I've dreamed of taking a cross-country road trip for years.

Something about setting out on the open road and exploring the strange history and secret parts of the US has always appealed to me. It's not so much that I want to see the major landmarks as much as I want to see the junkyards, the weird roadside attractions, the random glowing lights out in the empty mountains, the ghost towns and the isolated saloons. But as of now, books and virtual tours are the best any of us are going to do in terms of travel, and really there's nothing wrong with that. Just this week, U.S. Travel launched a Twitter-based virtual tour of all fifty states, complete with plenty of shoutouts to some of the nation's finest attractions. Scrolling through this digital map might just be the best way to experience America at its most idealized and unblemished. This all may be is escapism at its absolute finest, but it's also a beautiful way to experience the pride and joys of each state.

So rev up your engine, pour a cup of coffee, cue up your best travel playlist and let's get on the road.