The Road Trip That Started It All

Our first family road trip was all in. We were moving from California to Florida, my dad had just passed away, and he was supposed to move with us. He talked about making the drive all the time, so we road-tripped in his memory, spreading a small amount of ashes at each and every stop.

We opted to take Route 66 for the majority of the drive, which meant we were in trucker heaven and birthed a new appreciation for Love’s travel stops. Breakfast tacos also officially became a road trip staple for us. For that first journey, our son had just finished first grade, so he was only six years old.

The route took us across a serious chunk of the map: California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, and finally, Florida.

Each state, with the exception of Georgia, had a significant stop, so it counted as a visited state for our tracker. Our rule is simple: in order to count a state, we have to actually do something in it. Driving straight through or just passing through an airport doesn’t count. So ironically, while we drove through Georgia (gah, that Atlanta traffic), it didn’t actually count as visited for our map counter.

Some of our stops were conventional road trip must-sees, like the Grand Canyon, while others were unexpected gems we found along the way, like a giant Popeye statue in Arkansas.

I’ll write separate posts diving into the individual states, but I wanted to lay the foundation for where this road-tripping and state-visiting adventure began. It began with my dad. It continues for us, but in part, for him—someone who loved cars and loved to drive. While he didn’t get to make the trip himself, I know he was and continues to be with us on every single adventure. Sometimes we even convince my mom (aka Grandma) to come along; she’s up to more than 20 states visited herself now.

Stay tuned for all the details about the road trip that started it all. If you haven’t driven coast to coast, I definitely recommend it. We did it once in a couple of weeks, and then my husband and I did it again in three days to move our pets across the country. Yes, three days. That part I don’t recommend quite as much.