Road Trip Backstory
As far back as I can remember, I’ve always loved riding in the car. For several years back-to-back, beginning when I was around 6 or 7, my mom, GG, and Papa D would drive me and my sister from our house in Sacramento to my great-grandma Martha’s ranch in Pauma Valley, CA (outside of San Diego) which was an 8-10 hour drive.
In the summer of 2016 — just before I turned 11 — my grandpa Papa and I began driving from one end to the other of all the roads in Sacramento County. We started with Bradshaw Road and Calvine Road, and eventually we expanded our trips to Watt Ave, Zinfandel and Hazel. Then, I started to look at Google Maps and figured out where all of the roads and highways started and ended. I begged my mom and dad and grandparents to drive me (from start to end) on these roads every chance I could.
Once we covered all of the main roads in Sacramento and surrounding counties, it got more complicated. I had to wait for holiday weekends to travel further away. My mom started taking me on overnight road trips for my birthday (all of the 80 freeways in the SF Bay area, all of the freeways around LA and Portland). My grandpa drove me all around Northern California during summer breaks.
To date, (March 2024) we have covered most of the major roads and highways in California and parts of Oregon, Nevada and Arizona. My goal is to travel along every major highway in the United States and eventually all of North America.
My parents told me I had to wait until graduating from high school to take a road trip across the United States. That time has come and I am holding them to it. The trip is planned and we are going to “hit the road.”
