Route 66 and the Resurgence of the Road Trip

Explore the American Road Trip Beyond the TikTok Algorithm: The Ups and Downs, Unfiltered

By Natalie Shin

Graphic by Zoe Lyko

When you think about road trips, what comes to mind? Maybe pop culture touchstones, like Thelma and Louise or Little Miss Sunshine. Or maybe you picture viral road trip attractions such as the Cabazon Dinosaurs or Salvation Mountain. Either way, to examine the American road trip is to examine an experience that has permeated American culture for decades; your parents probably took—or dreamed of, at the very least—a cross-country road trip, as did their parents. But with the rise of social media influencers and short-form content, the road trip has evolved into a new phenomenon made for the age of the algorithm.

Looking back in time, we can see that the post-war emergence of a broad middle class, coupled with higher disposable incomes and a greater ability to purchase affordable cars, spurred the Golden Age of the American road trip. The ability of individuals to pack their bags and go wherever their hearts desired marked a new sort of freedom previously unseen. Channels like Route 66, originally used as a route for westward migrants during the Dust Bowl, became a popular route for individuals road-tripping west.

Pop culture of the 1950s also spurred the popularity of road tripping. One only has to look at Jack Kerouac's 1957 novel On the Road to see this: though the novel itself did not center solely around a road trip, per se, it did center around a group of friends searching for freedom and purpose while traveling across America by way of, you guessed it, a car!

Road tripping, then, has always been an American phenomenon. However, the branding of the “Great American Road Trip” has become increasingly marketed toward a Gen Z audience: out goes Jack Kerouac, in comes TravelTok. You don’t need to travel far to find this: a quick search on TikTok will do. Type in “road trip,” and the first result will be “road trip aesthetic.” Suddenly, your feed is inundated with quick montages of 20-somethings, all smiles and laughter, intercut with camcorder shots of the Rockies or endless stretches of road, set to “American Pie” or “Wild Horses.” These bite-sized videos offer a rosy image of traveling across the country with zero responsibility—only friends you love, good music, and beautiful scenery. There is something deeply American in these digital packages of exploration and independence.

However, does short-form content bely the not-so-glamorous realities of road tripping? A 30-second video can’t show the four sweaty passengers jam-packed into the backseat of the car; it won’t show the driver’s white-knuckle grip on the wheel driving through an unexpected torrential downpour. Nor would there be any benefit for content creators to incorporate these elements of road tripping into their videos. They’re here to show a good time, not to spoil an illusion that sits atop a shiny pedestal in the public’s consciousness.

All that being said, we shouldn’t reject the road trip as a whole. Sure, there may be less glamorous aspects to road tripping, but is that not precisely what makes something worthwhile? To be alive is to experience, and to experience is to sit down with the good and the bad, even if it means running out of gas in the middle of nowhere. Road tripping is not going to be a flawless affair, as TikTok might depict it, nor will it be a complete hellscape. Plan accordingly, crank that A/C up, and blast music to keep yourselves sane!

Perhaps our good friend Jack Kerouac (who will never really be eclipsed by TravelTok, by the way) puts it best in On the Road: “I was surprised, as always, by how easy the act of leaving was, and how good it felt. The world was suddenly rich with possibility.” Although the branding of the road trip has evolved, its heart has remained the same. Hurling down the road in a hunk of metal will forever serve as a reminder to slow down, take in the sights, and above all else, remember that the world is wide and has space for you in it.