How we are travelling virtually across North America

Instead of learning about the geography of the United States and Canada through a textbook we are learning through travel. Well, I should state that we are travelling the continent from the comfort of our own home. 

Here are the rules of our game. The object of the game is to visit as many provinces and states as possible for the least amount of money.

1. Choose a new car keeping in mind the price of the car and the mpg. The cost of the car is added to the total travel costs. 
2. The starting position of each player is determined by drawing a North American Continent puzzle piece out of a hat. Each player can then determine the exact starting place in their drawn province/state by looking at a road atlas.
3. Each player must keep track of gas costs, hotel costs, and attraction costs. 
4. Only 300 miles are allowed per day. Once 300 miles are reached the player must find a hotel to spend the night.
5. Fill up on gas at least once per day. If the gas tank is empty the player is accessed a $300 fine.  The average highway and city mpg is used to determine how many miles a player can go before the tank is empty. 
6. 1 attraction must be visited each day of travel. Each player must report on the attraction visited on this blog and post a "picture" of themselves at that attraction. 
7. Each player must visit 20 states and 5 provinces over the course of the school year. The winner is determined by who has travelled the most miles for the least amount of money.

Resources necessary:

Road Atlas (we are using a paper road atlas)

AAA Online Tourbooks for finding motels and attractions

Gasbuddy.com for current gas prices at their location

Photo editing software

How it works:

When it is time for geography each child will plot out a course on the atlas.  They will use the AAA Online Tourbooks to determine which attraction is most interesting to them within a 300 mile radius.  Each child will keep track of the miles traveled using the atlas.  Once the child arrives at the attraction he will read about the attraction, watch Youtube videos related to the attraction, and write a summary of his "pretend" day at the attraction.  He will also find a picture of the attraction so that he can "photoshop" his image into the picture.  Once the attraction has been visited the child will need to find a place to stay for the night using AAA Online Tourbooks.  At some point during the day the child will need to fill up his gas tank.  All expenses for the day are to be totalled and added to the running total for each category and the combined amount.