Automobile Retailers

Remember the days of packing friends into the old car, bringing along plenty of food and music, and setting out for the open road with nothing but time and gas money as your road map? Those days might have been replaced with the daily grind of the 9-to-5, but for three Utah guys, the great visions of road trips across the grand United States are alive and well.

Joshua Keeler, Joey Stocking, and Adam Gatherum, all from North Salt Lake, are heading out to visit all 48 of the contiguous United States in slightly more than five days nonstop (except for gas).

The road trip began Sunday morning as the trio took off from Vermont and, as of this morning (May 5, 2008) are in Alabama. That’s the fifth state of their route. The adventure should take around 120 hours and will cover 7500 miles. Scheduled to end on Friday, if they’re successful of course, the trip will come to a close at the Four Corners where Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah meet.

The group is using AAA maps and global positioning software. The car of choice for the trip is the Toyota Scion xB, perfect for gas mileage and spacious enough for three guys heading across America. The Scion’s excellent gas mileage record should have cut down lots of time for fill-ups on the trip, too, making the goal all the more possible.

People can track the progress of the guys online at their website. As for keeping non-drivers entertained and nourished properly, they’ll be relying on iPods, laptops, movies, books, and a barrage of gas station food designed specifically to entice the road trip diet.

The trip was conceived by Jim Keeler, Joshua’s father, but was put on hold after Jim’s mother passed away. Now the mantle is being picked up by the three guys and it looks to be an enjoyable feat and a nice test drive for the Toyota Scion xB.