BRYCE CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Utah (AP) — I drove across the country for the first time in 1984, alone in a car without air conditioning and a radio that stopped working as I crossed into Texas. I took my second cross-country road trip this year, this time in an air-conditioned Honda CRV, with music streaming from my iPhone, and my 20-year-old daughter in the passenger seat.

I drove with Kelsey from Columbus, Ohio, to her summer internship in Los Angeles — 2,400 miles (3,860 kilometers) in 4.5 days. We encountered highway construction, accidents and rainstorms but we also managed to take in some...