for: Road Trip (album)

A road trip is a journey via automobile, sometimes unplanned or impromptu, or a journey involving sporting game(s) away from home "road trip." Webster's New Millennium Dictionary of English, Preview Edition (v 0.9.7). Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. 05 Aug. 2008. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/road trip>., thus encompassing any journey by automobile, regardless of stops en route.

Origins of the Road Trip

The first recorded road trip was attested in stele in the court of Ramses II. He was said to "come down on the Medeans in his chariot after driving allnight from Memphis." Road trips were important throughout antiquity. Alexander's march into India was described the historian Nearchus. During the Roman Republic, it was not uncommon for young patrician men to gather together to tour the Roman world. Jung even identified the Road trip as a persistent element of human culture.

Although the modern road trip can trace its roots to post-WWII America, road tripping in general began long before The Great War.

The first successful North American transcontinental trip by automobile took place in 1903, and was piloted by H. Nelson Jackson, Sewall Crocker, and a canine by the name of Bud. The trip was completed using a 1903 Winton Touring Car, dubbed “Vermont” by Jackson. The trip took a total of 63 days between San Francisco and New York, and cost US$8,000. The total cost included items such as food, gasoline, lodging, tires, parts, other supplies, and the cost of the Winton.

Expansion of Highways

New highways in the early 1900's helped propel automobile travel, primarily cross-country travel. Commissioned in 1926, and completely paved near the end of the 1930's, U.S. Route 66 is a living icon of early modern road tripping.

Motorists ventured cross-country for holiday as well as migrating to California and other locations. The modern road trip began to take shape in the late 1930's and into the 1940's, ushering in an era of a nation on the move.

The Modern Road Trip in North America

The 1950's saw rapid growth of ownership of automobiles by American families. The automobile, now a trusted mode of transportation, was being widely used for not only commuting, but leisure trips as well.

As a result of this new vacation-by-road style, many businesses began to cater to road-weary travelers. Such businesses include the Howard Johnsons hotel chain, among others. These new types of establishments sought to provide travelers of American highways one thing: Consistency. By creating business chains, restaurants and hotels were soon able to provide not only a familiar name, but familiar quality with travelers of American roadways.