So I've committed myself to a road trip next summer.  Seeing the country has always been something I wanted to do, and it looks like next summer following graduation I will finally be able to do it.  This particular trip was the brain child of Colin and I, and we have come up with a handful of "musts" for the trip:

1. We have to structure where we go around places we can find to stay - This is of course simply for practical reasons.  The two of us know people here and there and I think we can map out a course that will provide us with as much free lodging as possible.  

2. We have to make sure we stop at certain locales - If we're going to do this we have to see the Grand Canyon and things like that.

3. Outside of the two previous guidelines, there cannot be any plan - A big part of this trip for me is to break out of the monotonous routine of everyday life.  I've been insistent that we structure the trip as minimally as we can.  Finding places to stay is just a smart thing to do, and making sure we see certain things is just a way of making the most out of the opportunity, but I am not willing to set any guidelines outside that.  If we decide that we want to spend a week somewhere after arriving, we can do that, because there is no next destination to get to.

So far we have places to stay in the following cities/areas:

-Rochester, NY

-Twin cities, MN

-Anchorage, AK

-Portland, OR

-Washington

-San Francisco

-Austin, TX

-Washington DC

Needless to say we need to add a lot more places to this list, but it's not bad considering the trip is about a year off...