Guides
Backroad itinerary building: how the process works
How a backroad itinerary is actually built: route designation first, then surface and season, then services, and only then the places you wanted to see.
Archive
August 2026
Features
15 kinds of historic highway route worth a closer look in 2027
Fifteen kinds of historic American road, what each one preserves, and how to tell a route that still carries its history from one that only carries a sign.
Features
A photographer's field list for historic highway routes
What to carry and when to shoot on a historic route: opening hours that end the day, rock art in flat light, ghost towns at dawn, and dust management.
Guides
A practical 2027 guide to slow road travel in the U.S.
Slow road travel planning for 2027: setting a realistic daily distance, reading a route's real conditions, budgeting honestly, and checking before you drive.
Guides
A two-day itinerary built around scenic drives
How to shape two unhurried days around a scenic drive: short mileage, an early stop, river access in the afternoon, and a camp booked before dark.
Guides
A two-day itinerary built around small town stops
Two days shaped around towns rather than mileage: a morning walk, an afternoon site, a night with services, and the road conditions that decide it all.
Rules
Accessible options on a road trip, and what they cost
What accessible facilities on a road trip actually cost, why partial accessibility is the norm, and how to plan a route around confirmed facilities.
Rules
Accessible options for slow road travel travelers
How to judge whether a back road trip works for a disabled traveler, using the measurements agencies publish rather than the word accessible on a page.
Guides
Before starting scenic drives: a planning guide
What to settle before a scenic drive: surface and grade, where the pavement ends, whether the access is legal, and who to call for current conditions.
Features
Best seasons to plan around road trip costs in 2027
How season moves the cost of a road trip: fee free days, camp host months, shoulder season lodging, and the trade between cheap dates and open roads.
Features
Best seasons to plan slow road travel in 2027
Season sets what a slow road trip can include. How closures, heat and mud narrow the calendar, and how to pick dates that match the route you want.
Costs
Budgeting for a road trip without fuzzy numbers
Building a road trip budget from figures you can defend: a per mile rate, real nightly costs, published fee reasoning, and a contingency with a purpose.
Features
Historic highway route stops worth adding to a longer trip
How to choose stops that earn their detour on a historic route, with two documented roadside sites that show what a good short stop actually offers.
Industry
How local businesses can support scenic drives
What small businesses along a scenic route can do that agencies cannot: current road reports, real opening hours, water, and a reason to stop at all.
Industry
How local businesses can support small town stops
What a small town business can do for passing travelers: honest hours, water and toilets, local road knowledge, and using the history already on the street.
Reviews
How to compare tours built around historic highway routes
Comparing guided trips on historic roads: what interpretation is worth, which sites are indoor or outdoor, and the questions that expose a thin itinerary.
Industry
Where to find local cost information for a road trip
Who actually knows what a road trip costs in a given place: camp hosts, field offices, state recreation pages, and the questions that get useful answers.
Industry
How to find local guides for slow road travel
Where to find a guide who knows a back road, how permitting separates real operators from hobbyists, and the questions that reveal local knowledge fast.
Guides
How to plan historic highway routes without rushing the trip
Planning a historic route at a pace that works: elevation and grade, loops instead of point to point, and leaving the last hour of the day unbooked.
Guides
Questions to ask when booking scenic drives in 2027
The questions worth asking before you pay for a guided scenic drive in 2027: permits, vehicle, turnaround rules, what the fee covers and what a pass does not.
Guides
Questions to ask when booking small town stops in 2027
What to confirm before committing to a small town stop in 2027: seasonal hours, staffing, access roads, and who actually holds current local information.
Costs
Road trip costs: transport, stays and tickets
The three cost columns of a road trip, what sits in each, and why permits and lotteries deserve planning attention long before the lodging does.
Costs
Slow road travel costs: transport, stays and tickets
What a slow road trip really costs: fuel against distance, the two kinds of public land fee, lodging that moves with the season, and the padding to keep.
Costs
What a well-planned weekend of historic highway routes costs
Costing a two day historic route weekend: mileage as the anchor figure, site fees, where the money goes, and the padding that keeps the budget honest.
Maintenance
What first-time visitors miss about scenic drives
The things a first scenic drive teaches the hard way: working roads, single lane sections, no phone signal, and stops that exist only on the map.
Maintenance
What first-time visitors miss about small town stops
The parts of a small town most drivers pass without seeing: the original center, the reason it was built there, and the hours that quietly govern the day.
Guides
What to pack when a road trip is built around its budget
The gear that pays for itself on a road trip: water, cooking, a tire kit and exact change, judged against what campgrounds actually provide on site.
Guides
What to pack when a trip centers on slow road travel
A packing list built around the failures that actually happen on remote roads: water, fuel, recovery gear, navigation that works without a phone signal.
Industry
Where to stay near the best scenic drives
Choosing a base for a scenic drive: developed campgrounds, dispersed sites, stay limits and the questions a campground page answers before you arrive.
Industry
Where to stay near the best small town stops
Choosing a base near small towns: campgrounds on the highway, motels in town, reservation windows, and the safety checks worth making before you book.
Reviews
Which small town stops make sense for travelers in 2027
How to tell which small towns are worth stopping in: the buildings that mark a real center, the services that survive, and the ones that only look promising.