In 2022, my friend and I embarked on a month-long minivan trip.
As we stopped at coffee shops along the way, I wrote a journal-style blog series sharing our itinerary and trip highlights.
Honestly, I’m still pretty proud of this road trip itinerary and highly recommend it for anyone with a van and a month to spare.
Brockie and I took a quick selfie at an Alabama rest area, on our way south :)
My ‘Week 1’ cross country road trip itinerary
Today Brockie and I drove from North Carolina to Louisiana, which is about a twelve-hour drive. Not too long, but still a decent stretch of the country. I’m a bit cramped from sitting in the van all day, but it feels sooo good to be back on the road.
My itinerary for week 1 of my cross country trip is pretty exciting, because I’m visiting all new places (well, new for me). Generally on a road trip I try to choose a mix of new destinations and favorite places I’ve visited before. This cross-country road trip is about a 50/50 even split of new and old places, but the first week will be all destinations I haven’t visited before.
Stop 1: New Orleans
I’m not too big on cities. Lots of people, lots of traffic, lots of buildings…it’s not my kind of environment. But lately I’ve learned that cities can actually be a lot of fun, for a few days anyway. So the first few stops on my itinerary are cities. (Don’t worry though…it’s all trees and rocks after that.)
We have two days to spend in New Orleans, before continuing to drive west on I-10. I imagine we’ll spend most of our time in the French Quarter, but I don’t really like to plan activities in cities. I prefer simply driving or walking around and exploring until we find places where we want to hang out for a while.
Stop 2: Austin & San Antonio
I’m pairing these Texas cities together because they are less than two hours apart…which is basically nothing compared to all the driving I’ll be doing on this cross country road trip! We have one day to spend in each city. It’s not much time, I know, but like I said before: I’m not big on cities. Plus, we have a lot of stops on this road trip and there isn’t time to stay anywhere for very long. We have enough time to hit the Alamo, the San Antonio River Walk, and a few other highlights. Then we will be back on the road!
Stop 3: Big Bend National Park
After hitting a few cities, we’re heading to the extreme opposite: the remote desert near the Texas-Mexico border. Big Bend National Park is about 7 hours or so west and south of San Antonio. This National Park has been on my bucket list for a while, but it is definitely out-of-the-way and far from the interstate, making it more inaccessible than most National Parks.
We’re going to try our best to stay well-hydrated, because it’s going to be HOT.
After Big Bend we will be heading up to Arizona…but that’s going to be another week.