| RoadTrip Report
is the e-newsletter of RoadTrip America.
If you'd like to receive RoadTrip Report
by email (it's free), click
here. |
|
September,
2005
For
those of you keeping track, nearly 240 days have elapsed
since the last RoadTrip Report newsletter was sent to you.
Nope, we haven't been on an extended holiday -- we've been
working on scores of new articles, book reviews, road trip
resources, and a bunch of new funny road signs. If you haven't
visited RTA recently, we invite you to check out:
Thirty-two
new Funny
Signs including this week's contribution from Elizabethtown,
Kentucky.
Thirty
new Book
Recommendations covering the spectrum of road trip
literature and twelve new audio books that are great for
enjoying when you're on a roll...[Read
more]
|
February, 2005
Most of us tend to think of roadtrips as requiring
several days to complete, and this doesn't include planning
time. What's easy to forget is that road trips can also be
short and spontaneous. Think for a moment. Isn't there some
special place, a back-road byway, a pretty street in your
city or town, or a route through a nearby park that's no more
than thirty minutes from where you're sitting? It's probably
a place you rarely visit because it's so familiar and close
to home. Have you thought of such a place? If you have, you've
already planned a two-hour roadtrip....[Read
more] |
October, 2004
"Where
to?" has got to be the leading road trip question,
but there's another one that can have just as much impact
on your journey: "What vehicle should I drive?"
While our choices are often limited to whatever's in the driveway
or rental yard, we asked ourselves the question. Our answers
prove what we suspected all along: one person's dream ride
is another's "Not in this lifetime!"...[Read
more] |
September, 2004
In the last twelve months, road warriors
Nichole Martinez and Christopher Szwiec have crisscrossed
the country, racking up over 40,000 miles and visiting nearly
thirty states -- and they got paid for doing it. What's their
secret? They are both senior Hotdoggers. This doesn't mean
they enter food-eating contests or rip the slopes on skis.
Nichole and Christopher drive one of the most famous mobile
marketing vehicles ever created, the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile...[Read
more] |
August, 2004
"Should I take my dog?" It's a frequent
question on the Great
America RoadTrip Forum. Our answer? If you're able to,
by all means, yes! Animals are often far more able to adapt
to both the delights and rigors of road trips than people
are, and roadtrips with a canine companion are among the most
rewarding.We speak from experience. We traveled with
our best friend for fifteen years. Marvin
the Road Dog joined us in 1989. We are sad to report that
his earthly journey ended on August 5, 2004...[Read
more] |
|
July,
2004
TEN
YEARS BEHIND THE WHEEL
It's hard for us to believe it, but it's been a decade
since we first hit the road on the journey that evolved
into RoadTrip America. On this tenth anniversary, we've
decided to look back and trace the route that led us here,
and to share a few pieces of wisdom that have stuck to our
tire treads along the way. As many of you know, the RoadTrip
America story began with the enormous wildfires that swept
through Southern California in October, 1993...[Read
more]
|
|
June,
2004
Many
road trips are inspired by a desire to find something.
The "something" can be external - a new home or
ancestral roots. It can also be internal - a search for
happiness or the meaning of life. The journey may be long
and arduous, or it may be short and fulfilling. When travelers
set out on such quests, they might well have no itinerary,
no idea of how long their trips might last, or the slightest
notion of how to finance their wanderings.
When
we hit the road in March, 1994, we were embarking on
a quest. In the beginning, we were searching for a new life
in the wake of the fire that destroyed all our earthly belongings.
As the adventure continued (and lasted years longer than
the six months we originally anticipated) our purpose expanded
and...[Read more]
|
Pictured
Rocks National Lakeshore, Michigan |
April/May,
2004
Last
month, we identified two main categories of road trips
-- the Youthful Jaunt and Youthful Quest -- but there
is a near-infinite supply of secondary reasons to hit the
road. One very popular motivation for road tripping is actually
a hybrid of the Jaunt and the Quest. We call it the Road
Trip Challenge. Whether the goal is to "bag" certain destinations
or make a trip within a time frame (which can be nearly
indistinguishable from "a race"), the Road Trip Challenge
has a specific goal or set of goals...[Read
more]
|
George Washington Memorial Parkway,
Virginia |
March, 2004
A
few weeks ago, we received email from a college student
working on a presentation about road trips. Why do they
appeal to every generation? he asked. Is there something
quintessentially American about them? Here are some of the
thoughts we shared with him.
It's
not just road trips that appeal to every generation,
but any journey that takes a person away from home/family/familiar
surroundings. In twenty-first-century America, an automobile
is a naturally appealing means of transport. (Some would
say you aren't really on a road trip if you aren't on a
motorcycle, but that's a whole separate topic.) While there
are as many reasons why people take road trips as there
are people who take them, they really all fall into two...[Read
more]
|
|
