There’s nothing quite like celebrating the joy of being on the open road! Wheels on the highway, windows rolled down, map in hand and music blasting.
Short or long, on your own or with a group, road trips provide the opportunity to get away and be free, even if just for a little weekend getaway.
National Road Trip Day brings awareness and attention to the fun and adventure of spending time on the road!
National Road Trip Day Timeline
First Transcontinental American Road Trip
Horatio Nelson Jackson, his mechanic, and a dog named Bud complete the first documented U.S. cross-country automobile trip from San Francisco to New York City in 63 days, proving long-distance car travel is possible.
Creation of the Lincoln Highway
The Lincoln Highway Association is formed and announces plans for the first transcontinental highway for automobiles, linking New York and San Francisco and inspiring motorists to attempt long road journeys.
U.S. Numbered Highway System and Route 66
The American Association of State Highway Officials establishes the U.S. Numbered Highway System, including U.S. Route 66, which soon becomes famous as a main street for cross-country travelers and migrants.
“The Grapes of Wrath” and Road Migration
John Steinbeck’s novel “The Grapes of Wrath” is published, dramatizing Dust Bowl migrants traveling Route 66 to California and cementing the highway and the road journey as central American symbols.
Interstate Highway System Authorized
President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, launching the Interstate Highway System, which dramatically shortens travel times and makes long-distance family road trips easier and safer.
Postwar Family Road Trips Take Off
As car ownership rises and new interstates open, middle-class American families increasingly take summer vacations by car to national parks, roadside attractions, and theme parks, popularizing the modern road trip tradition.
Publication of “Blue Highways”
William Least Heat-Moon’s travel memoir “Blue Highways” is released, chronicling a solo journey on America’s back roads and helping to romanticize road trips as a way to seek authenticity beyond the main interstates.
How to Celebrate National Road Trip Day
Have fun and enjoy National Road Trip Day with some of these ideas for making the most of the day:
Take a Nostalgic Road Trip
Pack those snacks and get ready for some family fun! While today’s world offers all sorts of comfort and convenience, perhaps this road trip can be a special one with a blast from the past.
Go retro by turning off smart phones, getting rid of headphones, and engaging in some fun activities with the group. Enjoy some road trip games, sing some silly songs, and even roll down the windows and stick your feet out for a few minutes!
Unfortunately, it’s impossible to roll back time enough to pay only $.60 per gallon to fill up the gas tank! But cars are certainly more fuel efficient than they used to be, so that should help balance things out a little.
Watch a Road Trip Movie
Those who don’t have the ability to head out on a road trip in honor of National Road Trip Day might want to observe the day by accessing road-trip-style entertainment.
Check out some of these movies that pay honor to the mighty American road trip:
- Vacation (1983). Chevy Chase heads up an all star cast in this classic road trip movie from National Lampoon.
- We’re the Millers (2013). What can go wrong when a drug dealer recruits a fake family to make an illegal road trip to Mexico?
- Little Miss Sunshine (2006). This drama comedy follows a family’s adventure across the country to enter their daughter into a beauty pageant.
History of National Road Trip Day
Road trips have been around since the time that vehicles were able to be driven for distances.
Though they have been made easier by convenient gas stations and smoothly paved interstate highways, road trips have been an enjoyment for over a century.
In fact, the first record of a road trip happened in 1903 when Horatio Nelson Jackson took a road trip from San Francisco to New York. Of course, his traveling companions for the 63 day road trip were his mechanic and his dog!
When Route 66 opened up in the United States in the 1930s, and as the automobile industry grew over the next decades, road trips became more prevalent.
With memories like packing a picnic, singing songs, playing the license plate game and riding backwards in the ‘way-back’ seat of the station wagon, road trips bring with them a certain type of nostalgia for many Americans.
National Road Trip Day started a bit more recently, though. The brain child of Pilot Flying J travel centers, this event was first celebrated in 2019.
Facts About National Road Trip Day
Early Cross-Country Road Trips Were Grueling Endurance Feats
One of the first widely publicized American cross-country car journeys, undertaken by H. Nelson Jackson and Sewall K. Crocker in 1903, took 63 days to travel from San Francisco to New York and cost more than twice the price of the car in repairs, fuel, and incidentals.
At the time, there were fewer than 150 miles of paved roads outside cities, so the pair drove across rutted wagon tracks, railroad beds, and open fields, frequently relying on blacksmiths for repairs.
Route 66 Helped Create the Classic American Roadside Landscape
When U.S. Route 66 was commissioned in 1926, connecting Chicago to Los Angeles, it quickly became a spine for migration, tourism, and commerce.
By the mid‑20th century, hundreds of motels, neon-lit diners, and quirky roadside attractions sprang up along the route, helping define the midcentury American road trip aesthetic and supporting thousands of small businesses in otherwise isolated towns.
The U.S. Interstate System Was Designed for Defense as Well as Road Travel
The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 that created the modern Interstate Highway System was justified not only as a way to speed civilian travel but also as a national defense measure.
Planners wanted high-speed roads that could move troops and equipment efficiently and even serve as emergency runways in wartime, a dual purpose that shaped the controlled-access, limited-intersection design familiar to long-distance drivers today.
Motels Revolutionized Affordable Family Road Travel
Before the 1930s, long-distance motorists often stayed in expensive downtown hotels or improvised camps.
The rise of “motor courts” and later motels, positioned right along highways with individual parking spaces outside each room, made car-based vacations more affordable and convenient for middle-class families.
By the 1960s, there were an estimated 60,000 motels across the United States catering primarily to road travelers.
Road Trips Still Dominate U.S. Vacation Travel
Despite the growth of air travel, most American leisure trips are still taken by car.
The U.S. Travel Association reports that roughly 80 to 85 percent of domestic leisure trips are made by automobile, truck, or RV, reflecting the enduring appeal and practicality of road-based vacations for families and small groups.
Driving Fatigue Is a Major Hazard on Long Trips
Long road journeys significantly increase the risk of drowsy driving, which the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates is involved in tens of thousands of crashes and hundreds of deaths in the United States each year.
Studies show that being awake for 18 hours can impair a driver’s performance to a level comparable to a blood alcohol concentration of 0.05 percent, underscoring the importance of rest breaks on extended drives.
Modern Vehicle Efficiency Has Reduced the Fuel Burden of Road Travel
While early road trips often required frequent refueling and carried extra gasoline cans, modern vehicles travel much farther on a gallon of fuel.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the average fuel economy of new light-duty vehicles in the United States has improved from about 13 miles per gallon in the mid‑1970s to over 25 miles per gallon in recent years, cutting fuel use per mile for long drives by roughly half.
