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49 free Road Trips trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
50 free road trip trivia questions with answers. Hit the open road with 50 trivia questions spanning legendary highways like Route 66 and the Pacific Coast Highway, classic road trip movies from Easy Rider to Little Miss Sunshine, quirky roadside attractions, the history of the U.S. Interstate system, and the culture of motels, diners and endless asphalt. Built as trivia questions for long car rides, the early ones are easy enough for kids in the back seat; the later ones are road trip trivia for adults, on the people who built the highways, the films that made them famous and the records set along them. Every answer has been checked against a reliable source and each question shows its citation once you have answered, so the argument in the car can be settled before the next exit.
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Q 01Route 66's nickname 'The Mother Road' comes from which 1939 novel?
The Grapes of Wrath
John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath (1939) christened Route 66 'the Mother Road' as the Joads fled the Dust Bowl; boosters had also sold it as 'The Main Street of America'.
Q 02What 1969 film follows Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper as bikers on a cross-country road trip?
Easy Rider
Easy Rider (1969) follows Wyatt (Fonda) and Billy (Hopper) as they ride from Los Angeles to New Orleans, becoming a landmark counterculture film that captured the spirit of freedom on the open road.
Q 03Which president signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, launching the freeway network that bears his name?
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the 1956 act, which authorised $25 billion for the Interstate System; his gruelling two-month 1919 Army drive across the country and his wartime look at German autobahns shaped his support.
Q 04What is the surname of the family in the National Lampoon vacation movies?
Griswold
The Griswold family, led by Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase), stars in National Lampoon's Vacation (1983) and its sequels. Their chaotic road trip to Walley World became one of the most beloved comedy franchises.
Q 05Which Amarillo, Texas art installation, created by the group Ant Farm in 1974, has ten cars buried nose-first beside Interstate 40?
Cadillac Ranch
Cadillac Ranch's ten Cadillacs, from 1949 to 1963 models, are half-buried in a field, and visitors are encouraged to spray paint them.
Q 06Which 1957 Kerouac novel, typed on a 120-foot scroll, defined the Beat Generation?
On the Road
On the Road (1957) was typed single-spaced on a 120-foot scroll over three weeks in April 1951; Kerouac based Dean Moriarty on his friend Neal Cassady.
Q 07What does the abbreviation RV stand for in the context of road travel?
Recreational Vehicle
RV stands for Recreational Vehicle, a category running from truck campers to full motorhomes, typically with a kitchen, a bathroom and at least one bed.
Q 08Which South Dakota roadside attraction is famous for its hundreds of billboards?
Wall Drug
Ted Hustead bought the store in 1931 and business only took off when his wife Dorothy thought of advertising free ice water to travellers bound for Mount Rushmore; it now draws some two million visitors a year.
Q 09Under the U.S. Interstate numbering scheme, even-numbered primary routes run in which direction?
East-West
East-West routes take the even numbers and north-south the odd; numbers rise from south to north and west to east, so the lowest odd numbers hug the West Coast.
Q 10The Blue Ridge Parkway connects which two national parks?
Shenandoah and Great Smoky Mountains
The Blue Ridge Parkway's 469 miles link Shenandoah National Park in Virginia to Great Smoky Mountains National Park on the North Carolina–Tennessee line; construction began in 1935.
Q 11Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon star in which 1991 Ridley Scott road-trip film that ends as a flight from the law?
Thelma & Louise
Thelma & Louise became a cultural landmark for its portrayal of female empowerment and its Grand Canyon ending.
Q 12The Trans-Canada Highway stretches approximately how many kilometers from coast to coast?
7,800 km
The Trans-Canada Highway runs roughly 7,800 km from Victoria, British Columbia, to St. John's, Newfoundland; John Diefenbaker opened it at Rogers Pass in 1962, though construction was not finished until 1971.
Q 13Which Interstate, running from Seattle to Boston, is the longest in the United States?
I-90
Q 21The Autobahn, known for sections with no speed limit, is the highway system of which country?
Germany
Germany's Autobahn network has no limit on most of its length, only an advisory Richtgeschwindigkeit of 130 km/h; the first stretch, Cologne to Bonn, opened in 1932.
Q 22What 2006 Pixar movie follows a race car stranded in a small town on Route 66?
Cars
Cars (2006) grew out of a 2000 road trip John Lasseter took with his family; its working title was Route 66 until Pixar changed it to avoid confusion with the 1960s TV series.
Q 23The 1925 Milestone Mo-Tel, source of the word 'motel', stood in which California city?
San Luis Obispo
I-90 runs about 3,020 miles across 13 states from Seattle to Boston; its final link, a viaduct bypassing the last stoplight in Wallace, Idaho, only opened in 1991.
Q 14Which Australian coastal drive, built by returned soldiers 1919–32, is the world's largest war memorial?
Great Ocean Road
The Great Ocean Road's 240 km between Torquay and Allansford in Victoria were built by returned servicemen between 1919 and 1932 as a memorial to the First World War dead, passing the Twelve Apostles.
Q 15Which Steppenwolf song, with rock's first 'heavy metal thunder' lyric, became the anthem of a 1969 biker movie?
Born to Be Wild
Mars Bonfire originally wrote it as a ballad; Steppenwolf's sped-up version made it shorthand for biker attitude.
Q 16On American roads, a red, white and blue shield sign marks which kind of route?
Interstate highway
Interstate highway shields match the flag's colours; the design is a registered trademark of AASHTO, and the 1957 original came from a Texas Highway Department employee's contest entry.
Q 17The Darién Gap breaks the Alaska-to-Argentina road in which Central American country?
Panama
The Darién Gap, some 60 miles of roadless rainforest between Panama and Colombia, is the only break in the roughly 19,000-mile road from Alaska to Argentina.
Q 18Which Los Angeles-area landmark carries the sign marking the symbolic western 'End of the Trail' for Route 66?
Santa Monica Pier
Santa Monica Pier's sign is a modern nod to journey's end; the route's official western terminus was actually the corner of Lincoln and Olympic boulevards a few blocks inland.
Q 19Which car brand produced the Wagoneer, often considered one of the first luxury SUVs?
Jeep
The Jeep Wagoneer launched in November 1962 as a 1963 model, built by Willys Motors (renamed Kaiser Jeep in 1963). With automatic transmission and independent front suspension, it became a progenitor of the modern SUV.
Q 20Which U.S. National Scenic Byway runs through Monument Valley on the Utah-Arizona border?
U.S. Route 163
U.S. Route 163 crosses Monument Valley between Kayenta, Arizona, and Bluff, Utah; a viewpoint near Utah mile marker 13 is nicknamed Forrest Gump Point, where fans re-create the spot Gump stops running.
Arthur Heineman's Milestone Mo-Tel opened in San Luis Obispo in 1925; he squeezed 'motor hotel' into one word because 'Milestone Motor Hotel' would not fit on the roof sign.
Q 24In what year was Route 66 officially decommissioned from the U.S. Highway System?
1985
Route 66 was removed from the U.S. Highway System on 27 June 1985, the Interstates having bypassed it; many original sections survive as state or local roads.
Q 25Which Willie Nelson song from the 1980 film Honeysuckle Rose won him a Grammy for Best Country Song?
On the Road Again
On the Road Again, written for Honeysuckle Rose (1980), became Nelson's ninth country No. 1 that November, won the Grammy for Best Country Song and earned an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song.
Q 26The Tail of the Dragon, with 318 curves in 11 miles, runs from Deals Gap, North Carolina, into which state?
Tennessee
The Tail of the Dragon is US 129 crossing from Deals Gap into Blount County, Tennessee; its corners carry names like Copperhead Corner and Brake or Bust Bend, and Tennessee cut the speed limit to 30 mph in 2005.
Q 27Which classic American roadside restaurant chain, begun in 1925, was known for its bright orange roofs?
Howard Johnson's
Howard Johnson's, begun in Quincy, Massachusetts in 1925, topped its restaurants with bright orange roofs; by the 1960s it was the largest restaurant chain in the U.S., feeding more people than anyone but the Army.
Q 28Which Interstate runs the length of the East Coast, from Miami to the Canadian border in Maine?
I-95
I-95 runs about 1,900 miles from Miami to Houlton, Maine, at the Canadian border; it is the longest north–south Interstate and passes through 15 states, more than any other.
Q 29Which actor headlined the 1981 ensemble comedy inspired by the outlaw coast-to-coast Cannonball Run, alongside Dom DeLuise and Roger Moore?
Burt Reynolds
Burt Reynolds led a cast that included Dom DeLuise, Roger Moore, Farrah Fawcett, Jackie Chan, Sammy Davis Jr. and Dean Martin; writer Brock Yates had created the real race.
Q 30The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 originally authorised roughly how many miles of Interstate?
41,000
The 1956 act authorised some 41,000 miles of Interstate, paid for through a new Highway Trust Fund fed by fuel taxes; 'Defense' in the system's title reflected its role in moving troops and evacuating cities.