Field study and field courses are integral to the discipline of geography. While there are many forms that a field course might take, in this paper we draw on two university-level field courses in the U.S. Southwest to propose a road trip pedagogy for field study. We reflect on the particular resonance of the road trip in the American West and how Western road trip mythology, combined with our own road trip experiences, helped shape the design of two road trip field courses. The educational value of both planned and un-planned encounters is a key strength of a road trip field course. We conclude by briefly reflecting on two future considerations for road trip pedagogy: possibilities for aligning anti-racist pedagogy with road trip pedagogy and the potential transferability of our American West road trip to other locations.