An American Tale: Road Trip Across the Continent

A Project Due October 29, 2002

Plan an itinerary to travel out of New York City and across America, destination San Francisco, California. You will create a journal and a poster outlining your trip. Sample Day One Journal

1) Choose the states that you want to visit and explain why. Keep your number of states limited, you must visit at least eleven including N.Y. and California for your presentation of the travel log (journal) and your poster.

• Use the Internet to look at or print a map of the US, Facts on File (password provided by teacher) Login and Select Geography, Click on World Atlas, Select United States from the Select a Country drop-down box, Look at the Map and write down the 11 states that you plan to visit on your way to San Francisco.

2) Highlight the major cities in each state (at least one per state).

• Use Facts on File to select each of the 11 states to look at or print to find the major city from each state that you plan to visit and write down the cities that you are going to visit. Print the information from each state in order to answer questions 5-9 of this worksheet.

3) Plot and list the major highways you have chosen to travel.

• Use Mapquest to plan your trip. Click on the Road Trip Planner.
• Enter New York as the city and New York as the state to begin the trip
• Click on Next, Enter your next destination city and state, click on Add
• Continue until you have entered all the destinations (you will only be able to enter 10 destinations. You will have to do one last route from the last city to San Francisco.)
• Click on Your Route
• Click on the Driving Directions for segment one and print the Map with directions
• Do the same for all the segments of your trip
• Click on What’s Nearby. Select each destination from the drop-down menu. Find the two Points of Interest for each area.
• Find Hotels and costs

4) Show your trip on a (full size) poster board [create a roadmap]. Use the maps from number three above.

5) Describe the climate for each state that you pass through.

6) Describe the various vegetation regions you encounter along the way.

7) Include any major landforms you encounter (mountains, hills, plateaus & plains).

8) Include any major rivers, lakes or river systems you encounter.

9) Briefly describe the various types of economic activities of each state or region you passed through.

10) Include two points of interest that you visited in each state you traveled through (this could include tourist attractions, national parks, historical sites, wonders of nature, museums, exceptionally large cities, etc.) Information collected in part 3 of this worksheet.

11) Include a budget, giving the estimated cost of the trip -- include things like hotel costs, food, gas, and money needed for any tourist attractions you intend to visit. Much of this information was provided with the Route Planner in Mapquest.

12) Your grade will be reflected by how well you fulfill each of the prescribed areas

above and will be counted as two test grades.