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Issue 31: Consumption

Due West

The road trip of our American dreams.

Asli Baykal 03/17/2014
  • Anyone who didn’t grow up in the United States has probably fantasized at some point or another about taking the Great American Road Trip. I’m from Turkey, where I grew up watching American road movies like Thelma and Louise, Paris, Texas, and Something Wild, and I yearned to re-create some of that magic for real. A few months ago, a couple of my friends, Alara and Arda, decided to finally do it. We started in Austin, Texas, and slowly made our way west to Las Vegas. Here’s to Alara, Arda, and all our memories of this trip: Shaggy, Monopoly, ice storms, aliens, stars, pitch black, not camping, Donald Judd, Burger King, cowboy boots, and slot machines, and here’s to the open road!

  • Images 2–7: Marfa, Texas.

  • Images 8 & 9: Alpine, Texas.

  • Valentine, Texas.

  • 11–13: White Sands, New Mexico.

  • Roswell, New Mexico.

  • 15–17: Carlsbad, New Mexico.

  • New Mexico.

  • 19–22: Arizona.

  • Utah.

  • 24–26: Monument Valley, Utah.

  • Somewhere in Nevada.

  • 28 & 29: Las Vegas.

  • Asli Baykal is a Turkish filmmaker who runs TANK, a production company, with her BFF Tracy Antonopoulos.

las vegas nevada new mexico road trips texas u.s.a. utah
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15 Comments

  • ghostgurl March 17th, 2014 11:43 PM

    Amazing photography and captions! Loved it so much! Also really relevant atm

  • thebrownette March 17th, 2014 11:52 PM

    My family went on a Great American Road Trip a few summers ago. I wasn’t too happy at first (what 14 year old wants to spend 3 weeks away from her friends in the summer?) but after the very first night, I was totally into it.

    I met a beauty queen at a rodeo (to which I would no longer attend b/c animal abuse), discovered Taco John’s potato-ey fritter thingies, fell in love with the smell of a campfire, pumped gas for the first time (at a SEEMINGLY ABANDONED GAS STATION), and saw a lightning storm on a plain from miles away.

  • Audrey Pfister March 18th, 2014 12:31 AM

    I always dream of doing just this. Hopefully one day I can!! (I live in Australia) Paris, Texas is one of my all time favourite movies. And so many other films inspire me with America/on the road/nostalgic vibes, such as 3 women.

  • Kiragrl March 18th, 2014 2:06 AM

    Awesome photography Asli!!! What camera do you use to take your photos? :-) XXXX

  • JuneRB March 18th, 2014 9:54 AM

    I’ve lived in the U.S. my entire life and dream about a trip like this. :) Beautiful photos, and thanks for the movie recommendations!

  • flocha March 18th, 2014 10:51 AM

    ohhhh my god I wish I had the money to do something like this in summer haha

    whimsicalprocrastination.blogspot.com/

  • pen2sword March 18th, 2014 10:59 AM

    The ice on the grass is so pretty… I also loved the picture of the train. I am kind of obsessed with trains wherever I go, even though there are tons of them around where I live as well. Standing close to the tracks as they pass by and you can feel the rumble through your whole body… Ahhhh.

  • kirsten March 18th, 2014 11:37 AM

    beautiful photo set.

  • o-girl March 18th, 2014 3:59 PM

    this is one of my FAVORITE sets on rookie. so wonderful ah!! everything about this is perfect and sort of felt like an honor to view.

  • Pattymafu March 18th, 2014 4:27 PM

    oh wow this is perfect!! I wish I do this one day!

  • xdogbaitx March 18th, 2014 4:32 PM

    this is totally my dream

  • Caitlin Hazell March 18th, 2014 4:36 PM

    LOOOVE THIS. So calming.

  • flawedpoet March 20th, 2014 8:29 PM

    Even Americans have dreams of going on the Great American Roadtrip :) I especially dream of going out to the deserts and the Grand Canyon out in Arizona/Nevada. Your trip looked fun, great photos!

  • honorarygilmoregal March 21st, 2014 8:04 AM

    I love road trip photos! So cool

  • julalondon March 23rd, 2014 9:27 AM

    Oh my goodness, yes yes yes! This is so cool!!!

Rookie is no longer publishing new content, but we hope you'll continue to enjoy the archives, or books, and the community you've helped to create. Thank you for seven very special years! ✴

About Rookie

Rookie is an online magazine and book series for teenagers. Each month, a different editorial theme drives the writing, photography, and artwork that we publish. Learn more about us here, and find out how to submit your work here!

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