The Amazing Road Trip

In the past two weeks, October 22 - November 2, our class was challenged with the task of designing an entertaining road trip for an MTV show. We had to create a route within the continental US to follow with a $10,000 budget. Groups had to calculate food, lodging, and car rental prices. With all accounted for, we are required to spend a minimum of $9,500 without exceeding the budget for the trip. The road trip could be up to a month long and had to have a theme.

The theme for our road trip was "Fun For The Whole Family". Our route included destinations around California, including both Disneyland for the kids, and Vegas for the parents. Our destinations were:

  • 616 Plum St. Novato, CA - Our starting location, one of our teammate’s houses.
  • Dairy Queen Grill & Chill, 14814 Aloma St, Lost Hills, CA 93249 - A stop for food on the way to Anaheim. Where the family can get a kid-friendly meal along the way.
  • Anaheim Marriott, 700 West Convention Way, Anaheim, CA 92802 - Our hotel where we will stay the night after a long day of driving.
  • Disneyland Park - A fun trip for the kids and parents alike, days of Disney fun! After that, we will go back to the Marriott.
  • Luxor Hotel & Casino, 3900 S Las Vegas Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89119 - Our Hotel in Vegas. A fun stay after driving from Disneyland to Vegas.
  • Gun Garage, 5155 Dean Martin Dr, Las Vegas, NV 89118 - A fun day for the adults, enjoying the Vegas experience.
  • Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay Bay, 3950 S Las Vegas Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89119 - Fun for the kids while the parents are off at the gun range.
  • Fresno Chaffee Zoo, 894 W Belmont Ave, Fresno, CA 93728 - One last fun-filled stop on the way back home.
  • 616 Plum St, Novato, CA 94945 - Returning home after a long trip.

Above are four parts of the MTV application. They include a record of our destinations, a choice of our rental car, our food and lodging choices, and a table showing the total cost of our trip dependent on the number of days it lasts. This is all useful information in forming our equation and graphing our costs. The graph is seen below.

To the left, you see a graph of the total cost for our trip, as well as an equation for both the food and lodging expenses and the vehicle expenses, in addition to one for the total cost.

In total, our trip will cost $9,987.60, perfectly within our budget. The road trip will last 18 days.

Costs such as Disneyland tickets are assumed to be paid for personally by those on the trip. MTV will fund only luggage, hotel, gas, and car rental costs on the $10,000 budget.



Above is a link to my personal reflection on this project. In which I will address my performance, this project’s significance mathematically, what I learned, and which learning targets were used in the project.