thousands of miles to visit relatives. Until a few years ago I drove from the Midwest to the East coast every six weeks or so to take care of business for my mother. I really loved those trips.
In my younger years, as a teenager growing up in southwestern MN, I would often drive 3 hours across the state to see my friends in MSP for the day and then turn around and drive home. Now, not so much. I had to drive all over New England for several years as part of my job and now, I'm quite happy to stay at home much of the time venturing out within about a 20-30 minute driving radius for the bulk of my needs and entertainment. However, when I have a reason (like yesterday) I'll drive the 3 hours to NYC. I would have driven back home in the same day except for the fact that my SO was already in NYC and he wanted to spend the night. We have family there so we have a place to stay and there's no added cost for the trip.
awakenedsoul
10-27-12, 2:30pm
Lately I've been driving from LA to Carmel to visit my parents. They go four times a year. They are getting older, so I make the trip. I only drive about 20 miles RT once a week the rest of the time.
When I was younger, I drove a lot more. I used to commute to ballet classes 40 miles each way 4 times a week. When I was teaching, I drove out to Simi Valley once a week and taught 5 classes in a row. (To make it worth the trip.)
Work is the longest distance I drive on a regular basis - 30 miles round trip. Before the office moved a year ago, it was 15 miles round trip for 5 years. Aside from that, most of my driving is very close. Church is 3 miles away, most shopping aside from big mall, is within 3 miles.
When I was still taking my theological classes, we mostly met at a church that was 35 miles from me, at least 2 times a month.
Where I live in the Chicago area it's not uncommon for me to be driving 30+ miles one way to visit friends, who are spread out. A drive of 90 minutes can mean many miles or only 30, depending on the day and time. But 90 minutes also puts me up in the Milwaukee area to see other friends.
One of my jobs is 25 miles away, but it's only a seasonal job that I only work at full-time for three months of the year. If it was year-round, I'd consider moving to that town; it's a nice little community.
My part-time job is a little over 3 miles away. But that's only a couple days a week.
I'm lucky to be living close to downtown in a small city, so I have so many places within a square mile from me: a department store, a natural foods co-op, the post office, my credit union, a gas station, a lovely riverside park, and so much more. I guess we chose well when we were looking at places to rent. :)
Once a year, we visit relatives up north, a 250 mile trip one way. But we hate the drive, so we limit it to that.
A while ago I read something written by Vickie Robbins (co-author of YMOYL) called Square Mile Living.
Does anybody know where to find this? I'd like to read it.
One of my habit changing goals this year was to drive less. I may be overly conscious of things, but the scorching summer heat and wildfires here sort of drove the global warming thing home for me. I have family about two hours away and a few friends in towns an hour away. I have a no holds barred philosophy for visiting family and friends and will take a visiting drive about once a month.
Other than a handful of longer drives each year of a couple or few hours for vacation or X-country skiing most of my recreation is within a half hour drive. Our county has a huge amount of open space so it is easy to get outdoors and away from the basic city scene in a few minutes.
It sort of makes my head spin to think of people driving a couple hundred miles most weekends for just a few hours of recreating. Driving has never been a fun task for me and sitting in a car for long periods of time seems like a painful waste of time. Maybe if I had a Porsche or BMW if would be more fun.
try2bfrugal
10-28-12, 12:06am
I think I could shoot for five square mile living most of the time. If I stuck to a single mile I wouldn't have much of a choice for grocery stores and household purchases and I couldn't stick to my current budget.
We do take 1 - 6 hour (round trip) day trips on the weekends sometimes - usually to go to some place cool like the mountains or the ocean. Last weekend we went hiking along the coast in San Francisco and stopped at a place with great views of the Golden Gate Bridge. Last month we took a long day trip to go to a river near the mountains to go gold panning. Tomorrow we are going to a history museum 10 miles away with free library passes.
I think we will keep doing things like that until we are too old to drive because we really enjoy all of the cool day trips Northern California has to offer. That is one of the main reasons we moved here. As our cars need replacing we are getting high MPG models so that saves on the gas expenses a bit.
Most of my normal activities are within biking distance from my home here in NH. Other activities like galleries and theater and such require a half an hour drive south. Going to the mountains is 1-4 hours each way depending on which mountain I'm going to. Beach is 45 minutes from my house. I'm 45-60 minutes from Boston as well (depends on traffic). I pretty much a home body so I don't venture too much further than the 30 minute drive from my home for activities.
I love the concept of square mile living.
[QUOTE=SimplyL;108432]Well, for the majority of our activities, those are within a 2 mile radius.
Great idea.
What we have within a two mile radius of my house: Biking distance and on the bus route:
Church
Library
Shopping (super market, clothing, house hold, hardware, gifts, etc...)
farmers market
Yarn shop
movie theater
repetory theater
Multiple independant chef owned restuarants
Gym
YMCA
325 acres of wooded hiking/biking trails...state park land
To add to my page 2 entry... I, we, have also been spoiled in the sense that everything we need to do or places we have to go, is right off our back door step, and I wouldn't change that for the world.
JaneV2.0
10-28-12, 12:45pm
Me, I've narrowed my range to a few miles and I'm not happy about it. I can always find a good reason not to go somewhere--a sign of impending fossilhood.
I read a book on agoraphobia once that made the point "A woman confined to her house will soon be confined to a room."
For five years my horse was boarded at a great stable forty-two miles away from me, about an hour's drive, which included a horrible highway (Route 287, for anyone in NJ). I drove there at least four times a week; two of those visits were after work during rush hour. When I moved and found another place closer to my new home (15 min./10 miles), the. stable owner told me she never thought I'd stay there that long with such a long commute.
Can't think of any other activity I would do that for.
ToomuchStuff
10-30-12, 12:17pm
There are quite a few people who can't believe how little I do drive, and yet ask me why I always seem to be running for work. I massively combine errands and since part of my job involves picking things up, I combine them with my stuff. I have a boss, who I think can be a big idiot. He was trying to impress our local Sam's club manager and asked me how many times I shop there a week. He couldn't believe one. He said he goes multiple times a week and how could I not. My response was more then once a week was poor planning. I have shopped for four people at Sam's, at the same time, before, in a half hour.
I average 12K miles a year, in a large part due to this and figured out the difference between my two trucks on gas, is it costs me $150 more a year, to drive the bigger truck, due to my hauling. (in gas)
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