Few travel experiences are more classically American than the road trip. With a sprawling transcontinental highway system linking almost every state, there’s no better way to travel the country, but the activity has changed dramatically throughout the last century. From the first cars, camper vans and RVs to today, here’s what the great American road trip looked like in every decade until the 2000s.

Although the first car was invented in 1886, it wasn’t until a couple of decades later that automobiles became more popular and widespread in America. This was thanks to a game-changing invention: Henry Ford’s Model T, which launched in 1908. It ran on gasoline, which made it cheaper and meant it could travel further distances than the electric vehicles that had previously been used. In this photograph from the 1910s, a family poses by their brand new Model T.

You might be surprised to learn that the world’s first recreational vehicle, or RV, was invented back in 1915. The 25-foot (7.6m) long automobile was created by Roland Conklin’s Gas-Electric Motor Bus Company and dubbed the Gypsy Van. It was kitted out with a kitchen, sleeping berths, folding tables, various small appliances, a generator and lighting. It was used by the Conklin family to travel from Huntington, New York to San Francisco, California on a journey that captured the attention of national media. 

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Since the first national parks were signed into law in the late 1800s, Americans began to gain a greater appreciation for the natural beauty in their backyard. Then the arrival of cars made it easier to access them – although it was still a privilege available to the wealthy few who were lucky enough to own one. Pictured here is a group of visitors on a guided “Two National Parks in Two Weeks” tour that swept through Rocky Mountain National Park and Yellowstone National Park.

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As cars became increasingly efficient and powerful, they began to be used to haul small trailers. In 1919, a group known as the Tin Can Tourists of the World (TCT) was set up by trailer enthusiasts, who wanted to create safe and clean campgrounds for people to visit. It’s thought the name originated from the Ford Model T, or “Tin Lizzie”, which was the preferred set of wheels for many TCT members at the time. This campground in Gainesville, Florida was one of the first to be set up.

We wouldn’t dream of cutting a hole in a giant sequoia today, but back in 1881 a tunnel big enough to drive through was carved in the towering Wawona Tree in Yosemite National Park. Intended to be a tourist attraction, the 227-foot (69m) tree certainly drew in plenty of early road trippers such as this family. Sadly, the 2,100-year-old beauty fell in 1969, partly due to the fact the tunnel had weakened its base.

While road trips may have been a way to unwind for many, motorcyclist and car racer Erwin Baker turned these cross-country journeys up a notch – by driving as fast as he could. In fact, he even earned the name “Cannonball”, after a newspaper compared him to a Cannonball Express train during one of his famous cross-country races. Shown here in 1923, in his Oldsmobile 30A surrounded by fans, the racer had just completed a trip from New York to Los Angeles by motocycle in a record-breaking 12-and-a-half days. 

The Great Depression shook the automobile industry, and sales declined throughout this decade. However, those who could afford to still enjoyed the freedom of the open road, travelling to the coast, the mountains and beyond. Here, road trippers consult a map while passing through the state of Georgia.

When people began to make longer journeys by car, it became apparent they’d need somewhere to keep their belongings and equipment. Enter the car boot (or trunk in the US). Early examples were fairly rudimentary, involving a trunk or suitcase attached to the back of the car – hence the name – but from around the 1930s, built-in storage became common in many cars. In this photograph, a couple loads the boot with luggage for a trip.

The year 1936 saw the invention of the iconic Airstream Clipper, another mode of transport that would shape the image of the American road trip in decades to come. Despite costing a minimum of $1,465 or $30,300 (£23.3k) in today’s money, sales went through the roof and it became popular with celebrities and political figures of the day, who had theirs customised with a variety of luxury finishes.

The striated peaks of the Badlands, South Dakota are just as striking in this rudimentary colour photograph as they are today. The national park (then a national monument) was located close to US Highways 14 and 6, so when roads were built through it during the 1930s and 1940s there was a significant uptick in visitor numbers.

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Although cars had been on the market for a few decades, the Great Depression and the Second World War had halted automakers’ growth and made most people unable to buy them. But in the postwar years, cars became increasingly affordable and many families were able to own them for the first time, which opened the world of road-tripping up to a wider audience.

The national parks remained popular road trip destinations throughout the decade, as you can see from this black-and-white image of a car driving through Yellowstone in 1941. Parks’ infrastructure began to improve and families’ disposable income rose dramatically, making holidays more accessible for many.

By the 1950s, the road trip had become an undeniable fixture of American culture. The postwar years saw a continued boom in car ownership across the country and road conditions had improved a great deal too. In 1959, an engineer at Volvo developed the three-point seatbelt (the kind we're familiar with today) which also made hitting the road a whole lot safer. Pictured here, a road-tripping couple check their map.

Jack Kerouac's 1957 novel On The Road helped cement the dream of travelling through America’s highways and byways in the collective imagination. Celebrities also helped to give road-tripping a glamorous image. Pictured here is Marilyn Monroe and her husband at the time, playwright Arthur Miller (centre, with box), with their friend Milton Green (right), a photographer. Captured in New York in 1956, the trio are about to take a trip to Connecticut in a Thunderbird convertible.

Now that more Americans were taking to the road during their vacation time, they needed a place to stay. So the neon signs of motels and diners became an increasingly common sight along the country’s highways. A classic “mom-and-pop” motel would offer affordable lodgings, a place to park up for the night, and often a diner serving home-style food.

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The first all-weather road between the Midwest and the Pacific Coast, Route 66 revolutionised the road trip. It shaved some 200 miles (322km) off the journey between Chicago and Los Angeles, making it easier for people in the rural west to get to cities in the midwest and northeast. In 1960, Route 66, an American TV series that followed the escapades of a pair of young men travelling the route, aired on CBS. As the so-called Mother Road continued to crop up in popular culture, America's fascination with her grew.

In the early 1960s, Aristocrat was the premier manufacturer of RVs in the country and its lo-liner model, which could fit into a standard garage, was especially popular. Although the company was in business for less than two decades, its trailers were so well-made – using aircraft construction methods and high-quality metals – they can still sometimes be seen on the road today.

Camper vans became a big thing in the 1960s, when they were increasingly associated with the hippie counterculture of the time. Popular models included Volkswagen’s Type 1 and Type 2 Transporters and Dodge & Chevy’s Dodge A100. Seen here is a van parked up by the Teton Range of the Rocky Mountains in Wyoming.

Released in 1967, the Volkswagen Type 2 became a symbol of the hippie trail during the late 1960s and 1970s, since many made the journey in this van. This classic model wasn’t just reserved for bohemian types though – it was also popular with adventurers remaining on home soil. It’s pictured here on the shores of Little Duck Key in the Florida Keys.

As motorhome and RV ownership grew, so did the need for more sites in which to park up. The successful management of public land, such as national parks and state parks, also helped to fuel camping’s popularity in this time. Seen here, a group of campers sit around by their trailer.

Trailer ownership waned in the late 1970s due to the recession and gas crisis, so much so that Airstream changed tack and released a motorhome for the first time. But its famous trailers remained in use. In this image from the decade, a couple gaze at New Mexico’s stunning mesa formations on a road trip, their Airstream attached to the back of a classic station wagon.

The iconic Route 66 was decommissioned in 1985, as newer, faster routes such as the Eisenhower Interstate had made it obsolete. Businesses along the highway, such as the Bel Air drive-in cinema in Mitchell, Illinois, suffered and many fell into disuse. However, 85% of the road remains and many road-trippers looking to revisit its nostalgic past still use it today.

Opened in 1959, Daytona International Speedway began to host popular car and motorcycle events from the 1960s, which drew in a huge range of spectators. Pictured here are eager National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) fans – in their cars, camper vans and even rented U-Haul vans – gathered to watch the 1985 Pepsi Firecracker 400 race.

After a lag in the 1970s due to the oil crisis, the RV industry boomed during the 1980s. Popular movies including National Lampoon's Vacation and The Blues Brothers, whose storylines heavily featured the motorhomes, helped to cement RVs’ place in popular culture. The iconic RV of the decade was the Fleetwood Bounder, released in 1985, which was the first of its kind to include basement storage – now a common fixture in these vehicles.

Alaska has remained at the top of many tourists’ wish lists to this day and it’s easy to see why. In this 1990s photograph, a car travels along the scenic Seward Highway Trail on the Kenai Peninsula. We can bet they stopped a few times to take in the incredible views along the way.

Cute, vintage trailers such as this one came back in vogue in the 1990s and 2000s, alongside the faster and more efficient RVs and motorhomes of the day. Parked up in Shady Dell RV park in Bisbee, Arizona, the 1954 Crown trailer looks like an idyllic (and very cosy) home for two.

Made popular by the Beat Generation in the 1950s and the hippies of the 1960s, central California’s Big Sur is one of the most popular road trips in the country. Highway 1 is the iconic route which takes travellers along this rugged coastline, with the most visited stretch running between Santa Barbara and Monterey. Here, a classic 1990s compact car drives alongside the sun-splashed cliffs. 

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The Winnebago Adventurer, pictured, became increasingly popular throughout the 2000s and was the top-selling motorhome by 2012, according to data from Statistical Surveys. The Class A gas-powered RV had spacious and comfortable interiors, a well-equipped kitchen and ample storage space, making it a great choice for many families.

In the 2000s, drivers didn’t need to worry about packing snacks for their road trip as the era of drive-thru fast-food outlets was in full swing. In fact, you could also find drive-thru pharmacies, grocery stores, liquor stores, coffee shops and banks lining the country’s highways and byways by this point.

By the 2000s, the historic Route 66 had become a tourist attraction in its own right, with plenty of motels, diners and even a museum profiting off its storied past. At this section near Prewitt, New Mexico, photographed in 2003, the road runs parallel to Interstate 40. It seems a fitting visual metaphor, given the road was ultimately surpassed by the high-speed interstate highway system.

GPS technology became an integral part of many cars in the 2000s and 2010s, meaning many drivers swapped old-school maps for sat-navs. Meanwhile, Google Maps first appeared on a smartphone in 2007, providing even more navigation options – as well as raising some safety concerns, as some people started looking at their phones while driving. Pictured is a car driving through the scenic Monument Valley, Arizona using a sat-nav.

Thankfully, modern technology has helped make road-tripping a little greener. Airstream released models of its classic trailers equipped with PV panels on their roofs, as well as add-on solar packs, allowing campers to harness the sun’s rays and provide off-grid energy. Pictured is an Airstream trailer with a solar kit in Ojo Caliente, New Mexico.

Until very recently, long-distance travel in an electric vehicle has felt like a distant dream. But thanks to the rapid improvements in EVs themselves, which mean they can travel for longer distances, as well as the installation of new charging points across the States, electric-powered road trips look like an increasingly viable option. And a new cross-country network of EV charging points, running from Los Angeles, California to Washington DC, is making it easier than ever to refuel. Pictured is a motorway sign for a charging point along southern California’s Pacific Coast Highway.

The start of the 2020s saw a curveball thrown at the travel industry: the COVID-19 pandemic. Popular destinations, such as Las Vegas (pictured), had their income from tourism almost completely slashed overnight, as lockdowns took hold and flights were cancelled. However, when Americans were allowed to travel within the USA again, road trips experienced a renaissance: a survey for Vacationer magazine estimated that 80% of Americans planned to take a road trip in 2022. Many were keen to avoid airports and flying for fear of contracting the virus, and the open road offered a safer way to satisfy the wanderlust.

Another unexpected twist from the pandemic was the rise in remote working, which made long-term 'workations' a genuinely feasible option for many: one 2022 survey of RV owners revealed that over half had worked while on the road that year. Looking into the future, an increased awareness of the impact of flying on our planet means travellers will be looking for a different kind of trip, and driving through dramatic landscapes with the ability to stop anywhere certainly presents a more ecological and enriching alternative. It seems the freedom of the road will always beckon.

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