The Roadmap Before the Road
When I start thinking about a trip, I tend to do some research before I commit. In the case of my Route 66/Utah trip, I did quite a bit.
I almost always begin planning on Apple Maps to map out initial distances and baseline travel times. I love zooming into the maps to look for forgotten historic landmarks or small towns hidden along the way. Once an interesting pinpoint catches my eye, I do a deep dive to see if it warrants adding to the travel itinerary. Doing this makes me feel incredibly familiar and confident with the region before I ever set foot out the door, which is particularly comforting when traveling solo.
Lodging is one of the most important aspects of travel for me, so once I have mapped out a general route, I immediately begin researching where to stay. For this Route 66 trip, I relied heavily on the recommendations from the Facebook group, Historic Route 66, and my Moon Route 66 Road Trip guide.
The historic Blue Swallow Motel instantly stood out to me, so my next step was to check its availability and pricing. Fortunately, the travel gods were smiling upon me—June was already heavily booked, but they happened to have a vacancy for the exact night I needed.
Because my ultimate destination was Moab, Utah, I tried to structure my daily driving chunks so I wouldn't spend the entire day behind the wheel. I knew my time in Moab would be short, so I wanted to arrive there as efficiently as possible. When I discovered that Gallup boasted El Rancho, a historic hotel frequented by old Hollywood royalty, I knew I had found the perfect destination for Day 2
Once I have a game plan, I transfer all logistics to a Google Sheet. This serves as my checklist and note-taking document. Each day gets its own tab. Here’s what I include: starting and ending places, towns I want to stop in along the way, along with the things I want to see and do. Of course, I include the mileage and approximate time breakdown as well. For every stop I want to make, I link to the official website. This makes it way easier for me to reference things during the trip instead of having to search for the information. I also include any special notes about business hours. This is really important, especially if you’re traveling to small towns and off times. Including everything on a spreadsheet also helps me think through my itinerary for the day to make sure I can do everything I’ve set out to do. Admittedly, I still tend to overplan—it's simply in my nature! But checking this sheet every few days prior to departure keeps the roadmap fresh in my mind. Check out my sheet if you need some inspiration.
Even after I feel like I have everything planned out, I revisit my maps and sheets every few days. Again, this helps me become familiar with the area I’ll be traveling. I’ll still do research and I may adjust my itinerary.
At this point, there are a couple of big things left to do.
Vehicle Prep
If it’s a road trip, I would recommend doing your vehicle prep as soon as possible. Checking your tires and fluids before hitting the desert stretches is always a solid move. The heat and long gaps between major service stations in eastern New Mexico can be brutal on a car. I drive a Honda CRV so I know it’s reliable, but it also has 160,000+ miles on it. It had been a while since I had done any maintenance so I took it in about a month before my trip to have all the things done to it.
Establishing Context
I am an avid reader. When I travel, I try to read at least one novel that takes place where I’m headed. This seemed like the perfect time to tackle the classic, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. I was enamored with this book; it’s easy to see why it is considered a classic. It painted a picture of one of the darkest times in our country. Steinbeck’s writing is so beautiful and enlightening. While I knew about the Dust Bowl, Steinbeck has a way of helping the reader become a part of the struggle. There were times I was driving along and could imagine what he had written about. Even if you aren’t planning to drive the Mother Road (Steinbeck coined this term, by the way), please do yourself a favor and read this classic.
Now that I have the big picture, it’s time to get into the details.
