The Great American Road Trip (with apologies to Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama)

You too can do Mt. Rushmore in 17 minutes

I know, there are many Great American Road Trips. For example, there's Che Guevra's epic, life-changing SOUTH American road trip (no political statement here) made famous in the U.S. by the book and then 2004 film, The Motorcycle Diaries. In fact today, Bolivian travel companies romance ( in English) the "Ruta de Che" in your choice of a 4-day/3-night or 6-day/5-night packages, continental breakfast included, no doubt. (Now at this point I probably need to let my XY know that no, this doesn't mean I want to tour South America on the back of his motorcycle, sorry. Maybe in a car.)

But I digress. I'm talking the United States of America here. And short of the much-hummed Route 66 that winds from Chicago to L.A., I recently took what is surely the Greatest American Road Trip of All Time. I'm talkin' Interstate 90, 8 states, 2,500 miles, 6 days, five people and an overpacked Toyota Camry. It was a trip of necessity, to take my car, me, and whatever I could fit in the trunk to Seattle to start my new job. And it fell over spring break.

Until this year, our spring breaks were spent at a tropical beach or a mountain or a Disney facility.

What do you think they talk about?

Badlands, South Dakota

But this year, we traded Mickey Mouse for Best Western. And it pretty much rocked. We passed up  the Corn Palace but stopped at Wall Drug. We wandered the Badlands and made it to Mt. Rushmore minutes before it closed. We hiked around Devil's Tower and outran storms in windy western Wyoming. Yes, we saw all of the expected places. But  I was also impressed with beauty in unexpected places. (Like the spectacular border between Wisconsin and Minnesota.) I jumped a fence to avoid a frightened, charging bison on the streets of Gardiner, Montana during a morning run. I marveled at the foreign XX bathrooms in Montana and Idaho that offered side-by-side seating, no stall required. (It gave a whole new meaning to the cliche of girls going to the bathroom in pairs.) I heard the whoops of joy from preteens who, even after five years, couldn't wait to eat at Taco Time after seeing the first sign just east of the Cascades. But perhaps most important, my XY and I discovered the secret of somewhat-less-painful-family road travel. Call me a Beta Mom if you must but when you're driving 500-700 miles a day, and everyone, even the driver, is holding a backpack at their feet, it's no time to inflict your ideal of cherubic faces silently watching beautiful scenery and playing quiet road sign games. Give into the Kindle, the iPad, and most important, the motel with the overly-chlorinated indoor pool. Did I mention the importance of the motel with indoor pool?

Bison can really move when they want to. So can I.

It was epic, our road trip. And a gift to spend so much up-close time with my loved ones that putting them on a plane was a relief, for almost 12 minutes.

Of course, they're coming out in June. So, we're preparing for the Great American Road Trip Part Two. We'll skip Mt. Rushmore and head to Crazy Horse. We'll see Old Faithful, which was closed for the winter in March. Heck, maybe we'll even stop at the Corn Palace. And because my XY and I are always trying to up the degree of difficulty, this time we'll be doing it with two dogs and a pet snake. Stay tuned...