SEAN DUFFY: Take a Great American Road Trip and rediscover our amazing country
"[W]e do not take a trip; a trip takes us."
- Travels with Charley: In Search of America by John Steinbeck
In 1960, American novelist John Steinbeck set out with his dog Charley in a camper on a journey to rediscover the heart of the nation. Though he had spent his career writing about our country, he understood that to truly know and love America, he needed to see America. "I had not heard the speech of America, smelled the grass and trees…seen its hills and water, its color and quality of light," he wrote at the time.
Steinbeck and Charley traveled 10,000 miles across the United States, encountering farmers, drifters, Southern segregationists, and Northern suburbanites. He documented what he learned and saw in the famous book "Travels with Charley: In Search of America." His reflections — full of awe, sorrow, and empathy — become a portrait of our country and a call to see it firsthand.
You'll never know America by listening to the nightly news or scrolling through TikTok or Instagram. Like Steinbeck before his journey, few of us have traced the spine of Route 66, watched the sun set behind the majestic Grand Canyon (one of the seven natural wonders of the world), stood beneath a 2,000-year-old, 300-foot-tall California redwood, or hiked the Smoky Mountains at dawn.
As your secretary of transportation, I'm inviting you to rediscover America—not through a screen or a headline, but mile by mile, window down, heart open. In celebration of our nation's 250th anniversary, I am launching The Great American Road Trip—a yearlong invitation to travel, reflect, and reconnect with the people and places that define us.
Transportation should be a pathway to opportunity, and road trips have always offered just that: freedom, flexibility, and a front-row seat to the American story. At the Department of Transportation, we're working to ensure that every American—no matter where they live or what they earn—can afford to get behind the wheel and explore this country on their own terms.
Families are now better equipped to hit the road, thanks to lower gas prices, reduced inflation, and a renewed sense of American optimism under President Donald Trump's leadership. At the Department of Transportation, we're also eliminating burdensome regulations, such as Biden-era mileage standards, to make car ownership more affordable. No family should be priced out of owning a vehicle or exploring our beautiful country.
I've taken road trips with my own family— cooler packed with snacks, long playlists, windows streaked with bug splatter, kids pointing out shapes in the clouds. Away from our routines, we reconnected and bonded—to each other, to the places we passed, and to the people we met. We learned things we hadn't expected, not just about the country, but about ourselves.
Together with America250 and Brand USA, we've curated 250 destinations—some iconic, others unknown to most. We hope you'll stand in the dazzling lights of Times Square, but also take the turn that leads you to The Troll Hole Museum in Ohio, a crab meat and lobster stop in Maine, a castle hidden in the Michigan woods, and a lighthouse on a rocky New England coastline. We hope you'll visit Hemingway's home in Key West and find yourself deep inside Kentucky's Mammoth Cave. America's story lives in landmarks like the Statue of Liberty, South Dakota's Mount Rushmore and the Spanish missions of California, yes—but it also thrives in the family-owned roadside diners, the bait shop in northern Wisconsin, and the giant Paul Bunyan statue in Minnesota (a conversation starter with the kids about the tough lumberjacks who built America).
We also celebrate the American-made vehicles that carry us—not just machines, but symbols of movement, freedom, and grit. President Trump's commitment to fair trade is revitalizing our auto industry, keeping factories open and producing bigger, better cars by hands that know the value of hard work and craftsmanship.
In the years ahead, the world will turn its eyes to America, as we host the World Cup and the Olympics. As the spotlight turns to us, let's use this year leading up to our 250th anniversary as a nation to explore our homeland—to travel not as tourists, but as citizens eager to understand, to celebrate our freedom, and to rediscover this place we call home. As the song says, "from the mountains to the prairies, to the oceans, white with foam."
This year, hit the road. Go far, go near, go somewhere you've never thought to go. And like Steinbeck, let the journey take you.
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Share and collaborate on assets like video, photography, graphics, digital ads and websites that can serve both tourism and economic development needs. Create a working group with members from both teams to ensure a continuous line of communication and collaboration. Unified branding starts with unified leadership. Include executives from both teams in early brand planning sessions and goal-setting discussions, and keep them regularly updated on shared wins, upcoming campaigns and areas for further collaboration. Ultimately, the wisest, most forward-thinking communities will recognize the power of an integrated approach. By aligning messaging and developing a cohesive brand strategy, you can ensure that destination marketing efforts complement, not contradict, economic development initiatives. The logistical challenges of coordination are real, but the benefits are even greater. 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