Who Am I?
My name is Jason Barnette. I grew up in a small Southwest Virginia town surrounded by a national forest, state parks, and the Blue Ridge Parkway. Outdoor adventures and scenic drives were an integral part of my childhood.
During my junior and senior years of high school, I was introduced to long-distance driving when I attended a specialized math, science, and technology school 50 miles away. I took my first solo road trip during the fall break of my first year of college.
The road trips continued throughout early adulthood.
In 2012, I started the Southeastern Traveler blog. I wanted to get more attention for my photography so I could license them to publications and Destination Marketing Orgazinations (DMOs). So, I began writing 3 to 5 paragraphs about my most recent adventure and then included a gallery of my best photos.
In 2018, I attended the Travel Blog Exchange’s annual conference in Corning, New York. I learned how to turn a travel blog into a thriving business inside of a small-time side job. After spending weeks researching available domain names and social media handles, I found my new identity.
Road Trips & Coffee allowed me to focus my niche on two of my favorite things. But six years later, I realized I’d painted myself into a corner. While exploring the craft breweries in York County, South Carolina, I realized my website was more than just road trips and coffee.
In 2024, years of neglecting my health finally caught up to me. Unable to sleep, constantly exhausted, and horrendously overweight, I decided it was time for changes to my life. I underwent three corrective surgeries to fix issues I’d put off far too long.
And I created Road Trips of America.
It was another reinvention of myself. But this time, I am entirely focused on my passion for road trips while still leaving plenty of room to explore other areas of travel.
What is Road Trips of America?
Road Trips of America is the internet’s best resource for scenic highways, road trip inspiration, and personal travel experience. It’s a tool for helping people build their own road trip itineraries by showcasing the highways you can drive, what you’ll find along the way, and ideas for inspiring your adventure.
The core of Road Trips of America revolves around Scenic Highways – a collection of Interstate Highways, U.S. Highways, National Scenic Byways, and All-American Roads that are perfect for road trips. Every travel article on this site is listed on relevant scenic highways, making finding great content along whatever road you’re driving easy.
In addition to travel articles based on personal experiences, this website also features how-to guides written by experts, product reviews based on thorough testing, and valuable resources for planning your road trip.
Where is My Home?
Since this is one of my most frequently asked questions, I devoted an entire section to answering it.
The short answer is that my home is my parents’ house near Charleston, South Carolina. That’s where my paychecks are mailed and where I file taxes.
But the long answer is that my home is on the road. In 2015, I packed up my three-story townhouse in Abingdon, Virginia, and put everything into storage. Until 2023, I didn’t spend more than three months in one location.
I did the van life for about two years. I’ve traveled across half the country in a Honda Pilot stuffed to the roof with travel gear. And since 2021, I’ve traveled thousands of miles in my trusty Honda Pilot – my favorite road trip vehicle so far.
My Progress Exploring America's Scenic Highways
Expertise is the most fundamental asset for a travel writer. Grammar and writing technique are also essential, but those fail if the writer is not knowledgeable about the subject.
I refuse to be one of those armchair travel writers whose primary source of information is Google.
So, if you visit the Interstate Highways, U.S. Highways, National Scenic Byways, or All-American Roads pages, you will notice I disclose how many of those highways I’ve traveled at the very top of the page. I want to be completely transparent about my expertise.
My goal as a perpetual road tripper is to eventually drive every one of these highways. I don’t know if I’ll ever travel every mile of every highway because that would mean traveling over 225,000 miles.
But I do want to travel the most scenic portions of every Interstate Highway and U.S. Highway. And I want to travel every National Scenic Byway and All-American Road from beginning to end. Here’s a quick snapshot of my progress exploring America’s scenic highways so far: