Destination Palo Alto
A Seven-Day Cross-Country Road Trip
Earlier this year, my daughter Ari graduated from George Mason University and began the process of choosing graduate schools and programs. That journey led to an acceptance letter from Stanford University—an easy decision. Once she committed, she started thinking ahead to life on the West Coast and quickly decided she wanted to have both her car and her bike available for new adventures in California.
Shipping the bike would be straightforward. The car, not so much.
So we planned—and set out on—a seven-day road trip across the United States.
Here’s our adventure.
Text & Photos: Martín Fernández
MILES
3,143
ORIGIN
Dale City, VA
DESTINATION
Palo Alto, CA
DAYS
7
DAILY MILES
262 - 626
We decided that Ari and I would drive to Palo Alto together so she could arrive with her car and bike for the start of her two-year West Coast chapter. The trip would give us a chance to spend meaningful time together, experience a wide swath of the country, and check off a few new states and cities along the way.
There was one significant caveat: I was still recovering from major surgery. I wanted to make sure the trip wouldn’t jeopardize that recovery. After consulting with my doctor, the guidance was clear—don’t push it. Take our time. Break each day into two- to three-hour driving segments and use the stops to get out, walk around, and reset.
We made the decision to do the drive in early August, knowing Ari needed to be in Palo Alto by September 12 to move into her dorm apartment and begin settling into her new community. Our target arrival date was September 11.
Planning the Route
I began planning by mapping the route in Google Maps, but quickly realized the hardest part wasn’t the driving—it was figuring out where to stop every couple of hours in places that offered something worth seeing or doing.
That’s when it occurred to me: this might be the perfect opportunity to use AI.
I turned to ChatGPT with a simple prompt:
“Help me plan a trip from Northern Virginia to Palo Alto, CA. I only want to drive a maximum of 8–9 hours per day, and I want to stop in places where there is something to do.”
The result was a surprisingly solid starting itinerary. I refined it further—asking for stops every two hours, prioritizing hikes and regional landmarks, and eliminating cities or routes we didn’t want to drive through. Eventually, we landed on a route that felt well matched to our interests.
The more I adjusted the prompts, the more the suggestions aligned with what we were looking for. The final route included six overnight stops, seven “must-do” hikes, and plenty of flexibility for lunch stops and spontaneous detours. Along the way, we skipped at least one out-of-the-way location that would have added nearly two extra hours of driving through Kansas, opting instead for a visit to Carmel, Indiana.
In hindsight, the trip worked remarkably well. If I were to do it again, I’d make only a few changes—skipping Reno, Nevada, and staying instead in either Truckee or Lake Tahoe. With an extra day, we would have headed south along the lake and continued west on Highway 50 toward Sacramento. But hindsight, as always, is 20/20.
Trip Entries (in order)
Below is our day-by-day itinerary, along with a selection of photos highlighting each leg of the journey. I also brought along my Kodak Retina IIIc film camera to document a few stops on film.
