The Great American Road Trip

A few years ago--four to be exact--I was feeling rather restless. I hadn't seen my grandparents or certain friends in quite some time. My grandparents had not even met Russell, though he was over 6 months old. We were prevented from going and seeing them by Charles' lack of vacation time. We had used our vacation that year to go to Disneyland and do some other things. I finally decided that there was no reason why I had to stay trapped in the Bay Area all summer just because Charles didn't have any more vacation time. So, I started plotting. I looked up where I got coverage with my cell phone. I talked to friends and family. And I researched all the McDonald's restaurants between here and Utah that had playgrounds. And I set out on my own with my two kids, ages 3 and approximately 10 months. Thus was a tradition born: The Mom and Kids Summer Road Trip.

The first year, we just visited Utah. We went across I-80 into Salt Lake, stopping overnight in Elko en route, and I stayed with my friend Alison and visited with my friends Natalie and Lisa. Then I headed down to Cedar City and stayed with my grandparents and visited my aunts and uncles that live there. I drove home via Las Vegas, stopping overnight in Barstow. It was a trip of approximately 2 weeks and 1,740 miles. We had such a great time and it was such a success that we decided to do it again the following year and make it longer.

The three of us at Thanksgiving Point, Utah in 2006.

The second year, my friend Alison was living temporarily in Wyoming. This threw a wrench in my plans, but I decided to roll with it and visit her in Wyoming. After all, it only added a half day of driving to get there. So, I packed up the kids and set out. We were much more comfortable that time around because we had recently changed our family car from a small sedan to a minivan. We still stayed overnight in Elko, as it was about half way, and drove on to Lander, Wyoming the next day. We had a great time visiting with Alison and her family and visiting the site where the Willie Handcart Company was rescued.

Here we are with a handcart in Wyoming in 2007

From there, we headed back down into Utah. I stayed in Springville with my friend Lisa for a few days and then headed on down to Cedar City and stayed with my aunt. My cousin and I had arranged things so that she was there with her kids at the same time I was there and we had a great time. From there, we headed North again to visit my mother-in-law in Nampa, Idaho. I know this order doesn't make a lot of sense, but I had to consider the schedules of the people I was visiting. We drove back to California after that, extremely glad to be home after four weeks of traveling. We covered approximately 3100 miles on that trip.

The kids with Granny Spud in Idaho in 2007

The third year was the year of the great gas price crisis. With gas prices around $4.50 per gallon and other financial constraints, we had to limit ourselves that year. We ended up just going to Cedar City for a family reunion. My brother Steven went with us to help defray the costs and we drove straight through, saving the price of a motel stay. That was significantly less enjoyable, just because I really don't like driving straight through. We really enjoyed the family reunion, though.

Family reunion festivities 2008

We had to forego the trip last year. We moved last July and spent the entire summer either packing or unpacking. And we spent all our money buying a house. Plus we had planned a family trip to Disneyland for this last December and that also sucked up all our money.

Disneyland was worth it

So, this year I'm rather itching for a road trip. I will allow that I was recently on a road trip to Utah but, as it was neither enjoyable nor a vacation and I really didn't get to visit with anyone for more than an hour, I'm not counting it. We do have some constraints this year, though, especially since we'd like to take a family vacation. So, I'll probably end up limiting myself to Utah and, perhaps, Idaho. However, I'm already plotting for next year.

About a year and a half ago, one of my brothers was planning to move to Kentucky or Illinois. I started looking at taking a trip that far to visit him. His plans changed and he stayed here, but I've kind of had it in the back of my mind for a while. This past winter, my friend Natalie moved from Utah to North Carolina. I followed her family's adventures driving across the country and have been looking at the pictures she's posting of how beautiful it is there. So, lately, I've been bouncing the idea around in my head of taking a cross-country road trip. I've now got friends and family in North Carolina, I've got family in Texas, I've got friends in Illinois and Montana, there's genealogical research to be done in North Dakota and Tennessee, and there's plenty of this country that I haven't seen yet. I've been thinking that, if I am going to make this trip, I might as well make the most of it. Of course, there's the issue of making it affordable and a reasonable length of time. Then again, why not spend most of the summer traveling?

So, this is just an idea I'm bouncing around right now, but it is something I'd really like to do in the next few years (not this year, of course). But I'm wondering: If you were going to take a trip across the country, what are the sights you would want to see? Or, what would you recommend including in such an itinerary? Do you think it makes more sense to try and see as much as possible in one long trip or spread the sights out over a few years? Please, peanut gallery, make some comments...