A late addition to this post - but I've learned to stop for naps. It took a few incidents to get me to do that. Once I was stopped by a state trooper for drunk driving (whom I knew from high school! how embarrassing) because I was so tired I was driving erratically. Once I saw two cars on the interstate, one passing the other, in the distance, only to realize it was the two taillights of a semi immediately in front of me. Rumble strips a few times, and of course, the startled realization that I have just woken up! That was mostly back when I was working in Bangor and driving to the Whites to finish my 100 highest. Now I live an hour and a half max from most of the trailheads, but I can still get really sleepy, so the catnaps help. But, when I do an Adirondack hike from my in-law's home in central NY, it is still a long drive, so I resort to pizza, Doritos and best of all, those little peanut butter balls that Reeses makes. Awful stuff, I know. But it works. A healthier alternative that I use when driving 6 hours to my folks in Maine (at night, the only time my 2-year-old can sleep the whole way) is honey-roasted almonds. I've also tried long, out-loud monologues about tiresome but detailed topics like amphibian competition. Whatever works!
