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Getting Out There
RoadTrip News & Views


Getting Out There: Directory of Articles

Thody's American Adventures

In the summer of 2007, Peter Thody and his wife Carole left their home in Leeds, England to embark on a 4,000-mile American road trip. Hotel bookings in Chicago and San Francisco established the bookends of the trip, a rental Jeep provided the means of getting from A to B, but the four weeks in between were left to write their own story. [Click here for the Adventures]


Road Trips for the New Year!

December 22, 2008
New Year's Resolution: Make Those Road Trips Happen! by Carol White

Yes, it is New Year's resolutions time - time to examine our priorities and maybe shuffle them a bit. Do you think that you are too busy or too broke to go on a road trip this year? Think again. With a little planning, you can do it for less and shake off some of the anxiety that has dogged everyone in this shaky economy. Carol White resolves to get more enjoyment from life by making those road trips happen.[Read the story.]


San Diego Skyline

December 12, 2008
Seeing San Diego by Bus, Train & Trolley, by Jaimie Hall-Bruzenak

San Diego offers visitors a wide range of attractions and activities, and the moderate climate means few rainy days. Even better, San Diego's mass transit system is so easy to use that there's no need to drive your vehicle or hassle with parking. Native San Diegan Jaimie Hall Bruzenak tells you how to enjoy the city by bus, train and trolley. [Read the story.]


Going-to-the-Sun Road

November 28, 2008
Montana, Where Men Are Men, and the Coffees Are Skinny Latte, by Peter Thody

Peter Thody had the wrong idea about Montana from the get-go. A single episode of a 1970s TV series and a misunderstanding about the location of a Clint Eastwood movie had led this U.K.-based writer to imagine some romantic, rough-and-ready place - a fairly inaccurate image, it turns out. Join him as he goes in search of a land of outlaws and gunfighters, and discovers instead a state of arts communities, antiques shops and sushi bars. [Read the story.]


Wyoming Wonders

October 31, 2008
Cowboys, Rodeos, Grizzlies and Geysers: Some Wonders of Wyoming, by Peter Thody

Driving through the wide open spaces of the eastern part of the state, then across the Bighorn Mountains, Peter Thody falls for Wyoming in a big way. Cody serves up some Wild West history, gunfights and a rodeo, but it is the beauty of Yellowstone, America's first and best-loved national park, that takes his breath away.[Read the story.]


Homerville Courthouse

October 17, 2008
Greenland by Plane, Boat and Dog Sledge, by Lea Lane

The first thing you need to know about Greenland is that there are no roads - at least not outside the towns. So if you find yourself on the world's largest island, hankering for a road trip, you'll have to enlarge your idea of "vehicle" to include small planes, fishing boats and dog sleds. Lea Lane takes you on a whirlwind tour. [Read the story.]


Homerville Courthouse

October 3, 2008
A Genealogy Road Trip - Florida to Canada, by Anne Sponholtz

A road trip in search of your ancestors can mean traveling back to places once familiar, or often discovering the unfamiliar. Come along on a road trip from Florida to Canada as Anne Sponholtz visits some popular tourist destinations, finds some ancestors she didn't know she had, and offers some advice for others searching for family roots on the road. [Read the story.]


Road Trip through Georgia

August 29, 2008
Peaches, Catfish and Camellias: A Road Trip Through Georgia, by Anne Sponholtz

Driving through the center of Georgia is much like looking through a kaleidoscope. With every turn of the road, the landscape shifts, sometimes offering a subtle change in form or color, other times presenting an entirely new aspect. Anne Sponholtz takes you on a 470-mile trip north through peach orchards and pecan groves, with a sobering stop at a Civil War prison camp and an exhilarating ride into the Blue Ridge Mountains. [Read the story.]


Texas fossils

June 6, 2008
Into the Deep, Deep Past of Texas, by Aaron Reed

The history of the Lone Star State - the history before the Kawakawa and Comanche, before the Spanish and the settlers from the East - is engraved in stone. Those rocks tell a turbulent story of environmental and biological change that makes the present-day "crisis" of global warming appear trivial. Aaron Reed takes the family on a road trip into the geological past, when parts of Texas now 1,500 feet above sea level were, literally, the bottom of the ocean. [Read the story.]


Shiner, Texas

May 30, 2008
Friday Escape, Small-Town Hospitality, by Aaron Reed

Some road trips start out all wrong and then somehow end up right. That's what happens when Aaron Reed sets out on Memorial Day weekend to visit a Texas creamery and tour a legendary brewery. Alas: no ice cream, no tour. What he finds instead is some old-time hospitality in a corner of Texas where German, Czech and Mexican traditions mingle companionably over music and beer. [Read the story.]


Island Hotel

February 29, 2008
Cedar Key: A State of Mind by Anne Sponholtz

Each summer, Anne Sponholtz heads to Cedar Key for a weeklong vacation on the Gulf Coast of north Florida. The tiny village has its share of ghost stories and pirate tales, and Jimmy Buffett once sang nostalgically about it. But it wasn't until she made a midwinter visit to the quiet island community that Anne understood what it is about Cedar Key that keeps bringing her back. [Read the story.]


Padre Island

February 1, 2008
The Wilderness Beach: A Down-Island Drive on Texas' National Seashore by Aaron Reed

On an off-road trek along the Gulf of Mexico in southernmost Texas, Aaron Reed encounters many memories and a mystery. The memories are familiar -- fishing with his grandparents, nursing the injuries of a misspent youth -- but what is that orange stuff out in the water? [Read the story.]


Iowa Scenic Byway

January 25, 2008
Death Metal and Empty Streets: The Charm of the "Tall Corn State," by Peter Thody

Peter Thody visits Iowa, the state many believe provides a window into how America used to be: a simpler, more innocent way of life. And while credit cards are indeed still viewed with suspicion, Thody struggles to imagine Doris Day attending a death-metal disco or Pa Ingalls searching for work along a climate-controlled skywalk. Like everywhere else, the "Tall Corn State" is changing -- and not always for the best. [Read the story.]


Rita's Cabin

January 4, 2008
Looping Through the Panamints by Del Albright

In Death Valley National Park, in the Panamint Mountains of eastern California, is a canyon loop road that takes four-wheelers through a harshly beautiful landscape and 150 years of pioneer history. Del Albright lets some air out of his tires and heads down the trail. [Read the story.]


December 21, 2007
Holidays in the Texas Pineywoods by Aaron Reed

Christmas in East Texas is scented by pine woods and coffee, and bright lights appear in town squares and oil fields to illuminate memories of eras long past. Aaron Reed takes a couple of holiday road trips -- one to Marshall, the other to Kilgore -- to discover the spirit of the season. [Read the story.]


The Bean

December 14, 2007
Thody's American Adventure: Chicago to the Mississippi by Peter Thody

In the summer of 2007, Peter Thody and his wife Carole left their home in Leeds, England to embark on a 4,000-mile American road trip. Hotel bookings in Chicago and San Francisco established the bookends of the trip, a rental Jeep provided the means of getting from A to B, but the four weeks in between were left to write their own story. The first adventure took Thody to Illinois, where he discovered some odd examples of Americana: a 110-ton coffee bean, a 2,000-foot drill bit and a seemingly endless supply of artistically rusty, vintage farm implements. [Read the story.]


White sands & palms

December 14, 2007
An Old Highway Leads Snowbirds to the Florida Sun by Anne Sponholtz

Snowbirds traveling to Florida's West Coast are treated to a 66-mile road trip along U.S. Highway 301, an old-time road that serves as a connector between one interstate system and another. Anne Sponholtz traveled U.S. Highway 301 as a youngster when her family vacationed in Florida each summer. Recently, when she set out in her RV to see what this rural section of highway in North Florida had in store for snowbirds, she discovered orange juice, pigs, a county seat, horse farms and a state park along the way. [Read the story.]


Alaska's Highway 1

December 7, 2007
Anchorage to Seward on Alaska's Highway 1 by Megan Edwards

With a single day to explore the vastness of Alaska, Megan Edwards skipped the package tours and picked up a rental car. Her solitary road trip along Alaska's Highway 1 reveals America's last great frontier in all its autumn glory - birch trees, glaciers, moose and all. [Read the story.]


"Keep Austin Weird"

November 30, 2007
Austin Live: An Insider's Guide to Music, Restaurants & Roadside Attractions by Aaron Reed

Sometimes it seems that all roads lead to Austin. Once a sleepy college town and provincial capital, Austin is now the 17th-largest city in the country and a major center for high-tech innovation, and it hosts 19 million visitors a year. A good number of them are music fans making a pilgrimage to the self-proclaimed "Live Music Capital of the World." Aaron Reed takes a break from the open road to lead an insider's tour of clubs, restaurants and off-beat attractions in his hometown city. [Read the story.]


DARPA Urban Challenge

November 9, 2007
The DARPA Urban Challenge 2007: Defining Moments in Robot History by Mark Sedenquist

Thirty-five teams of robotic, mechanical, automotive, and artificial intelligence engineers gathered in Victorville, California in late October to participate in the National Qualifying Event of the DARPA Urban Challenge. Unlike the prior events where autonomous vehicles were challenged to find their way around an off-highway course, this year's event required that these specialized robots be able to drive in an urban setting, navigate traffic circles and stop signs, and make decisions based on scenarios presented to them...[More]


Health Camp in Waco, Texas

November 2, 2007
Big Guns and Dr Pepper: A Road Trip to Waco, Texas by Aaron Reed

Aaron Reed takes a Saturday road trip up the Mexico-Canada corridor and back in time as he explores the roadside attractions of Waco, Texas. Here, in the shadow of Baylor University, the frontier meets free enterprise...[Read the story.]


Walnut Canyon Dwellings

October 21, 2007
Beyond the Grand Canyon: 4 Sensational Side Trips by Suzanne & Craig Sheumaker

Many road trippers head into the Southwest with a single mission: to see the Grand Canyon. They are so intent on looking out over the Canyon's grand vistas that they skip other attractions along the way. Suzanne and Craig Sheumaker have a different mission: to introduce four of the Canyon's close neighbors and give visitors reason to pause a little longer in this extraordinary region...[Read the story.]


The Oldtimer

October 1, 2007
Sunday Drive in the Texas Hill Country by Aaron Reed

After a late night with friends and a lazy morning recovering, Aaron Reed had an urge to get out of the house and go for a country drive. The relief he sought was vertical: the lush, shadowed valleys and craggy ridges of the Texas Hill Country. It was a Sunday drive, and by the end of the day his spirits were restored by the fresh air, a collection of Burma Shave signs and a champion maple tree decked out in its first fall finery...[Read the story.]


Sheep Falls

September 23, 2007
Off the Beaten Track in Eastern Idaho
Sheep Falls on the Falls River
by Dennis Weaver

When Dennis Weaver saw the new sign, his heart sank: "Sheep Falls-4 Miles." His favorite picnic spot, one of the most scenic places in eastern Idaho, had been discovered. Would the road be thronged with SUVs? Would the falls be crowded with campers and picnickers? Dennis headed down the little dirt track with trepidation, and came back with this report...[Read the story.]


La Sal Mountains

September 9, 2007
A Road Trip Through Castles and Colors by Del Albright

Mountain road trips are often daunting adventures, but the La Sal Mountains, in eastern Utah, can be explored in an easy daylong ride along the La Sal Mountain Scenic Loop out of Moab - and all you need is an SUV. Del Albright says fall is the season to do it, when the brush fields glow red alongside the stands of gold quaking aspens....[Read the story.]


Kayaking on the San Saba

September 9, 2007
Sweet Water, Swollen River by Aaron Reed

The rain clouds looming on the horizon did, in fact materialize into record-setting rain and floods, but not before road tripper Aaron Reed had a chance to look for wallabies and go kayaking on an ancient canal in western Texas. No canned mutton, though...[Read the story.]


Great Smoky Mountains National Park

September 3, 2007
Seeing the Smokies on the Newfound Gap Road by Megan Edwards

On a recent trip to the Southeast for a summertime conference, Megan Edwards found herself with time on her hands and a favorite road trip calling her name. She headed straight for Great Smoky Mountains National Park, whose misty vistas and rhododendron-covered hillsides attract more visitors than any other national park in the country. Crowded? Yes. But a day spent traveling the Newfound Gap Road, even in high summer, offered nothing but beautiful, green forest solitude....[Read the story.]


Walla Walla Winery Tour

August 26, 2007
Walla Walla Winery Tour
by Tamara Dwyer

When Tamara Dwyer's family settled in the Walla Walla Valley in the early 1900s, it was best known for growing wheat, onions, and asparagus. That changed 40 years ago, when commercial vintners discovered an old-time secret: The volcanic soils and watersheds of this valley, which stretches from eastern Washington into Oregon, produce excellent wines. On a homecoming roadtrip last July, Tamara made a tour of three wineries and contemplated the importance of strong roots...[Read the story.]


Subaru Baja

August 19, 2007
Time Out on the Third Coast
by Aaron Reed

A drive south from Austin on a hot summer weekend takes road tripper Aaron Reed on a journey home to Rockport and Port Aransas, on the Gulf coast of Texas. Here he paddles his kayak, eats grilled shrimp and tuna tacos, and has a chance encounter with a giant blue land crab. It's one of the reasons he loves this place so well -- there's no telling what will show up...[Read the story.]


USS Alabama

July 29, 2007
USS Alabama Memorial Park
by Chad Whitney

In New Orleans, we don't often get to see military equipment. We do have one really great annual air show, and an occasional natural disaster--namely Hurrican Katrina in 2005--brings almost every military vehicle known to man to town. Besides these events, however, it's necessary to take a road trip to see some military equipment up close. I have always loved visiting the World War II battleship USS Alabama, on display at Battleship Memorial Park in Mobile...[More]


See Rock City

July 15, 2007
See Rock City
by Megan Edwards

SEE ROCK CITY. Big. Bold. Easy to read, even for a four-year-old. Ever since I deciphered the command while driving by old barns on family road trips, I've been determined to obey. "It's just a tourist trap," my dad would say, but that never convinced me I shouldn't make a pilgrimage someday....[More]


Lower Mesa Falls on Henry's Fork

July 1, 2007
Picnic on the Mesa Falls Scenic Byway
by Dennis Weaver

My brother rolled in. He and his wife were just completing an 11,000 mile road trip in five weeks. They live in Fairbanks, Alaska, and had flown into Boise, Idaho where they had rented a car-with unlimited mileage, of course. They had driven across the Southwest, through Florida, down to Key West, and then back and up the Appalachian Trail. Now they were headed back to Boise and had stopped off to see us in eastern Idaho...[More]


Highway 160, Nevada

June 24, 2007
Take a Twenty-Hour RoadTrip!
by Mark Sedenquist

A road trip, in our view, in not merely a journey that covers the distance between point A and point B. "Roadtrip" is a state of mind you can access any time you decide to enter the world of adventure as opposed to routine travel. In other articles, we have explored the concepts of Two-Hour RoadTrips, Cheap RoadTrips, and The Art of Roadtripping. We've also provided dozens of examples of "challenge" and "quest" roadtrips. Recently, we've been enjoying another type of adventure we're calling the Twenty-Hour RoadTrip....[More]