48 State Road Trip
Inspired by some friends, a journalist, and a "data tinkerer", I spent the second half of 2015 on a solo road trip across the entire continental United States.
States
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Visited
Miles
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Traveled
Days
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On the road
Blog Posts
I'm a little impossibly behind with my writing about the trip. But here are the articles I did finish.
#1
June 19, 2015
Prelude
#2
June 23, 2015
Drones, Inspiration, and Algorithms… Oh My.
#3
June 27, 2015
“Get your ticket. Stop complaining.”
#4
July 9, 2015
Preparation: “Stuff” edition.
#5
July 12, 2015
Crap.
#6
July 14, 2015
California
#7
July 18, 2015
Oregon
#8
July 18, 2015
Preparation: Route Edition
#9
July 18, 2015
The Route
#10
July 19, 2015
Washington
#11
July 20, 2015
Idaho
#12
July 22, 2015
Wyoming
#13
July 22, 2015
Montana
#14
July 23, 2015
South Dakota
#15
July 24, 2015
North Dakota
The Route
You can get a sense for the route based on this map of major locations I visited along the way.
How I Did It
It took a number of weeks to plan, and then I changed things up along the way.
Starting Point
Start with 48
I made a list of at least one location in each of the contiguous 48 states (and D.C.). My starting points were the destinations chosen by Tracy Staedter and Randy Olson.
Secret Sauce
Add a dash of ridiculous
I wanted to see something totally different in each state. So, I tried to find ridiculous things... like the world's largest watermelon. I was lucky enough to get a bunch of recommendations from friends too.
Calculating The Route
Mix with Genetics
Randy Olson was kind enough to make the Python code for his genetic algorithm available. So, I put my list of locations into it, and calculated a basic route.
Genetic Algorithms are above my pay grade, but they're fascinating.
