Part of the front cover of my vintage “See the USA the Easy Way” loop trip ideas guidebook. This is a circle route road trip in upstate New York.
“I want to travel but I’m not sure where to start.”
“I’m going on a long road trip and want to see as much as possible.”
The answer is a loop trip or a circle route: go out one way and come back another.
(Part of my very occasional Travel Post Friday series here on the blog)
Both of the conversations above reminded me of a guidebook that I picked up decades ago that you can still find on eBay, called See the USA the Easy Way – 136 Loop Tours to 1200 Great Places. Since geography doesn’t change that much, it’s still handy to pull out and thumb through when I’m doing trip planning, especially if a place is unfamiliar.
For the person who asked me about getting started traveling, but not having a big budget, I recommended this route from where we are in Central Texas:
- Austin to Fort Worth TX, for cowboy culture but also extraordinary modern art
- Fort Worth to Oklahoma City, OK (one of my favorite, most overlooked destinations)
- Oklahoma City to Tulsa OK, especially during the 100th anniversary of Route 66
- Then either straight back down from Tulsa through Choctaw Country and parts of northeast Texas like Paris, Sulphur Springs, Tyler, and Palestine, OR,
If time and budget allow . . .
- Continue east from Tulsa to Northwest Arkansas, take the Pig Trail Scenic Byway south through the forest then swing back west to Fort Smith AR, Texarkana, Shreveport LA, or maybe stay to the east and go down to Lafayette LA and Cajun Country, then work back west/northwest to Austin.
My most recent experience with a loop trip involved the Midwest Great Lakes, specifically checking out the Michigan beach town of Grand Haven.
Nope, not California. Sunset on the beach: Lake Michigan in Grand Haven MI.
Our itinerary:
- Fly into Chicago, do the famed architecture cruise on the Chicago River, see incredible museums, enjoy live summer jazz at the Shedd Aquarium
- Rent a car and drive around the southern coast of Lake Michigan (don’t miss Indiana Dunes National Park)
- Pick a Michigan beach town and stop for a couple of days
- Take a ferry back across Lake Michigan to Milwaukee (another underrated city)
- Drive south back to Chicago, leaving a day or so to do the things you missed after flying in
Sometimes circumstances require an out-and-back road trip, but if you can, take a loop!
All photos by the author
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