At Thirty, You're Facing the Loneliest Road?

The Loneliest Road, often known as U.S. Route 50, spans the drift hunters whole United States from coast to coast. Your journey will take you from Sacramento, California to Ocean City, Maryland, a distance of over 3,200 miles. This highway, which passes through small villages and wide open areas, was dubbed "The Loneliest Road in America" by Life magazine in 1986 and offers a glimpse of what some regard to be the "true America."

You could do it alone, in keeping with the "lonely" motif, or you could bring a buddy along and have a blast. Whatever the case may be, you're in for a real treat. The scenery you'll see along the way as you travel through a dozen states range from the mountains of the Sierra Nevada and Appalachia to the wide-open farmlands of the Great Plains and the arid, high deserts of Utah.

If you go north from Sacramento across the Sierra Nevada Mountains, you'll eventually reach Lake Tahoe. Take a dip or admire the scenery, then continue driving into Nevada along the section of road that inspired the name. After what seems like an endless stretch of mountains and sagebrush, you'll finally cross the Wasatch Front and enter red-rock country, where Arches and Canyonlands national parks are located near Moab.

Leaving the plains behind, one must travel eastward via the Rocky Mountains and over the Continental Divide. Salida, Colorado is a great place to restock on food and other travel necessities before venturing into the Eastern Colorado and the beginning of the Great Plains, where you'll see many of little villages, railroad lines, and water towers, as well as other iconic Americana.

From here, US 50 travels through the Midwest's agricultural heartland from Kansas City to St. Louis along the Mississippi River and then on to Ohio. Stop by the Athens, Ohio, college town and the Hoosier National Forest in Indiana. When traveling from West Virginia to Virginia and the hustle and bustle of downtown Washington, DC, don't miss the opportunity to take in the beautiful scenery of Monongahela National Forest. Following the chaos of the city, you will reach your final goal of Ocean City, Maryland by way of a few fishing and agricultural settlements in rural Maryland.

You've made it to Ocean City, so celebrate by strolling the boardwalk, sinking your toes into the sand, and thinking about how far you've come.