Where do you go on your road trips and do you have any road trip goals?
I'm a huge fan of road trips to United States National Parks, as you probably can tell from looking at the videos of the road trips I've taken. There are 63 US National Parks, and my eventual goal is to visit the 51 of them in the contiguous 48 states. (I'd have to go to Alaska (8 National Parks), Hawaii (2), the Virgin Islands (1), and American Samoa (1) to visit the other 12. Who knows? Perhaps I will someday.)

Which "contiguous-48-states" US National Parks have you visited?
I've visited 45 of the 51. There's a full sortable list — and an interactive map showing every park — on my Parks page.

Which "contiguous-48-states" US National Parks have you not visited?
As of 2026, I still have to visit 6 of the 51. (I visited White Sands and New River Gorge when they weren't National Parks, but I will count them.) I'm 88% done with my "Contiguous US National Park Goal." Here's a list:

Acadia
Biscayne
Cuyahoga Valley
Dry Tortugas
Everglades
Indiana Dunes

(Notice three are in Florida!)

Do you have a page with route maps for ALL trips versus just the individual year pages?
Absolutely, here are the maps!

Which "contiguous-48-states" US National Parks require boats or planes? (In other words, which ones are hard to access mainly by car?)
Biscayne (Florida), Channel Islands (California), Dry Tortugas (Florida), Isle Royale (Michigan), and Voyageurs (Minnesota) are all mostly water accessible. I've been to Voyageurs and you don't have to have a boat, although to see the park really well you need one (chartered, rental, etc.).

Which "contiguous-48-states" US National Parks are touching/joined?
To my knowledge, the only two that are actually touching (and also happen to be administered as one unit) are Kings Canyon and Sequoia. While Yellowstone and Grand Teton are within 5 miles or so, and there's continuous NPS-administered land between them, they are not touching. Carlsbad Caverns and Guadalupe Mountains are within 10 miles or so, but they are not touching. Everglades and Biscayne are approximately 20 miles apart. Other than that, there aren't really any "close" National Parks per se.

Can I see your day-by-day trip itineraries?
Absolutely! The Trips page has the day-by-day itinerary for every road trip — dates, daily summaries, lodging, and costs where I recorded them. They're based on the Google Docs planning spreadsheets I used while planning each trip, and they correlate with the videos on this site.

How about United States National Monuments? Which ones have you been to?
As of 2025, there are 138 US National Monuments, and I do not plan to visit them all. However, here's a list of the ones I've been to (that I can recall...I may have been to a few others), including the year first visited. Keep in mind that a National Monument is essentially the same "status" and "protection level" as a US National Park, only usually smaller. Sometimes they're just as grand as some US National Parks.

Colorado N.M. (2016)
Craters of the Moon (2013)
Devil's Tower (2010)
Giant Sequoia (2017)
Grand Staircase-Escalante (2011)
Mount St. Helens Volcanic (2019)
Sunset Crater Volcano (2013)
White Sands (2016)

What camera/camcorder did you use to take the videos?
2026: Most videos were taken with a Samsung Galaxy S22U (usually 2160p 60fps). Videos marked with "SONY" were taken with a Sony FDRAX53 (usually 2160p 30fps). Videos marked "HEADCAM" were taken with an AKASO Brave 4 Pro (2160p 30fps). Videos marked "DRONE" were taken with a DJI Mini 2 SE (2.7K, ~1520p 30fps).

2024: Almost all videos were taken with a Samsung Galaxy S20+ (2160p 30fps).

2019: Most videos were taken with a Sony FDRAX53. Most of these videos are in UHD (2160p 30fps) but some are in HD (1080p 60fps). Videos marked with "CELL" were taken with a Samsung Galaxy S7 (2160p 30fps).

2018: Most videos were taken with a Sony PJ260V. Some videos were taken with an iPhone 6S (1080p 30fps) and are marked with a "D" in the title.

2017: Most videos were taken with a Sony PJ260V. Videos marked with "CELL" were taken with a Samsung Galaxy S4 (1080p 30fps), and videos marked "HEADCAM" were taken with an Akaso EK7000 (1080p 60fps).

2016: All videos were taken with a Sony PJ260V.

2014: Similar to 2013 (see below), most videos were taken with a Sony PJ260V.

2013: The vast majority of the videos were taken with a Sony PJ260V camcorder (1080p 60fps resolution). The videos with "Dashcam" in the title were taken with a Canon SX150IS (720p 24fps), and the videos with "Headcam" in the title were taken with a Contour ROAM (1080p 30fps). A few videos were taken with the camera mainly used for photos, a Canon SX50HS (1080p 24fps). They're appropriately labeled.

2011 & 2010: Almost all of the 2010 and 2011 videos were taken with a Canon SX20IS (720p 30fps). Some March 2010 videos were taken with the Canon SD1200IS (480p 30fps).

2009: All of the videos in 2009 were taken with a Canon S5IS (480p).

Do you log GPS? How did you do it?
In 2026, I used three different main GPS loggers. #1 was the GPSLogger app on my S22U. If your phone has dual-frequency (L1/L5) GPS capabilities, it could perform as good as a dedicated GPS unit. #2, I used the Garmin DriveSmart 65 that recorded an albeit less accurate/less frequent GPS path to supplement the GPSLogger if it dropped out. #3, I used a Garmin GPSMAP 65s for individual hikes. So, for most hikes, I had two units on my person that were both dual-frequency (L1/L5) capable. For the GPSLogger app I used 10ft minimum and 1 sec recording. In other words, it records every second if your GPS position has moved 10ft or more. Prevents recording tons of stationary points. I'm pretty certain I got the best, most complete GPS path of all years in 2026. The least accurate parts are those inside buildings, especially bigger buildings, which interferes with the signal.

I will add more about previous years in the future. Some of the maps imply what GPS loggers were used.

Do you have any tips on what camera/camcorder to use if I wish to record my road trip experiences?
Nowadays, smartphones offer GREAT flexibility. That may be your best option...an inexpensive smartphone camera/video recorder (even aside from your main phone). For Android users, an older generation Galaxy? As of 2026, perhaps an S20 or so? Still has 2160p 30fps, plus SD card capability. For dashcams, there are many cheap options. For a headcam, the AKASO Brave 4 Pro is a pretty good, inexpensive choice.

In the past, I would have recommended other stuff. Below are some older recommendations that I leave here for archival purposes.

As of 2019: [I would recommend a camera/camcorder that has a rotating LCD so it's easy to take video/pictures of yourself if you wish. The Canon SX20IS and SX50HS (essentially different iterations of the same camera) both have that rotating LCD ability. The Sony PJ260V is a fantastic camcorder that also has a rotating LCD screen. In my opinion, camcorders generally do not take photos as well as cameras take video. If you're looking for one do-it-all piece of photo-video capturing, the Canon SX50HS is a good choice (with a 50x optical zoom). However, the Sony PJ260V has a higher framerate (60p), arguably better video, as well as GPS tagging, so if your main focus is great video but don't want to break the bank, (<$300), then the PJ260V should be a consideration. The Sony FDRAX53 has excellent image stabilization and 4K @ 30fps, although it does not have GPS tagging and costs more than $500.]

Where were each of the front page photos taken?
The 2026 photo shows the inside of Ubehebe Crater in Death Valley National Park. The 2024 photo shows Gateway Arch. The 2019 photo shows Crater Lake. The 2018 photo shows a bird perched along the South Kaibab Trail of the Grand Canyon. The 2017 photo shows Yosemite Valley & Half Dome from Yosemite Point. The 2016 photo shows the Rio Grande River near Santa Elena Canyon (in Big Bend National Park). The 2014 photo shows Plateau Point at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. The 2013 photo shows the rocky path to the 13,000-foot summit of Wheeler Peak (in Great Basin National Park) from about 12,000 feet. The 2011 photo shows the famous US-163 shot near Monument Valley where Forrest Gump stopped running. The 2010 photo shows Artist Drive in Death Valley National Park. The 2009 photo shows the highest point of the Blue Ridge Parkway at mile marker 431 on Richland Balsam Mountain. Finally, the FAQ photo shows the Grand Canyon from the South Rim's Bright Angel Trail (nearby the 1.5-mile resthouse's water spigot).

Why do the June 2010 trip and the June 2013 trip have a "Day 0"?
For 2010, "Day 0" was June 4. As with many of these trips, it was a drive day taking me from Southeast Tennessee halfway to the Grand Canyon (usually western Oklahoma). I probably should have referred to the first day in 2010 as "Day 1." Also, this was the first BIG trip, as 2009 was relatively short, so I was trying to figure out a method to the madness, so to speak. If I had to do it again, I would have not used "Day 0." For 2013, the first day of the trip was on May 31. I thought it would be nice and simple if "Day 1" was June 1, "Day 2" was June 2, etc. I think 2013 is justified! Maybe not so much for 2010.

How can I contact you?
Questions? Comments? Concerns? I'd love to hear feedback, especially if this site helped you in any way.

You can e-mail me at zzwebmasterzz in the "RoadTrp.org" domain, but remove those two sets of zz's.