Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and his wife, Rachel Campos-Duffy, are traveling with their family to historic landmarks, natural wonders, and destinations across the country in a video series tied to the United States’ 250th birthday.
Breitbart News received an embargoed early look at two episodes of the Great American Road Trip, which takes the Duffy family to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Fort Worth, Texas. Other stops in the series include the Grand Canyon in Arizona; Charleston, South Carolina; Boston, Massachusetts; and Wyoming.
The project builds on the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Great American Road Trip initiative, which Duffy announced in May 2025 to celebrate the nation’s 250th birthday while encouraging travel. The rollout included a DOT-sponsored website highlighting 250 destinations, while the 2026 initiative includes Great American Road Trip Passports that Americans can stamp at more than 250 featured locations.
An on-screen disclosure identifies Great American Road Trip, Inc. as an independent nonprofit funded by sponsors and says the program resulted from an agreement with DOT. Production expenses, including filming, crew, food, fuel, lodging, and activities, were paid by the nonprofit and accepted as a gift by the department. No taxpayer dollars were spent on Duffy’s family’s participation, according to the disclosure.
“This is America’s 250th birthday,” Duffy says at the beginning of the Philadelphia episode. “As a member of the cabinet, I’ve been tasked with planning for America 250. We at the Department of Transportation said, ‘Let’s do a road trip.’”
Campos-Duffy, the co-host of Fox & Friends Weekend, calls seeing America by road “a civic adventure,” while Duffy says travelers experience cultures “not just at the destination, but along the way.”
Road trips have particular significance for the couple because they met on Road Rules: All Stars in 1998.
“Our family’s actually going to take a series of road trips, each one exploring a great American city, starting with Philadelphia, the birthplace of democracy,” Campos-Duffy says.
The couple travels with their nine children: Evita, 26; Jack, 24; Lucia, 21; John Paul, 19; Paloma, 17; Mud, 15; Margarita, 11; Patrick, nine; and Valentina, six. Evita is married to Michael Alfonso, the Trump-endorsed Republican nominee for Wisconsin’s Seventh Congressional District.
“Nine kids, two parents, one happy family,” Duffy says.
The journey begins at the White House, where President Donald Trump greets the family.
“What a beautiful family this is!” Trump says before asking whether they are “taking a little trip.”
“Yes, a road trip,” Campos-Duffy responds. “A little trip all over.”
Duffy gives the trip’s motto: “To love America is to see America.”
The first featured destination is Philadelphia, which Campos-Duffy calls the “birthplace of democracy.”
The family gets Philly cheesesteaks before visiting the Liberty Bell Center, where Duffy describes the Liberty Bell as “a great symbol of religious and political freedom in America.”
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum joins them and discusses Philadelphia’s place in American history, including the neighborhood where George Washington and John Adams lived as presidents and where Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence nearby.
“Think of that surviving 250 years and creating this incredible country,” Burgum says. “It all happened right here.”
At Independence Hall, the family enters the room where the Declaration of Independence was signed and the Constitutional Convention later took place.
Michael Alfonso reflects on the founders’ sacrifices.
“So many of them lost their lives, their families, their sons, their fortunes,” he says. “They were willing to give up anything for a chance at freedom.”
Duffy points to George Washington’s chair and recounts Benjamin Franklin’s observation of the sun carved into it during the Constitutional Convention.
“Ben Franklin concluded, ‘It is a rising sun,’” Duffy says. “And as we’re now 250 years after the formation of this beautiful country, that sun is still rising.”
At the National Constitution Center, Duffy discusses billionaire Ken Griffin’s purchase of an original copy of the Constitution for public display, praising people willing to preserve historic documents “for generations to come.”
The episode also features interpreters portraying Betsy Ross and Franklin. The Ross interpreter recounts recommending five-pointed stars for an early American flag design, while the Franklin interpreter speaks about a desire “to be useful and through service.”
That prompts Duffy to reflect on his time in Congress.
“I never thought that I would have the ability to serve in Congress,” he says, adding that he had never visited the Capitol before being elected.
Campos-Duffy says her husband cried when he first entered it, while Duffy says he was moved by “the honor to be able to vote on behalf of the place that I came from and the people that I love.”
The family also races up the Philadelphia Museum of Art steps made famous in the film Rocky.
“There’s nothing more American than Rocky itself,” Duffy says.
“And there’s nothing more American than competition,” Campos-Duffy responds.
Campos-Duffy says she “fell in love with Philadelphia,” while Duffy says the children left “a little smarter and a little more patriotic.”
The Fort Worth episode shifts to Texas culture, transportation infrastructure, manufacturing, cattle, and ranching.
“We continue our celebration of America 250 in the Lone Star State,” Campos-Duffy says, describing a state where “the culture is rich,” “the barbecue is unmatched,” and “everything is bigger.”
The family eats barbecue and learns to line dance before Duffy visits CRH Americas to see how asphalt and concrete are produced.
“As the secretary of the Department of Transportation, part of my job is to stop by and see the businesses that actually make construction and projects work,” Duffy says. “Without those two things, you don’t have roads.”
Ryan Lindsey of CRH Americas says many of the company’s 50,000 employees come from families that have worked in the industry for generations.
“This is an American manufacturing story,” he says.
While Duffy tours the facility, Campos-Duffy and the children shop for boots, hats, and ranch clothing in Fort Worth’s historic district.
At CRH, Lindsey explains the asphalt production process and says each storage silo has a 300-ton capacity, enough collectively for roughly two and a half miles of roadway. The facility also recycles asphalt removed during resurfacing projects.
Duffy notes that the United States has more than four million miles of roads requiring maintenance.
“You don’t have many of our interstates unless you have plants like this to make sure those roads stay operational for you and keeps you and your family safe,” he says.
Campos-Duffy and the children also watch Fort Worth’s daily longhorn cattle drive through the Stockyards. Tour guide Doug Crowell explains that historic drives could involve roughly 3,000 cattle managed by just ten or 12 people.
“I love Fort Worth,” Campos-Duffy says. “It’s historic. It’s beautiful.”
Duffy adds, “Texas, cowboys, ranches — like that is America.”
The family later visits Beaumont Ranch, a working ranch that Campos-Duffy says has been in the same family for more than 30 years.
Duffy works alongside ranchers sorting cattle and learning about the decisions involved in maintaining a herd.
“Ranching is a science, but it’s also an art,” he says.
He praises ranchers and farmers for enduring long days, economic risks, and difficult work.
“I have the utmost respect for the cowboys and ranchers that do this work every single day,” Duffy says. “You make America great.”
The experience also gives Duffy a glimpse of what he hopes to do after government service.
“I just see this little slice for Rachel and me and whatever kids I have left to have a small farm with some farm animals and a garden and a porch and a sunset,” he says. “That’s what I want.”
The children are reluctant to leave, with Evita asking whether they can stay another day and Patrick saying they do not want to go.
“There’s something special about Texas,” Duffy says, ultimately calling it his favorite destination of the road trip so far.
“I think about this road trip in America 250 and spots that are Americana,” he adds. “I think we got this one right. I thoroughly, completely, 100% absolutely love this trip.”
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