Roadtrip Nation to visit UW-Bothell

Roadtrip Nation members will make a stop at the University of Washington, Bothell as part of its annual fall tour from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 1 on the campus promenade.

At the event, students will have an opportunity to meet “Roadtrip Nation Roadies,” watch footage and enjoy music, food and RV tours.

UW-Bothell was one of 40 college campuses nationwide to be a chosen for the Roadtrip Nation’s annual fall tour.

Fans of the organization and its accompanying television and online program are invited to attend the free event.

In the summer of 2001, recent college grads Mike Marriner, Brian McAllister and Nathan Gebhard decided to take a roadtrip to discover their place in the world. The idea behind the roadtrip was simple: If you don’t know what to do with your life, go out and talk to people who are doing what they love, then ask them how they got there. The trio hit the road in a mechanically unsound green RV, and three months and 17,000 miles later had interviewed 85 eclectic individuals including the chairman of Starbucks, the scientist who decoded the human genome, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, a lobsterman from Maine, the director of Saturday Night Live, and a stylist for Madonna.

Since then, Roadtrip Nation has evolved into a movement to help individuals define their own lives: a public television series, three books, a fall and spring campus tour, an online community and a student network on more than 350 campuses. Roadtrip Nation’s “Behind the Wheel” and “Independent Roadtrip Grants” programs enable students to hit the road to interview their own list of leaders across the country.