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Thursday, April 17, 2014

The PDD Driving Club

Yes, I am guilty.  Guilty of sitting herein Missouri with too much time on my hands waiting for the birth of our granddaughter.  She is due any day (second) now so we’ve been briefed on how to hold down the fort with Taylor, Kierra and Bekah when their mom and dad head off to the hospital.

For a while now, the term “PDD” has been going around the RV blogland, it was created by my good friend Sherry.  For those of you that don’t understand, let me ‘splain.

Back in our working days, we had very little time to enjoy our love of RVing and seeing the country.  We’d try and steal weekends away from our busy lives and look forward to a brief vacation to see some of the wonderful places in this country.  We became destination drivers, putting in long days driving huge distances to get to a location where we could spend as much time as possible before scurrying home and back to work.

Our first long trip was back in the summer of 2002 when we did a cross country jaunt in our RV from our then home in Northern Virginia to the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas and Carlsbad Caverns in 12 days.  One of the driving days set my all time record of 758 miles.

As we look back at that trip, which really whetted our appetites to travel full time, most all of our pictures were through the windshield of our Class C RV.  It was lots of driving, but we had a ball.

Fast forward to 5 December 2011.  The Virginia house was sold, I had retired and it was Marti’s last day of work before she retired.  I was waiting outside her office in the Journey, with the engine running.

Our plan was to make a cross country trip to our son’s home in Astoria, Oregon, with a stop in Sioux Falls, SD (to get our residency set up) in time for Christmas.  Being that is was winter, we knew we’d have to make some tracks.

Of course Murphy intervened, screwed up our alternator and gave us three days in Harrisburg, PA getting it replaced.  That put us behind schedule already, and we were watching the weather closely.  So we blew off Sioux Falls for a later trip and boogied straight out to Astoria, doing long driving days.  Yep, we made it for Christmas, actually, we arrived on 15 December.

That’s when the “PDD” became famous.  It stands for “Paul Dahl Disorder” (thanks Sherry!) because I still tend to put in longer driving days compared to the average RV traveler (maybe I am a little crazy).

Being the pioneer of this driving style, I thought I’d lay out the rules for becoming a member of the PDD Driving Club.

First, all driving has to be done in an RV, the type doesn’t matter.  As an eye to safety, the driving can be split up between multiple drivers as long as they all are traveling together in the RV.

Next, this type of driving is strictly voluntary.  Nobody is going to twist your arm to do it.  We all have our own driving styles.

Finally, there are three levels, Bronze, Silver and Gold.

Bronze Level:  Complete 300 miles in one 24 hour driving day.

Silver Level:   Complete 400 miles in one 24 hour driving day.

Gold Level:     Complete 500+ miles in one 24 hour driving day.

Your reward for attaining the Gold Level?  Personal satisfaction that you are among the very few that have traveled that far that fast (Never say never).

As an added bonus, you now have a legitimate reason to seek psychiatric treatment.  :cD

(Disclaimer:  I hope you understand this is all said in jest!)

Thanks for visiting and feel free to leave a comment.

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25 comments:

  1. Enjoyed your post (I found you as I was surfing around looking at other fulltime RVers blogs)
    Just had to tell you that we strive to stay UNDER the Bronze level at all times. After a day that we inadvertently venture into the Silver and Gold we swear "Never Again!"

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  2. Well, I am glad we got that all cleared up;o)) We must say though... Paul, you are in a class of your own!!!

    We will be waiting for our "Rusty Wheel Award" when we finally go more than 200 miles:o))

    Thanks for keeping us all smiling!!!

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  3. I hope to never be a member of your club unless you give a booby prize for the least number of miles traveled. :(

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  4. Well you can count us into the Gold+ Club alright. Our longest 'recorded' trip happened on our return on New Years day 2005 when we did a shotgun trip over the Christmas Holiday from Bayfield Ontario to Big Bend Texas. Coming back we overnighted in Ferne Cliff Park Gorevill Illinois then drove 703 miles straight home to Bayfield. Of course we were both DOA but we made it. That trip was done in a 24' Ford Class C. It's not unusual for us to put in 500 mile days while traveling between Ontario & the South-West. I've posted many times our reasons for putting in the longer days on the road. Some of us are just natural born endurance drivers I guess..........:))

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  5. At one time we would have belonged to the Gold Club, while still house owners and with limited time to get away we once did a 600+ day from VT to Luray VA, now I complain if we drive over 4 hours.

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  6. Not a club that we will ever join. Hopefully. Even going to VA this Fall if we go over 200 miles a day that will be a long day.

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  7. Last year I drove 752 miles on the first day out just to beat a snow storm that was on the radar and succeeded.
    This year I kept it at 523 the first day and 418 the second.
    Missed the Silver this past Tuesday by only driving 399.8 miles
    Our warm weather travels don't even get the Bronze.
    Be Safe and Enjoy!

    It's about time.

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  8. Well done Paul! I am glad to see you have taken my idea a few steps further. But like Nancy said, you are in a class by yourself. You REPEATEDLY do these days. Not just every once in a while. I am so NOT looking forward to three days in a row of 180, 200 and 211 coming up very shortly in our return to Virginia for a couple of weeks. Those are WAY too long for me. I like our last two drives which were 30 and 108 respectively. :-) Hope the baby shows up soon. I know everyone is anxious especially your DIL.

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  9. Bronze and Silver level ... maybe ... if we have to, but I sure hope our days of Gold level driving are behind us.

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  10. There's a motorcycle group called the Ironbutt Association, to become a member you need to have a documented ride of 1000 miles in 24 hours or less. I'm a member, although I did 1500 miles in under 36 hours. Pulling the travel trailer I often do the trip from Tennessee to MN/SD straight through, just over 1000 miles and 18 hours. I'm really hoping to cut that back in the near future, and spend more time moving from point A to point B.

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  11. Have done a couple of bronzes recently (almost a silver), but hope to never do gold level driving again. I have way too many places to see, and finally, plenty of time to see them. Sorry, Paul, but I hope to never be like you again. LOL

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  12. Hmm, George is dozing on the couch or I'd ask him. I think we're in the Gold level, I'm positive we've done 500+ in one day :-) Sometimes it's necessary and about the destination you want to get to!

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  13. We have done a few bronzes, but back in 2001 we did a round trip to Florida from Ontario in our RV, 2200 miles in three days,does that count?

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  14. No gold or silver for me. Maybe the occasional bronze.

    Are you going to sell team jackets, t-shirts or something?

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  15. OMG, I am at the Gold level. Not on purpose, but we have had to move that fast a few times. Not sayin' I like it though. I am looking forward much to taking almost 6 weeks to get from FL to WY this spring :-).

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  16. We may be platinum, as Don has completed over 800 miles in a day! Great club.

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  17. I guess we're at the tin or maybe aluminum foil level. Hope the newest angel arrives soon.

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  18. I don't even want to apply for membership in that club! :) WAY too much driving for me!

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  19. We've definitely been in the gold level quite a few times. Before RV days we'd drive straight through from Portland to Phoenix. RV days brought down our longest day trip to just under 700 miles. However, we're really looking forward to most travel days now under 200 days.

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  20. I would have never done those miles in my last rig, but to be honest I have already done two over 500 mil days in the Sprinter coach.

    We are leaving in a few days for a trip north and expect to have multiple 400 mile days. Maybe it is time for counseling.

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  21. We do have one 431 mile trip and several in the high 300's I guess that makes us Bronze + members:) We always say if we stayed under 300 miles it would take a week to get across Texas.

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  22. Silver for us... 442 miles on our first of two days from Texas to Nebraska after Terri broke her arm back in 2012. We definitely like to keep our days below the Bronze Level. The cats like it too. :)

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  23. Count me in! I'm a frequent member of the bronze level, and have attained gold membership a few times.

    Although this is not in an RV the farthest in one day in my car was a little over 1,000 miles. Yep, I was young and crazy!

    As the song says, "Keep on Truckin!" :-)

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  24. I think we need a PDD anonymous.

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  25. Bronze level a few times when we first started out then one time last year. Now its less than 200 which is a long day.

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