What Road Trip Are You Looking Forward to This Year?

Hitting the road this summer? Good idea. There are plenty of places to visit, including giant balls of twine.

byAaron Cole|
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The open road is calling to us this summer. But the question I want to know from you is, what area code is it calling from?

For most of us, the arrival of spring and summer means it’s time to hit the road and find open spaces, good places, and friendly faces. And let’s face it, airports are packed, or they’re mostly miserable. Take your pick.

I’ll offer my planned road trips as a jumping-off point. Just a couple of days ago, I chatted with a good friend who organizes the Lemons Rallies, which includes hilarious destinations mainly driven in crapwagons. That’s more my speed, crisscrossing small-town America on lonely roads far from interstates. While I appreciate our interstate system and its accessibility, I’m more enamored with things that are off-the-beaten-path. Where is the biggest cheese curd in America? I’m into it. Largest ball of chewed gum? You bet. 

Lonely stretches of highways are my jam, where regional attractions and small towns live. Later this year, I’m looking forward to driving to Arizona the hard way, which is to say, mostly off-road. Then there’s the coming eclipse with its path of totality crossing from Oregon south through Nevada, Utah, parts of Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas. If you’ve never seen a total solar eclipse, I highly recommend it. It’s literally and figuratively breathtaking; the moon blocking the sun instantly lowers the ambient temperature by a few degrees. Crickets chirp, birds are super confused, and it’s spectacular. During the last solar eclipse, my wife and I traveled to a small town in Nebraska and watched the event from a local rodeo arena sponsored by a 4H club. The event's magnitude convinced me to see more—and it helped me understand why neolithic people might have thought the world was ending. Highly recommended. 

But I want to hear from you. Where are you planning to take the Family Truckster this year? Sound off in the comments below!

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