The map is not the territory

So where to begin a 4,500 mile road trip? I thought about doing the straight East West route following US-20 from New York to Portland but thanks to the magic of google maps and street view, you can get a pretty good picture of what the scenery might be like and unless you're a (modern) history buff or dig the East Coast scene, it's kind of short on the spectacular for my taste.

To go chasing mountains and landscape you have to head West to the North American parts of the American Cordillera (read all about it in the riveting Lithotectonic terrain map of the North American Cordillera by Silberling, N.J. et al. 1992) , comprising the Rocky Mountains, Sierra Nevada, Cascades and Coast ranges of Oregon, Washington and California.

The Western US also features wide open desert zones (most of Nevada it seems) and the horizon-spanning plains required for the roads to nowhere so beloved of the Hollywood road movie. Big chunks of Thelma & Louise was filmed in and around Canyonlands and Arches National Parks in Utah.

Plan is to fly into Denver, Colorado where it all begins and then drive a massive loop West until I hit the Pacific. Then, drive up the West coast of California and Oregon before looping back across Idaho and Wyoming to Denver about 50 days later.

It's one thing to design a route on screen, but the as the saying goes, the map is not the territory so I'm only booking definite stopovers every 5 days or so, leaving the rest to following my nose once I'm on the ground.

Tripadvisor has been great to help pick out places to stay along the way. Tip: go for places where the management respond to comments - always a good sign someone is listening and actually cares. That combined with of course checking out the venue's website should (crosses fingers) be a relatively risk free way to remote-book stopovers

One book I've relied on a lot to help plan my route (a not-leaving present from my colleagues at Rightmove Overseas) is Road Trip USA: Cross-country Adventures on America's Two-lane Highways by Jamie Jensen. It's stuffed with the small town detail and designed from the ground up for road tripping away from the freeways and major cities. Perfect for my needs and a great source for chain-free diners and foodie spots - more of which in my next post.

The book has 11 routes, criss crossing the continental US horizontally or vertically, each it's own characteristics. I've plumped for a mix of the Loneliest Road, Pacific Coast, Oregon Trail and Road to Nowhere. It's not often you set out looking to get lost, but something tells me this part of the world will be a great place to do it in.