The Great American Road Trip

Great American Road Trip is a reality television competition series that aired on NBC. It follows seven families as they go on a road trip and compete against each other at different landmarks in and around U.S. Route 66 in the United States. The series is hosted by comedian Reno Collier.

The show premiered on July 7, 2009 as the lead-in to America's Got Talent. However, due to poor ratings, NBC moved the show to Monday nights, with the next episode coming less than a week later. In the second week, ratings declined about 10 percent, as seen in the chart below.

Structure
The families are given recreational vehicles for use throughout the competition. They drive from place to place to compete in various challenges. There are two contests each week. The first is the "King of the Road" challenge, in which the winner receives a reward, and the second is the "End of the Road" challenge, in which the losing team goes home.

Families
The following families are in the competition. They are listed with their hometowns:

Episode One

 * Wrigley Field, Chicago, Illinois
 * Illinois State Fair, Springfield, Illinois
 * Gateway Arch, St. Louis, Missouri

Episode Two

 * Ted Drewes Frozen Custard, St. Louis, Missouri
 * Meramec Caverns, Stanton, Missouri
 * Welk Family Theater, Branson, Missouri
 * Route 66 Drive-In Theatre, Carthage, Missouri

Episode Three

 * The Little House on the Prairie Home, Independence, Kansas
 * Red Buffalo Ranch, Sedan, Kansas
 * The Big Texan Steak Ranch, Amarillo, Texas

Episode Four

 * Midpoint Café, Adrian, Texas
 * Albuquerque International Sunport, Albuquerque, New Mexico
 * Wigwam Resort (Coote family), Litchfield Park, Arizona
 * Wigwam Motel, Holbrook, Arizona

Episode Five

 * Slide Rock State Park, Oak Creek Canyon (near Sedona, Arizona)
 * Grand Canyon National Park, Fredonia, Arizona (North Rim) and Grand Canyon, Arizona (South Rim)
 * Grand Canyon Railway, Williams, Arizona

Episode Six

 * Roadkill Café, Seligman, Arizona
 * Hoover Dam, Boulder City, Nevada
 * Rio Hotel Theatre, Las Vegas, Nevada

These hotels were locations during the scavenger hunt:
 * Circus Circus, Las Vegas, Nevada
 * Excalibur, Las Vegas, Nevada
 * Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, Nevada

Episode Seven

 * Bootleg Canyon Mountain Bike Park, Boulder City, Nevada
 * Oatman Ghost Town, Oatman, Arizona
 * Soggy Dry Lake Bed, Johnson Valley, California

Episode Eight

 * Los Angeles International Airport, Los Angeles, California
 * Universal Studios Hollywood, Universal City, California
 * Roosevelt Hotel, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
 * Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica, California

Episodes
*: In episode two, no teams were eliminated. Instead, the top three teams in the King of the Road challenge (Pollards, Cootes, and Ricos) faced off in a second challenge, with the winning team receiving a prize. The Cootes received a trip to an upcoming movie premiere in Hollywood.


 * In episode 6, instead of an End of the Road challenge, the top 2 families compete for the luxury.


 * In episode 7, there were only 2 teams in the bottom instead of 3.

Elimination chart

 * In Episode 2, nobody was eliminated. The Pollards won the first competition in the episode. The top three competed for a luxury. The Cootes won this competition.
 * In Episode 6, nobody was eliminated. The Cootes won the first competition in the episode. The top two competed for a luxury, and last place was sidelined. The Pollards won this competition.

Episode 2

 * The judges for the talent show were Andy Williams, Yakov Smirnoff, and Raeanne Presley, the mayor of Branson.
 * After the second reward challenge in Episode 2, the families were treated to an advance screening of the Twentieth Century Fox movie Aliens in the Attic.