“Let’s Go For A Drive” - a bygone pastime?

[Midpack]

When I was a kid, 60ish years ago, once in a while on a nice day my Dad would say “let’s go for a drive” out of the blue - usually a Sunday afternoon. So the four of us would pile in the car, and drive nowhere in particular for an hour or two. I think other families did as well.

I'm not talking about sightseeing/side trips while running errands or other tasks. I mean going for a drive with no other purpose.

That’s something DW and I would literally never do anymore, even though I actually enjoy driving and riding in a car.

Does anyone just go for a drive anymore?

 

[COcheesehead]

We used to that all the time as a kid.

 

[Stormy Kromer]

I do. I live on a farm 7 miles from the nearest town. When I go on an errand I will often take the long way home to check on the crops and see what the neighborhood is up to. Never take the same way twice on the way back home.

It reminds me of Jerry Jeff Walker's "Pickup Truck" song.

 

[turbo89]

Sounds like you need a hot rod; us hot rod guys and gals still do this as often as we can!

 

[imjustawarrior]

We would do it when our children were young. Also, my DW and I are not from Colorado. We would go for drives to somewhat just explore the area and enjoy the scenery. That was 15-20 years ago.

Maybe I'll start doing that again with the DW. The kids would look at me like I'm crazy.

 

[Rocky mtn high]

Maybe it’s an ag thing but yes my father 93 does everyday, to look at crops.

 

[Lorenzo]

I think we're seeing less and less of "going for a drive." We did it almost every weekend when I was a kid. But gas was cheap, Americans loved cars, and the choice of available leisure activities was narrower than it is now. It has been said Gen-Z 'ers are less interested in owning cars and even in learning to drive than previous generations.

 

[Flyfish1]

I plan to this summer - I picked up a used Jaguar F Type convertible recently. Very excited to cruise around!

 

[MarieIG]

Yes, we will, but often will pull over near a small lake to look at the birds, or at the beach.

 

[audreyh1]

When I was a kid, 60ish years ago, once in a while on a nice day my Dad would say “let’s go for a drive” out of the blue - usually a Sunday afternoon. So the four of us would pile in the car, and drive nowhere in particular for an hour or two. I think other families did as well.

That’s something DW and I would literally never do anymore, even though I actually enjoy driving and riding in a car.

Does anyone just go for a drive anymore?

We used to on the weekends when working, but we usually had a destination in mind and did a scenic route - often a loop. Not really anymore - we go on multi day car trips instead. Lots of enjoying the scenery from those.

 

[L-5Player]

Well-weathered leather
Hot metal and oil
The scented country air
Sunlight on chrome
The blur of the landscape
Every nerve aware

Neil Peart of Rush, Red Barchetta (full lyrics here)

 

[tulak]

I did this with kids when they were growing up.

DS does this occasionally and he’s in his mid-twenties.

 

[FIYes]

My family did this when I was a child and I hated it. Trapped in a car and going nowhere. No thank you! My sister loved to go for a car ride and still does today.

 

[Gumby]

When I was a kid, 60ish years ago, once in a while on a nice day my Dad would say “let’s go for a drive” out of the blue - usually a Sunday afternoon. So the four of us would pile in the car, and drive nowhere in particular for an hour or two. I think other families did as well.

That’s something DW and I would literally never do anymore, even though I actually enjoy driving and riding in a car.

Does anyone just go for a drive anymore?

When the weather is nice, the young wife and I often go for a top-down drive in our roadster through the back roads of Connecticut. We don't play the radio. We just enjoy the sights, scents and sounds of this green and prosperous land in which we are blessed to live.

 

[Midpack]

^^^ Interesting aside. Until the last few years, DW and I would never go anywhere without the radio playing in the car. DW still wants to background noise - all the stations she listens to now are tape loops with no live hosts, boring to me. I often turn the radio off when I'm driving alone, it's kinda nice to hear the outside world or some quiet when I'm driving nowadays. DW wants background noise, music or TV, almost all the time. Not me.

 

[ArmchairMillionaire]

When I was a kid, 60ish years ago, once in a while on a nice day my Dad would say “let’s go for a drive” out of the blue - usually a Sunday afternoon. So the four of us would pile in the car, and drive nowhere in particular for an hour or two. I think other families did as well.

That’s something DW and I would literally never do anymore, even though I actually enjoy driving and riding in a car.

Does anyone just go for a drive anymore?

We do.
But I have a 1979 El Camino and DW has a 1977 MGB convertible.
Those are limited as we usually only have from April through October to drive those vehicles.

As far as our other vehicles, we just "went for a drive" last week just to drive around and look at people's Christmas lights as well as a Christmas Light display at a lakeside park which was sponsored by local businesses who all had festive displays. We had a iPod playlist of Christmas music to listen to as we viewed them.

It was nice.

 

[Fermion]

If you discount spur of the moment road trips, then it is something we do on a rare occasion, such as if there is a bluebird day and snow in the mountains, we might just go for a drive. Usually we have a destination in mind most days (so above we would drive to the same mountains but haul our snowmobiles and go riding).

 

[Ronstar]

I go for a drive every day. Usually only 20-40 miles but on occasion we've been known to drive to Florida via New Hampshire

 

[TripleLindy]

Never did it as a kid. As an adult, I had long commutes to work until I started working from home. Going for a drive was never a consideration as something to do in and of itself - only as a means of getting somewhere. Probably a pitfall of living in a large city most of my life.

 

[Sorcerer]

My dog likes to go for a drive. Me on the other hand, no thanks. I drive to/from work. Sounds awful to drive just to drive. Unless I'm on vacation and it's scenic, then all bets are off.

 

[Tom52]

We sent for drives quite often with parents when we were kids. We usually stopped for lunch somewhere or sometimes packed a picnic lunch.

We don't do that so much anymore but we sometimes go for long golf cart rides and usually stop somewhere for lunch.

 

[Fermion]

My dog likes to go for a drive. Me on the other hand, no thanks. I drive to/from work. Sounds awful to drive just to drive. Unless I'm on vacation and it's scenic, then all bets are off.

Lol, I wonder what a person who works aboard a boat would say about cruises? "Sounds awful to cruise just to cruise, I spend all my time on boats"

 

[RetiredHappy]

My ex-husband loved to do that in his Acura NSX and I would join him in the drive.

 

[Pointby2]

I used to meet car buddies and go on drives through curvy roads through the back country, canyons and mountains of Socal. But that's not really what you're referring to. But it's close.

DW and I would sometimes just jump in the car and explore our city. It's got a lot of hills and canyons with "hidden" neighborhoods you'd never see if you just kept to the main roads. We'd see a strange road we hadn't ever been on and just go. That was fun.

 

[Sunset]

Very often as a child my parents would take us for a Sunday drive when the weather was nice.
I recall the price of gas at a pump was 25 cents (sometime around then). Which works out to $2.50 in today's dollars.

These days with gas at $2.65/gal. I feel gas is cheap so I can see how my parents while barely making it, felt a drive on the back gravel roads had many benefits and wasn't expensive.