About Roadtrip Nation

Roadtrip Nation began in 2001 when three friends, Mike Marriner, Nathan Gebhard, and Brian McAllister, graduated from college and were uncertain about how to live in a fashion that was true to who they were. Hoping to see what else the real world held besides traditional pathways, they hit the road in a green and blue RV to interview a variety of Leaders with one thing in common: these people were living meaningful lives driven by passion.

The original Roadtrip spurred the grassroots documentary, The Open Road, and later evolved into three books, annual campus tours, and a recurring series on public television in which other Roadtrippers hit the road to interview Leaders of their own. The interviews conducted on all of these Roadtrips have resulted in the expansive (and ever-growing) Roadtrip Nation Interview Archive, comprised of hundreds of Leaders' personal stories of risk, success, and creating meaningful lives on their own terms.

The continuing charge of Roadtrip Nation is to empower people to hit the road and hear the stories of Leaders who inspire them. The story of Roadtrip Nation is not complete—The Movement grows every day as more people share their experiences and continue to define their own roads in life.

About RoadtripNation.org

RoadtripNation.org began in 2008 when the founders of Roadtrip Nation realized the potential for impacting students with Roadtrip experiences and found a natural home for the Roadtrip Nation Movement within education. The purpose of RoadtripNation.org is to bring resources, insights, and inspiration from Leaders from the road to students across the country. RoadtripNation.org develops multiple curricula and resources for students to gain access and exposure to life pathways that they may have otherwise not known existed.

With leverage from Roadtrip Nation's vast Interview Archive, RoadtripNation.org seeks to help students identify their interests, make connections within their own communities, break out of their comfort zones, develop 21st century skills, and build individual roadmaps for personally meaningful lives. When students are inspired to see a connection between education and the real world, they engage in school and have a greater sense of hope for their futures.

In collaboration with CollegeEd, RoadtripNation.org has used insights from the road to develop lessons that support the program's Who Am I? unit. These lessons introduce students to the themes of Roadtrip Nation and ultimately encourage them to find what they are truly excited about in the world by understanding their true identities.

About the Roadtrip Nation Movement

The Roadtrip Nation Movement supports and empowers people to define their own roads in life, resist The Noise of conformity, and stay true to themselves. Roadtrip Nation believes that when people listen to themselves and identify what they love, they are able to live a life fueled by authenticity and passion. This mindset helps people apply creativity, ingenuity, and enthusiasm toward their goals, which will ultimately build a better global community.