From Red Rocks to Blue Ridges: My 40-Day Solo Road Trip Across the U.S.

 I started driving with no end date.

 After leaving a job that didn’t feel like mine anymore, I needed space — the kind only a vast country and a winding highway could offer.

So I planned a loose route around the U.S., centered on national parks and old cities, knowing full well it would change along the way. It did.

🏞 West to East, No Rush

I left from Portland and headed south — Crater Lake, Yosemite, the dusty trails of Pinnacles, and sunrise in Joshua Tree. I crossed into Utah for a week with the “Mighty Five” — Zion, Bryce, Capitol Reef, Arches, Canyonlands.

Then Colorado pulled me east. Mesa Verde, the dunes, the endless plains.

Somewhere in New Mexico, I stopped checking the map.

🌄 Shenandoah & the Cities

Driving the Blue Ridge Parkway through Virginia felt like slipping into a poem. No destination. No music. Just the sound of tires and birds.

I reached New York, then Boston. Not to check things off, but to walk quietly through them.

I visited Princeton, Yale, Harvard. Why not?

🎒 What I Carried

The one thing that stayed with me — literally — was my best waterproof backpack for travel. Through hail in Bryce, damp forests in Shenandoah, and surprise showers in Chicago, it protected everything without ever demanding attention.

It reminded me how travel gear should feel: invisible, reliable, ready.

🌅 Coming Back

The loop closed through the Great Lakes, the Midwest, the edge of Wyoming. I passed places I’ll probably never see again, and that's okay.

Not every trip needs meaning. But this one left a mark — gentle, wide, and stitched into my memory by road signs and wind.

👉 Click here for my extend backpack