I love to travel. It's in my blood. I've had a valid passport for as long as I can remember. I spent 20 years in the Navy and traveled all over the world.
I can't not travel.
In 2018, my brother and I took our Mom to Ireland. In April of 2019 I did a solo photo excursion to Italy, and in May of 2019 I took my daughter to Scotland for her birthday (we go wherever in the world she wants to go every year). Last year, my daughter's birthday trip was going to be to Belgium, but Covid happened. This year, we were going to go, and fly first class but, sadly, there are still just too many international travel restrictions for it to be feasible.
So, I decided I'm going to change things up. I'm going to embark on two epic road trips this year. I'm going to drive the four longest roads in America.
The first leg will actually be the third longest road, from Boston to Seattle. I'll drive from Florida to Boston, spend a couple of days with an old Navy buddy and his family before heading west on I-90. While I'll be able to visit friends and family along the way, the main goal will be to stop and explore and photograph the small towns along the way that just scream "old time Americana".
After various stops along the way, I'll visit my daughter and her fiance in Seattle for a couple of days. My daughter will then join me for the drive south to Newport, OR for the cross-country drive along US-20, which is the longest road in America. US-20 actually has its own website: Historic US-20
There are literally dozens of small towns along the way, and we'll stop and photograph as many of them as we can.
This is the western portion of US-20:
And this is the eastern portion:
One of the highlights is going to be driving through Yellowstone. It'll be late April, so all of the roads should be open by the time we get there.
While my daughter's also a photographer, her forte is video, so she'll be bringing her video gear as well as her drone. She wants to document the whole "longest road" thing. We'll drive to Boston, and then my daughter will decide if she just wants to fly back to Seattle or head down to Florida with me for a visit.
I'm figuring the entire trip to take about five weeks. With side trips here and there, the total distance will be well over 10,000 miles so, instead of driving my car, I'll be renting a Ford Explorer. It's not as good on gas mileage as the car, but it ain't bad, plus it's roomier and will hold a lot of gear/suitcases/crap I buy along the way. Plus, you can't put a price on peace of mind. If I break down in my car, I'm on the hook for repairs (that happened to me in 2013 in Montana). If I break down in the Explorer, I just call Avis.
I'll endeavor to knock out the second and fourth longest roads in either late summer or early fall...
