The perfect road trip across the US would take you to all the must-see
landmarks and historical sites and minimize unnecessary driving, but
figuring out the ideal path isn't easy. CS graduate research assistant
and data tinkerer Randal Olson created an algorithm to solve this
problem and come up with the epic road trip.
You can read about the computing details in the link below, but here are
the trip details for those itching to embark on this journey: You'll be
driving and stopping in all 48 continguous US states; visiting only
National Natural Landmarks, Historic Sites, Parks, and Monuments; and
never leaving the US (there's an extra stop in Cleveland to avoid going
through Canada, but you'd save time going through Canada).
All in all, it's only 13,699 miles of driving—or about 9.33 days of
driving time, assuming no traffic. The landmarks you'd visit include the
Grand Canyon, the Alamo, Liberty Bell, Statue of Liberty, Mammoth Cave
National Park, Taliesin, Lost World Caverns, and Mount Rushmore.
If you're more cosmopolitan than outdoorsy, Olson also has a bonus road trip map
that uses TripAdvisor's Best City to Visit list, so you can drive your
way across the US visiting the top city in each state. Except for North
Dakota, Vermont, and West Virginia, that is. Because apparently out of
400 recommended cities to visit, those states do not have any worthwhile
cities, according to TripAdvisor members.
Got summer plans?
source:lifehacker