About Us

Hi, we're Nick and Laura, the couple behind 48 No Interstate.

We met in our hometown in the upstate of South Carolina during high school in the early 2000s and began dating before heading to college.  After college graduation, we got married and pretty soon we discovered our shared love of traveling on back roads.  Soon after, we started taking the scenic route on some of our trips home to visit our parents - particularly around Thanksgiving and Christmas when the interstate is busier than normal.

When we first got married, we lived in an apartment on US Highway 1 in Lexington, South Carolina.  We knew Highway 1 went all the way from Maine to Key West, and we'd think about that as we drove on it to and from work each day.  

In 2009, time and money allowed us to plan and take our first vacation together.  Without a clue that we were merely planning the first of many, we decided to take a back roads road trip on that very highway. We started in front of the State House in Columbia, SC and took 9 days to drive through Georgia, along the Florida coast and across the Overseas Highway to Key West, where we spent a couple of sunny days before we shot home on the interstate.  You can read more about that trip here.

US 1 - Mile 0

Key West, Florida

After that trip, we were hungry for more back roads travel and about a year and a half later, we flew to California for two weeks and drove from San Diego to San Francisco on the Pacific Coast Highway, stopping to enjoy cities and sites along the way.

 Central California coastline

On board the Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA 

Long trips aren't always possible, so for about five years we took shorter back roads trips, mapping out routes to family vacations at the lake and beach within South Carolina, and a few long weekend trips to visit my brothers in Pennsylvania and Georgia.

 Back roads of Pennsylvania

 Rocky, one of our two furballs, has accompanied us on several trips

North Georgia

When the opportunity to travel long term presented itself in 2016, we threw some clothes into our suitcases and hopped in the car for the adventure of a lifetime:  Covering the 48 continental United States over a period of 80 days.

Langtry, Texas

Join us as we share our back roads travel adventures and things we've learned along the way.  We hope you'll find interesting and useful information to help you plan your own back roads road trip.  Whether it's for an afternoon, a week, or a month, traveling on the back roads is the best way to see the country!