A road trip, sometimes spelled roadtrip, is a long-distance journey traveled by automobile.
A road trip, sometimes spelled roadtrip, is a long-distance journey traveled by automobile.
The world's first recorded long-distance road trip by the automobile took place in Germany in August 1888 when Bertha Benz, the wife of Karl Benz, the inventor of the first patented motor car (the Benz Patent-Motorwagen ), traveled from Mannheim to Pforzheim (a distance of 106 km (66 mi)) [1] in the third experimental Benz motor car (which had a maximum speed of 10 kilometres per hour (6.2 mph)) and back, with her two teenage sons Richard and Eugen, but without the consent and knowledge of her husband.
Her official reason was that she wanted to visit her mother. But unofficially, she intended to generate publicity for her husband's invention (which had only been used on short test drives before), which succeeded as the automobile took off greatly afterward and, the Benz's family business eventually evolved into the present-day Mercedes-Benz company. [2]
Presently there is a dedicated signposted scenic route in Baden-Württemberg called the Bertha Benz Memorial Route to commemorate her historic first road trip. [3]
The first successful North American transcontinental trip by automobile took place in 1903 and was piloted by H. Nelson Jackson and Sewall K. Crocker, accompanied by a dog named Bud. [4] The trip was completed using a 1903 Winton Touring Car, dubbed "Vermont" by Jackson. The trip took 63 days between San Francisco and New York, costing US$8,000. The total cost included items such as food, gasoline, lodging, tires, parts, other supplies, and the cost of the Winton.
The Ocean to Ocean Automobile Endurance Contest was a road trip from New York City to Seattle in June, 1909. [5] The winning car took 23 days to complete the trip.
The first woman to cross the American landscape by car was Alice Huyler Ramsey with three female passengers in 1909. [6] Ramsey left from Hell's Gate in Manhattan, New York and traveled 59 days to San Francisco, California. Ramsey was followed in 1910 by Blanche Stuart Scott, who is often mistakenly cited as the first woman to make the cross-country journey by automobile East-to-West (but was a true pioneer in aviation).
The 1919 Motor Transport Corps convoy was a road trip by approximately 300 United States Army personnel from Washington, DC to San Francisco. Dwight Eisenhower was a participant. 81 vehicles began the trip which took 62 days to complete, overcoming numerous mechanical and road condition problems. Eisenhower's report about this trip led to an understanding that improving cross-country highways was important to national security and economic development. [7]
New highways in the early 20th century helped propel automobile travel in the United States, primarily cross-country. Commissioned in 1926 and completely paved near the end of the 1930s, U.S. Route 66 is a living icon of early modern road-tripping.
Motorists ventured cross-country for holidays as well as migrating to California and other locations. The modern American road trip began to take shape in the late 1930s and into the 1940s, ushering in an era of a nation on the move. [8]
The 1950s saw the rapid growth of ownership of automobiles by American families. The automobile, now a trusted mode of transportation, was being widely used for not only commuting but leisure trips as well.
As a result of this new vacation-by-road style, many businesses began to cater to road-weary travelers. More reliable vehicles and services made long-distance road trips easier for families, as the length of time required to cross the continent was reduced from months to days. The average family can travel to destinations across North America in one week. For example, Maryland journalist Kevin James Shay drove his two kids, Preston and McKenna, across the United States and back in roughly two weeks in 2013, visiting the Grand Canyon, Mount Rushmore, and other top attractions during the 6,950-mile trip. [9]
The biggest change to the American road trip was the start and subsequent expansion of the Interstate Highway System. The higher speeds and controlled access nature of the Interstate allowed for greater distances to be traveled in less time and with improved safety as highways became divided.
Travelers from European countries, Australia, and elsewhere soon came to the United States to take part in the American ideal of a road trip. Canadians also engaged in road trips taking advantage of the large size of their nation and close proximity to destinations in the United States.
Some took to the road for years. After their home in Pasadena, California, was destroyed in a wildfire in 1993, Megan Edwards and Mark Sedenquist lived in a custom-built motorhome they called the Phoenix One for six years. They later settled in Las Vegas and started a website, RoadTripAmerica.com, [10] to network with other road-trip advocates.
Others began to see how fast they could reach all 48 states in the Contiguous United States. Texas insurance agent Jay Lowe and two associates set the record in 1994 of just under five days, and they were mentioned in the Guinness Book of Records. [11] After others beat that time, Lowe and his partners again eclipsed the record in 2019, driving 6,619 miles through the 48 states in just under four days. [12] [13]
Many people may go on road trips for recreational purpose (e.g. sightseeing or to reach a desired location, typically during a vacation period; e.g., in the US, driving to Disneyland from Oregon). [14] Other motivations for long-distance travel by automobile include visitation of friends and relatives, who may live far away, or relocation of one's permanent living space. [14]
In a January 2022 survey conducted by OnePoll, 2,000 American drivers were polled. The results revealed that, on average, individuals have embarked on approximately seven road trips throughout their lives. Over 78% of Americans have reported discovering special destinations such as restaurants (46%), historic locations (40%), and roadside attractions (38%), during their journeys that might have gone unnoticed if they had chosen an alternative mode of travel. Respondents also highlighted the additional benefits of road tripping, such as quality bonding time with family and friends (51%), the flexibility to make stops (48%), and the financial savings associated with this more economical method of travel (46%). [15]
Literature
Photography
Films
Many movies and other forms of media have been made that focus on the topic of road trips, including the namesake. Many tend to be comedic, although road movies such as Easy Rider and Thelma and Louise exemplify the American dream. [24]
Music
CarlFriedrich Benz was a German engine designer and automotive engineer. His Benz Patent Motorcar from 1885 is considered the first practical modern automobile and first car put into series production. He received a patent for the motorcar in 1886, the same year he first publicly drove the Benz Patent-Motorwagen.
A motel, also known as a motor hotel, motor inn or motor lodge, is a hotel designed for motorists, usually having each room entered directly from the parking area for motor vehicles rather than through a central lobby. Entering dictionaries after World War II, the word motel, coined as a portmanteau of "motor hotel", originates from the Milestone Mo-Tel of San Luis Obispo, California, which was built in 1925. The term referred to a type of hotel consisting of a single building of connected rooms whose doors faced a parking lot and in some circumstances, a common area or a series of small cabins with common parking. Motels are often individually owned, though motel chains do exist.
U.S. Route 66 or U.S. Highway 66 was one of the original highways in the United States Numbered Highway System. It was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year. The highway, which became one of the most famous roads in the United States, ran from Chicago, Illinois, through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona before terminating in Santa Monica in Los Angeles County, California, covering a total of 2,448 miles (3,940 km).
Driving is the controlled operation and movement of a land vehicle, including cars, motorcycles, trucks, and buses. Permission to drive on public highways is granted based on a set of conditions being met and drivers are required to follow the established road and traffic laws in the location they are driving. The word driving, has etymology dating back to the 15th century and has developed as what driving has encompassed has changed from working animals in the 15th to automobiles in the 1800s. Driving skills have also developed since the 15th century with physical, mental and safety skills being required to drive. This evolution of the skills required to drive have been accompanied by the introduction of driving laws which relate to not only the driver but the driveability of a car.
The Lincoln Highway is one of the first transcontinental highways in the United States and one of the first highways designed expressly for automobiles. Conceived in 1912 by Indiana entrepreneur Carl G. Fisher, and formally dedicated October 31, 1913, the Lincoln Highway runs coast-to-coast from Times Square in New York City west to Lincoln Park in San Francisco. The full route originally ran through 13 states: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, and California. In 1915, the "Colorado Loop" was removed, and in 1928, a realignment routed the Lincoln Highway through the northern tip of West Virginia. Thus, there are 14 states, 128 counties, and more than 700 cities, towns, and villages through which the highway passed at some time in its history.
Travel is the movement of people between distant geographical locations. Travel can be done by foot, bicycle, automobile, train, boat, bus, airplane, ship or other means, with or without luggage, and can be one way or round trip. Travel can also include relatively short stays between successive movements, as in the case of tourism.
Horatio Nelson Jackson was an American automobile pioneer. In 1903, he and driving partner Sewall K. Crocker became the first people to drive an automobile across the United States.
The Darién Gap is a geographic region in the Isthmus of Darién or Isthmus of Panama connecting the American continents within Central America, consisting of a large watershed, forest, and mountains in Panama's Darién Province and the northern portion of Colombia's Chocó Department.
Bertha Benz was a German automotive pioneer. She was the business partner and wife of automobile inventor Karl Benz. On 5 August 1888, she was the first person to drive an internal-combustion-engined automobile over a long distance, field testing the Benz Patent-Motorwagen, inventing brake lining and solving several practical issues during the journey of 105 km. In doing so, she brought the Patent-Motorwagen worldwide attention and got the company its first sales.
A roadside attraction is a feature along the side of a road meant to attract tourists. In general, these are places one might stop on the way to somewhere, rather than being a destination. They are frequently advertised with billboards. The modern tourist-oriented highway attraction originated as a U.S. and Canadian phenomenon in the 1940s to 1960s, and subsequently caught on in Australia.
Intermodal passenger transport, also called mixed-mode commuting, involves using two or more modes of transportation in a journey. Mixed-mode commuting is often used to combine the strengths of various transportation options. A major goal of modern intermodal passenger transport is to reduce dependence on the automobile as the major mode of ground transportation and increase use of public transport. To assist the traveller, various intermodal journey planners such as Rome2rio and Google Transit have been devised to help travellers plan and schedule their journey.
An intercity bus service or intercity coach service, also called a long-distance, express, over-the-road, commercial, long-haul, or highway bus or coach service, is a public transport service using coaches to carry passengers significant distances between different cities, towns, or other populated areas. Unlike a transit bus service, which has frequent stops throughout a city or town, an intercity bus service generally has a single stop at one location in or near a city, and travels long distances without stopping at all. Intercity bus services may be operated by government agencies or private industry, for profit and not for profit. Intercity coach travel can serve areas or countries with no train services, or may be set up to compete with trains by providing a more flexible or cheaper alternative.
The Benz Patent-Motorwagen, built in 1885 by the German Karl Benz, is widely regarded as the first practical modern automobile and was the first car put into production. It was patented and unveiled in 1886. The original cost of the vehicle in 1886 was 600 imperial German marks, approximately 150 US dollars.
U.S. Route 50 (US 50) is a transcontinental highway in the United States, stretching from West Sacramento, California, in the west to Ocean City, Maryland, on the east coast. The Nevada portion crosses the center of the state and was named "The Loneliest Road in America" by Life magazine in July 1986. The name was intended as a pejorative, but Nevada officials seized it as a marketing slogan. The name originates from large desolate areas traversed by the route, with few or no signs of civilization. The highway crosses several large desert valleys separated by numerous mountain ranges towering over the valley floors, in what is known as the Basin and Range province of the Great Basin.
The Yellowstone Trail was the first transcontinental automobile highway through the upper tier of states in the United States, established on May 23, 1912. It was an Auto Trail that ran from the Atlantic Ocean in Plymouth, Massachusetts, through Montana to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, to the Pacific Ocean in Seattle, Washington. The road slogan was "A Good Road from Plymouth Rock to Puget Sound".
Overlanding or 4WD Touring is self-reliant overland travel to remote destinations where the journey is the principal goal. Typically, but not exclusively, it is accomplished with mechanized off-road capable transport where the principal form of lodging is camping, often lasting for extended lengths of time and spanning international boundaries.
The Bertha Benz Memorial Route is a German tourist and theme route in Baden-Württemberg and member of the European Route of Industrial Heritage. It opened in 2008 and follows the tracks of the world's first long distance road trip by a vehicle powered with an internal combustion engine, in 1888.
Afton Station Packard Museum, a privately owned automotive museum on U.S. Route 66 in Afton, Oklahoma, was situated in a restored 1930s Eagle D-X filling station. It housed a showroom, 18 Packards & other vintage automobiles plus a collection of Route 66 memorabilia, including items from the now-demolished Buffalo Ranch Trading Post.
The Automobile Blue Book was an American series of road guides for motoring travelers in the United States and Canada published between 1901 and 1929. It was best known for its point-to-point road directions at a time when numbered routes generally did not exist.
The Negro Motorist Green Book was a guidebook for African American roadtrippers. It was founded by Victor Hugo Green, an African American, New York City postal worker who published it annually from 1936 to 1966. This was during the era of Jim Crow laws, when open and often legally prescribed discrimination against African Americans especially and other non-whites was widespread. While pervasive racial discrimination and poverty limited black car ownership, the emerging African American middle class bought automobiles as soon as they could, but faced a variety of dangers and inconveniences along the road, from refusal of food and lodging to arbitrary arrest. In response, Green wrote his guide to services and places relatively friendly to African Americans. Eventually, he also founded a travel agency.
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