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Travels (2001-02) >
My Previous Roadtrips
My Previous
Roadtrips
There's nothing like getting into a pickup truck and hitting the road. The U.S. is a
fascinating and
amazingly diverse country and
one of my main goals in life is to learn as much as I can about it. I
figure the best way to do that is to see the U.S. first-hand, and as a result,
I've taken a lot of road trips around the country. In fact, I
visited all 50 states before I was 25 and have lived in 20 cities in
eight states -- so far.
The messy map below shows the major road trips I've taken since my college
days. While my friends were getting married, buying houses and having
kids, I was traveling and learning about America. Most of my trips have been solo, but a few, and probably the most
enjoyable, were with others. I haven't shown the many cross-country road
trips I took with my family when I was younger, but I'll post that map someday.
I've learned a lot about America from these travels, some of which I've posted
on my Best and
Worst of the 50 States page.
I took most of these road trips with
my Toyota pickup truck,
which I bought in 1984 and which still gets over 30 mpg. My truck now has over
250,000 miles on it and you can probably see why.
My
Road Trips: 1980 - 1999
(Mouseover the map to see my
2001-02 trips, described on this website)
Here
are my road trip "rules-of-thumb":
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Take
different routes. I like variety so I always try to take a different
route. Before I leave on a road trip, I
study my Road Atlas to see where I haven't been yet and then plan
my trip accordingly.
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Stay
off the Interstates. Whenever possible, I stay off
Interstate freeways. Although Interstates are great for
getting you quickly from one place to another, they're also bland and
monotonous. Two-lane highways are a lot more interesting, and you can
pull off the road anytime you want.
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Bring
a camera. I always bring along an SLR camera whenever I
travel. Over the past two decades, I've shot over 20,000 slides of
North America, and on my current trip, I've shot about 16,000 digital
pictures.
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Learn
about the area. Road trips are
a great way to learn about the U.S. Historic signs are "must
stops" for me, as are interesting small towns and offbeat attractions.
AAA Tour Books are a good resource for planning road trips and I read
them every night while on the road.
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Visit
friends. A road trip is a great way to maintain
friendships. I've been able to keep close ties with many of my
friends from college by traveling and dropping in -- even if they don't
want to see me!
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Avoid
Oklahoma. Just kidding. Actually, I like Oklahoma, but as you can see on the map above, I didn't visit there between 1980 and
1999. I'm not sure why I avoided Oklahoma, but I figured
that my Toyota truck would get there "Sooner" or later -- and I
was right.
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Left:
My
truck and I at Looking
Glass Rock, Utah a few years ago. This
little-known area south of
Moab is my favorite camping
spot in all
of North America. |
I've
posted more detailed maps and additional photos on the following pages:
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