In the days leading up to Labor Day, I took an extended vacation and drove across these beautiful United States. It was actually nice to disconnect from social media and daily updates on government happenings and taking the time to soak up Mother Nature in all its glory.
I decided to do this bucket list item with my dad, because it was also his dream to drive cross country. Besides, it was cool to spend time together. We drove my Jeep Wrangler into the California sunset. I highly suggest getting your car prepped for this trip if you are going to travel almost 3,000 miles.
We began near the East Coast in Philadelphia and worked out way west, hitting parts of Western New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, hugging the Great Lakes until we spent our first night just outside Chicago, took us about 11 hours. You have to make stops often, not just to fill up but to also take breaks and check out the amazing sights.
The second day of traveling brought us through Wisconsin, Minnesota, and South Dakota, probably the straightest and boring stretch of road. Lots of windmill farms and cornfields! But we ended up checking Mount Rushmore in South Dakota just outside Rapid City!
From there, we headed to Salt Lake City for day three, driving on a lonely two-way road through Wyoming to Utah...got to take a cool pic by the State Line though!
Utah was pretty cool on our fourth day of traveling, we ended up at Zion National Park! And it was gorgeous!
Day four also got us into Las Vegas, but I can't show you any pics from that night! We finally arrived in Los Angeles on the morning of day five and by then we were pretty exhausted, but it was a fun ride! Just gotta make sure you budget for gas (which was about $600 one way), hotels for each night because you want to sleep in a bed and not a cramped car, and food! But I suggest packing a cooler of food, way cheaper!
There's more from the road trip under the #RaphAcrossAmerica hashtag and on my Instagram @MyNameIsRaph