One shot non-stop driving to east coast - Anyone done it?
 

I know the drive from West-East/vice-versa has been discussed many times, but how about a non-stop version?

A buddy took a contract job out in the East, and long story short, the 5mth contract turned into a 16mth project.

He's gonna fly back here and do a non-stop (other than food/drink/washroom) driving from here to Toronto to bring his car there as he'd have another 10mth or so there if not longer.

I'm interested in tagging along as I had a planned meeting in Chicago and we can rotate on the driver seat.

Any recommended route or maybe routes to avoid? Also, anything, in particular, we should look for in term of prep (car or otherwise) for a 40+hr drive we are going to do? It's a diesel BMW X5.

We are planning to take the US route as I'd head to Chi-town. The only sorta diversion from the Google map is taking WA hwy20 instead of interstates for better sights.

Thus, if there's any route along the way that doesn't add too many hours of extra driving, I'd appreciate suggestions.

There’s only one route of staying in Canada man... like... literally only one highway lol

It’s not a fun trip scenery wise until last Calgary (heading this way) or driving wise. USA would be mildly more entertaining but not much, doesn’t make sense to go to Chicago if you’re not stopping at all?

To go anywhere in Canada, you just follow the only road.

It's like 40 plus hours of driving, being awake for 2 days straightb sounds extremely unsafe to me

Drive from Vancouver to calgary first day. Stay in canmore or calgary for the night. Second day go from Calgary to winnipeg, stay the night in winnipeg, then head south to grand forks - minneapolis - Chicago - Detroit- Toronto. Avoid driving from winnipeg to toronto through canada because the highway isnt as good/safe. American roads are generally faster/better and lots of gas stations and good rest stops along the way

does he plan on driving it back?

ask the company for relocating costs and put the X5 on on a train

or buy a beater there and sell when project is done (sounds like 2 years+)

because cross-country road trip without a bed sounds like torture

He was planning to do a continuous driving (sleeping in rest areas whenever tired) until I mentioned to him that I can go with him if he can stop by in Chicago for 4hrs for my meeting.

So, we are taking the US route... the question now is which. The classic is i90-94 combo. Just looking to see if there's any smaller state hwy worth the detour/extra travel time for sight-seeing.

And I'm mainly looking what prep (again, car or anything else) we should be doing before the trip since the car is going to run almost non-stop for 40+hrs

Last time I drove, Westbound I dropped down through Sault Saint Marie and popped back up somewhere in Saskatchewan. I went south for the cheaper gas, but the highway we took wasn’t great and it was concrete (thunk thunk). I have a buddy that did Winnipeg to Kingston in one shot on his own.

We aren't stopping to sleep. It's going to be one-shot all the way until Chicago (of course stopping for food/drink/shit, you get the idea) where we'd stop so I can catch a meeting and then continue our drive to Toronto.

We are not exactly in a time-critical per se... we do have about almost a day wiggle room. Buddy is coming back on Friday afternoon and we plan to leave on early Sunday at the latest. He just has to make sure to get his butt back to Toronto for a meeting on Wednesday while my meeting in Chicago can be any time with 24hr notice. So, 72+hrs to do a 40hr drive.

He isn't sure. I mean not even if he'd be leaving for sure in 10mths. That's why he wants to bring his own car. He thought about shipping the car, but he'd have to come back anyway to get the car's insurance (the car only has storage insurance now) and might as well make a road trip out of it. :D

I think I like the suggestion of yours and shiesty doing a CAN/US combo. I can even get some shopping done in Calgary to save 7%! :D

Now which way to Calgary would be the best sight-wise?

One of my buddies did a east to west trip by himself stopping at rest stops to sleep for 4 hours and eating at tims and McDonalds.

I say skip Chicago and do a Cannonball run. These guys did it in 63 hours but you easily take a lot of time off that.

Cannonball Run Canada 2016 ? ZAAKISTAN

I'd just take number 1 via the coq to kamloops then back onto number 1. If you do stop in calgary hotels are dirt cheap and shopping is good too because of less tax. Gas is probably a dollar or less per L so fill up as much as you can there

Whatever route you pick, be sure to plan your fuel stops as well. Not everywhere has diesel and not a lot of places will be open 24hrs. Check the speeding laws as well so you know which boring states you can zip through and which you have to be careful.

Not to burst your bubble but why do this ? You can't even stop along the way to enjoy anything or to even get a decent night's rest. All the while it's probably cheaper to leave his car here, take a flight and then buy a 500 dollar corolla in Toronto and use that for work. Seems like an asinine idea to me.

bring the Tesla model X :troll:

Eh. Everyone's got their preferences that don't necessarily follow logic.

From Vancouver?
Whenever i drive from Van to Calgary i take the crowsnest (route 3). The distance is shorter than on the coq, but it is slower.
I like the scenery. Driving through all the little towns. It's a really nice drive.

Oh and don't forget to check how BC and Ontario insurance/laws work if he's planning to keep it BC plated out there. Swapping to Ontario reg and insurance was a lot of running around when my parents moved out there (they were in a smaller town, but it took like a week), and he'd need an OOP when he comes back. Plus anyone running a history report will nope the fuck away from a vehicle that spent even one winter in Ontario when he goes to sell it.

With a diesel, I also think you could do a better time.
But it is an x5, so....(heavier therefore use more fuel etc).

bring sex doll

The idea is to NOT make do with a beater as he isn't sure how long exactly he's going there for.


Appreciate that. We'd look into the drive routes.

Yes, he already asked that prior to making the decision of making the drive. ICBC told him that as long as his primary residence remains in BC (he owns home here) and he has proof that it's for a temporary basis (his work contract in my buddy's case or more commonly, school enrollments), he can remain with BC plate with ICBC insurance in full effect. He's supposed to NOT stay in ON continuously for over 6mth, but that's an easy task when Niagara Falls, NY is an hour away.

Not his in particular, but I've driven my cousin's X5D to well over 1000km on a single tank. But again, we aren't cannonballing this time. :D 2 Destinations, Chicago and Toronto.

Since ur taking the X5 and it comes with run flats, u MAY want to find ur self a full size spare wheel/tire just in case of a tire blow out. Does it have a square set up or staggered which will make things a bit more difficult.

plenty do spare-tireless/motorcycle trips cross-country

If I was to do a cannonball I would think about using a diesel pickup. Do some mods to the suspension/engine and make the whole bed a fuel tank. Maybe put a toilet in the back seat. So you would never have to stop except for driver changes.

Yeah, I think all the US record holders were done on modified vehicles with super large tanks with diapers.

I guess it doesn't matter which route we take, I'm gonna make sure we bring a jerry can or two just to avoid the potential scenario where we can't find a 24hr gas station with diesel in the middle of night.

With 2 jerries of 6gallon each, we should be looking at extending another 250miles easily.

^ don't forget DEF fluid either

I've done Vancouver to Toronto in 50 hours, through highway 1 in Canada, then made my way through Ottawa to Montreal, then head south through "Henryville". Made my way back through the states, but visited a majority of the major cities (New York, Chicago, Boston, Philli, Washington DC, Pittsburgh, Indianaopolis, St Louis, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Kansas City, Columbus, for examples, not in this order. ) This was with myself and oHenry! from RS. We got along well so it was great, but your friendship needs to be strong in order to see so much of each other all the time, haha.

I had an Acura TSX 4cyl with 200k kms on it already. Ran great, no issues what so ever. Did an oil change before I left, checked tires, checked the spare, had a tire fill kit with me, had spare oil, and food. I taped up the entire front end of the car with blue painters tape and after 2 months on the road it peeled off easy.

People actually enjoyed the painters tape on the car, people were signing it from everywhere we stopped and visited. It was a fun experience.

What year BMW X5? Newer or older?