One week until the road trip!

It's hard to believe that we're a week away from the road trip. By this time next Thursday, we're hoping to be looking at the Grand Canyon sometime between early evening and sunset! The planning process is done. Now comes the final preparation and packing and then checking off the items on our trip checklist. Stay tuned for pics from the journey.

3 Weeks Until Road Trip!

Only 3 weeks remain until we depart on the second installment of The Great American Road Trip: The South. The flight to Phoenix is booked as is the rental car. The route has been mapped, mileage calculated, hotels selected, and some main attractions plotted.

There are several days with lots of driving between destinations. We still need to explore places and things to see along some of these roadways so we can break up the monotony of the drive. One final planning aspect: dinners! On our last road trip, we estimated where we would be around the dinner hour each day and mapped out some local eateries. We still need to do the same for this trip. Hopefully we'll eat just as well as we did along our northern journey.

Route Planned for 2012 Road Trip

We have the route planned for the 2012 Great American Road Trip. This year's journey starts in the southwest, moves into the deep south and then back north via the Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive. Here's a map of the planned route showing some of the major stops.

The more detailed route is 3100 miles stretching across 13 states. Plans for each day include:

• Day 1: Phoenix to Sedona and then to Grand Canyon, AZ
• Day 2: Grand Canyon then thru Flagstaff to Winslow, AZ
• Day 3: Winslow, AZ thru Gallup, NM and stopping in Santa Fe for sightseeing. Onward to Santa Rosa.
• Day 4: Santa Rosa, NM to Roswell for some alien visitation and then off to Abeline, TX.
• Day 5: Abilene, TX to Dallas for a tour of Cowboys Stadium. Onward to Shreveport, LA.
• Day 6: Shreveport, LA to Vacherie for plantation tours and then to dinner in New Orleans. Onward to Laurel, MS.
• Day 7: Laurel, MS to Birmingham, AL for Civil Rights tours. Pass thru GA and TN to Asheville, NC.
• Day 8: Biltmore Estate in Asheville and then onto the Blue Ridge Parkway to Hillsville, VA.
• Day 9: Back to the Blue Ridge Parkway and connecting to Skyline drive. Resting in Harrisonburg, VA.
• Day 10: Finish Skyline drive in Front Royal, VA then north thru MD and DE toward home in PA.

Videos from July 2011 Great American Road Trip

It's been a long time in the making but we've finally compiled our photos and videos from our 2011 road trip. The 4-part Great American Road Trip is now available on You Tube featuring photos, videos, and music heard on the trip.

Part 1 covers days 1 through as we start from Portland, OR and head to Jackson Hole, WY.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwBO4dgQzdQ

Part 2 covers day 4 at the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzaD6CpCjbU

Part 3 covers days 5 through 7 as we travel from Wyoming through South Dakota and Iowa and into Chicago, IL.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoe1cvWTofQ

Part 4 covers days 8 through 10 where we visit the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, OH and spend the last night and day near the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania before heading home to Bensalem.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZymGIEF9buU