Where should I go on my next summer road trip?

With spring on the horizon, I’ve been asked a lot recently about where I might be traveling this summer. I usually don’t give it too much thought until the spring because I’m consumed with Wichita State Track and Field. I guess now is the time to start to figure it out!

Since Covid hit, my bigger trips have been domestic, where before Covid I was taking some pretty wild international trips. Here is where I’ve gone in the summer for the past several years …

2015 – Europe (Ireland, France, England)

2016 – Southeast Asia (mostly Thailand and Cambodia)

2017 – Iceland

2018 – New Zealand and Fiji

2019 – South America – Peru, Chile (Easter Island), and Bolivia

2020 – Glacier National Park and the surrounding areas, then I did Route 66 in December

2021 – US Route 89 from Canada to Mexico

2022 – ???

I’m definitely itching to get out of the country again, but it feels like it’s not quite the right time to try and plan something internationally yet. I think 2023 might be my return to exploring another country I’ve never been to before.

Obviously, with the start of my YouTube channel, I’ve been doing a bunch of travel to small towns and communities from Ohio to Montana and everywhere in between. I still plan to do plenty of that, but the appeal of a two week road trip is something I really look forward to. I had never really done that before the Route 66 trip but watching my friends Cole and Rachel Davis’ road trips motivated me to try it – and I immediately loved it. I think beginning with Route 66 was a great way to go, as it has been the road to travel for decades of people looking for adventure. I felt like a bit of a pioneer on last year’s trip on US Route 89 since there isn’t much online about it. It was every bit as good as Route 66, and one I hope gets more attention in the coming years.

I’ve been casually looking over different “classic” road trips in the past few months without giving it serious thought. One I want to do someday is US 50 from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean, but it would take too long considering I have a full-time job at WSU to get back to at some point. There are other shorter ones like Hwy 1 on the west coast or The Appalachian Trail in the east. But as I was thinking what road trip I could do that mixes a multi-state adventure with the potential of passing through many small towns, it hit me like DUH!

The Oregon Trail.

The Oregon Trail begins in Independence, Missouri (Near Kansas City), goes through Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, and finally Oregon. It’s about 2200 miles in length (very similar to Route 66). Obviously, no one can do the actual Oregon Trail, but there are roads that basically travel closely along the original path the entire way, and many of the towns were established to support the migration heading west on The Oregon Trail. Since I’ve started doing videos of all these pioneer towns in the Midwest and West, I’ve been fascinated by their history and excited to learn more. I think The Oregon Trail road trip will be right up my alley!