A Big, Beautiful Country

It's a big, beautiful country and a familiar dream: set out across the United States in your own vehicle, on your own terms. See a lot of what you've always heard about and plenty of what you haven't.

At Crater Lake National Park, in Oregon, a seemingly bottomless pool in an old volcanic caldera, the quiet reinforces a sense of a remote paradise.

A 2006 Toyota Sienna minivan can be converted with minimal effort from soccer-mom special to RV Lite.

A buffalo grazes in Yellowstone National Park.

The lava is above ground at Craters of the Moon, a vast, hauntingly lovely landscape of lava fields and cinder cones, with hardy evergreens growing up out of the rubble like nursery specimens surrounded by black mulch.

Walking up the cinder cones at Craters of the Moon.

The van, a camper masquerading as a family car, gives travelers flexibility. With the van, you can stay in a campground, in an urban hotel and even in a Wal-Mart parking lot.

Just east of Council Grove, Kan., three Indians in traditional garb appear to be riding on horseback on a ridge; they turn out to be metal sculptures, silhouettes intended as a welcome to town.

Yes, quarters were a little tight in the van. But you can see a lot of this country in 14 days. And it's every bit as much fun as you thought it would be.