Missouri

The Heartland’s best hits: top Kansas sights along I-70

This is the stuff road trips through Middle America are made of: slurping milkshakes at a Formica countertop in a diner that hasn’t changed since 1950, cruising by fields of sunflowers and amber waves of grain that stretch as far as the eye can see, and stopping at the quirky, always-superlative roadside attractions that call for your attention in handmade signs along the interstate.

A rainbow stretches over a country road in Kansas. Image by Fuse / Getty

Lauren Keith

Lonely Planet Writer

Road tripping through Lonely Planet's top US destinations

Buckle up: it's time to hit the road! Our travel experts have rounded up the Top 10 US travel destinations for 2014, giving you brand new reasons to visit long-time favorites and also less-touristed places that are ripe for exploring, right now.

Is getting there half the fun? Find out for yourself on these five road trips that will take you to some of those top US destinations this year – and beyond. All these trips, plus 47 more, are contained in the award-winning USA's Best Trips book; the second edition was just published in March 2014.

Sara Benson

Lonely Planet Writer

Art, jazz and burnt ends in Kansas City

Go ahead: dismiss Kansas City as a fly-over cow town. That just leaves more of the world’s best barbecue, jumpin’ jazz clubs and one-of-a-kind museums for road trippers in the know.

Come the first weekend in October, more than 500 teams set grills a’sizzle at the American Royal World Series of Barbecue (www.americanroyal.com), held in Kansas City’s old stockyards. Now, you don’t host the globe’s largest barbecue contest unless you smoke up a mean rack of ribs yourself, and many connoisseurs say Kansas City does barbecue better than anywhere. The revered local style is slow-roasted and slathered with sweet, thick, molasses- and ketchup-based sauce (some also use a vinegar base), and options abound for trying it.