Brandon Aris

LS 521 Sp 02

April 22, 2002

Web Quest

On the Road Across the USA

Introduction

It’s time to plan a summer vacation trip across the United States. You will be traveling across the U.S.A. using the nation’s roads and highways. You are going to visit each of the five regions in the United States: Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Southwest, and West. In each region, you select one state to visit, and within that state you will visit one landmark, attraction, or historical landmark.

A trip such as this one requires a good deal of planning and preparation. Where you go on your journey is up to you, but consider al there is to see and do in the United States! Brainstorm a list of al the places and sites you may want to see on this trip. Bring along your journal for this activity, as you will want to record all the important information to plan this trip.

Task

Your trip will start and end at school, and you will visit one state and one landmark in each region of the country. Here are the tasks you will need to complete in preparation for your trip:

• Keep a travel log in your journal. This is where you will record on the information you find in preparing for the trip.
• Get driving directions to each of the landmarks you decide to visit.
• Print out a United States map, locate, and label all of the landmarks you are going to visit.
• Complete a fact sheet for each state you visit.
• Locate places to stay on your trip. You will have to follow a budget that allows you to stay overnight in a hotel. Remember, you will also need money for food, gas, and souvenirs! You will need to identify places you can stay overnight, places to eat, and consider how much gas you will need to buy.

Process

Have you selected the sites you want to pay a visit to on your trip? If so, you are ready to start planning! To complete each of the tasks described above, you will need to go through several steps. Read each step carefully, and good luck!

1. List the five landmarks or sites you have chosen in your journal.

2. Print out a copy of a blank USA map by visiting this site:

http://geography.about.com/library/blank/blxusa.htm

Locate and label the five destinations you have chosen to visit on a map of the United States. You may use a classroom atlas for help if needed.

Also, give your map a title, compass rose, and legend using symbols to identify your landmarks. Label the states with an abbreviation for each one.

3. You are going to want to know a little bit about each state you visit, so your next step is to complete a small fact sheet for each state you visit. Record the answers to the following for each state in your journal:

State: State Song:

Capital: State Flower:

Statehood Date: State Nickname:

State Bird: State Abbreviation:

This site is a valuable resource for the fact sheet:

http://www.50states.com/fileindx.htm

4. Next, you have to get driving directions for where you are going. Follow the steps below, and record the directions for each stage of the trip in your journal. Also, record the mileage for each stage, and then calculate the entire distance of your trip.

· Stage 1: Start at school and find the distance to Landmark #1. Record the directions and the mileage.

· Stage 2: From Landmark #1, get directions to Landmark #2. Record the directions and the mileage.

· Stage 3: From Landmark #2, get directions to Landmark #3. Record the directions and the mileage.

· Stage 4: From Landmark #3, get directions to Landmark #4. Record the directions and the mileage.

· Stage 5: From Landmark #4, get directions to Landmark #5. Record the directions and the mileage.

· Stage 6: From Landmark #5, get directions back to school. Record the directions and the mileage.

You may find these sites helpful for getting driving directions to any place in the United States:

www.mapblast.com

www.mapquest.com

5. For this trip, you are given a budget of $1,000. This money must cover all of your gas, food, and lodging expenses. For each site you visit you will stay one night in a hotel of your choice that fits in your budget. You also must calculate the cost of your gas. For this trip your vehicle gets 30 miles per gallon, and the vehicle holds a full tank of 20 gallons of gasoline. So, on a full tank you can travel 600 miles.

To check on hotel rates in the United States, visit this site:

http://www.expedia.com/daily/wg/

The price of gas nationwide can be researched here:

http://www.gaspricewatch.com/USGas_index.asp

Record all of your findings and calculations in your travel log (journal). Were you able to stay within your budget? If not, you may want to research less expensive hotels!

Conclusion

You have completed the planning for your On The Road USA trip! You have located and labeled places of interest on a map, learned interesting facts about states, gathered driving directions to each place and researched hotel and fuel rates across the country. Perhaps one day you could plan a vacation similar to this one for you and your family. Do you think you might want to visit some the sites you researched for this activity? Why or why not?

Evaluation

Your journal will checked and evaluated based on the information your recorded in your journal for this activity.

	Score: 3 Professional Travel Agent	Score: 2 Experienced Tourist	Score: 1 Ready For A Weekend Getaway
Map	· All Map Elements Included · States Clearly Labeled · Landmarks clearly identified and labeled	· All Map Elements Included · States labeled correctly · Landmarks labeled	· Missing some crucial map element · Missing labels for some of the states · Landmarks labeled
Fact Sheet	· All state information correctly identified	· Missing one or two bits of state information	· Missing three or more pieces of state information
Driving Directions	· Driving directions to all landmarks recorded along with mileage for each stage and correct total mileage for the entire trip.	· All driving directions recorded, but missing some mileage reports, or total mileage not calculated correctly.	· Missing some driving directions to destinations and mileage not recorded or calculated.
Budget	· Lists hotel accommodations and gas prices for each destination · Stays within the stated budget	· Missing some hotel or gas price information for any stage of the trip · Stays within the stated budget	· Missing some hotel or gas price information for more than one stage of the trip · Goes over the stated budget
Travel Log Appearance	· All information is recorded neatly, labeled, and easy to read.	· All information is recorded neatly, labeled, but includes some scratch out marks or sloppy page appearance.	· Information is unorganized, sloppy, and hard to read.