Planning a Road Trip

It was my job to plan a road trip. I thought I had a lot of tedious work ahead of me. Boy, was I wrong!! As I laid out our itinerary, and then delved deeper and deeper into the areas we would visit, I began to get more and more excited.

Our plan was for a late spring 6-week cross country road trip. If possible, we would do it with no motel reservations. Our goals were to stay off the interstate as much as possible, fish for trout at some of the top western streams, and try to see as much of our beautiful country as we possibly could.

I started by going to our local AAA office and getting a roadmap of the US. I have two books that describe the ‘best’ scenic drives in the US. Using these books as my guides, I used a highlighter to mark the ‘best’ scenic routes on my US map.

Then I got into my mental car and 'traveled' along the highlighted route. Using the internet, my books, and old articles from travel magazines that I had saved, I ‘visited’ small towns, ‘toured’ museums, and ‘stayed’ at elegant bed and breakfasts. It soon became a contest with myself, as I discovered one special place after another. What else was there that I hadn’t yet found? And what would we find once we got on the road for real? What other unique places would we discover? How exciting the planning became!

A very important part of the planning was the need to figure daily driving mileage so that we didn't overextend ourselves and end up driving tired. It’s relatively easy to figure mileage when you are driving on an interstate. But for a road trip like this, I needed to figure mileage on the small, two laned, twisty roads that we anticipated driving on. For help with this part of our trip, I went to the AAA website and used its Triptik® tool. Using specific destinations and/or routes, it gives point to point mileage. Not only did it provide me with the mileage information that I needed, but it also helped pinpoint roads and mountain passes that might still be closed in the late spring.

After several weeks of planning, we were ready to depart. Of course we didn’t keep, exactly, to our planned agenda. We decided that, yes, Dinosaur National Monument AND Craters of the Moon National Monument were both worth a visit. And, yes, we just HAD to stop at some of those great looking trout streams. And spend, of course, a little extra time walking a windswept beach.

We got home 4 days later than originally planned. We put a bit over 10,000 miles on the car. A friend said they couldn’t imagine taking a road trip that was SO long that we had to plan for an oil change halfway through it. Yes, we planned for the oil change. AND the two new tires we knew we'd need before tackling some of the mountain roads we expected to travel.

Our planning helped us have a wonderful and safe trip. You’ll find more advice for safe travel at Tips for a Safe Trip