First Segment Complete: 7,236 Miles, 14 States, and One Very Happy WRX

2026 Rally4Vets America Grand Tour

Washington, DC to Sterling, Virginia. 37 days. 14 states. 7,236 miles.

On Sunday, July 12th, the Rally4Vets Subaru WRX pulled into veteran-owned Honor Brewing in Sterling, Virginia, and the first segment of the 2026 America Grand Tour was in the books. Two members of the 2025 Top Dog Championship Marine Corps team (the Marines captured the Top Dog trophy last year) were there for the celebration, along with the team, our supporters, and a parking lot full of great cars.

What the road gave us

Fourteen states, and some of the best driving in the world. California’s Lost Coast. The Oregon shoreline at Brookings. Yellowstone – Old Faithful, bison, elk, and a baby black bear. The Black Hills and Mount Rushmore. The Badlands at golden hour. Two-lane roads with the windows down and nobody ahead of us for miles, which turns out to be exactly what you want when you have that kind of country to look at.

If you have been thinking about a road trip, take this as your sign. America is right there. Go see a piece of it you haven’t seen before.

A Shoutout to Subaru

A word about the WRX, because it earned one. Seven thousand two hundred and thirty-six miles and it never once felt like a chore. Mountain switchbacks, desert straightaways, Gulf Coast thunderstorms -the car handled all of it and made it fun. All-wheel drive came in really handy in downpours in Louisiana. Room for our gear and a livery that started conversations in every parking lot.

Thanks to the companies that helped us kit out the car: AeroFlow Dynamics, Swift Springs, Toyo Tires, Just Driven, and Remark USA. A great GT car turns a long haul into a fun adventure. This one did.

Where we stopped, and why it mattered

The 2026 America Grand Tour is a salute to America’s 250th and the veterans who defended it. The stops were epic:

  • Mount Rushmore and the Black Hills – history carved into stone.
  • The National WASP WWII Museum, Sweetwater, Texas – the women who flew military aircraft in WWII. History most Americans don’t know. One of those pilots is still living at 105.
  • The Alamo, San Antonio, at dusk.
  • Cadillac Ranch, Amarillo – a Rally4Vets decal left among thousands of other marks.
  • The National WWII Museum, New Orleans – the dog tag wall, the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, and the George C. Marshall statue in the courtyard. Marshall was VMI, Army Chief of Staff, author of the plan that rebuilt Western Europe, and the only career soldier ever to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
  • USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park, Mobile – including the war dog memorial, which connects directly to why we drive.
  • The Airborne and Special Operations Museum, Fayetteville, and the National Museum of the Marine Corps, Quantico, closing the segment with the VAU Fallen Heroes Memorial, a flag built from more than 7,000 dog tags.

Along the way: 21 VFW posts, 11 American Legion posts, challenge coins and patches left at each one. Veterans everywhere still serving: a retired Special Forces officer and his wife who spent 20 years at the VA, two classmates who served in Vietnam alongside me, a retired Marine Corps Sergeant Major now working with kids at a charter school.

And the small stuff that adds up: 85 thumbs up. 72 honks. 39 people who said thank you for your service. An estimated 735,000 people who saw the car and the livery. Team fun index: max.

Why we drive

Every mile is for the service dog program. A trained service dog takes about two years and roughly $40,000 to prepare, and Rally4Vets places them with veterans at no cost. We drive. They survive.®️

The road ahead

The final leg launches from Washington, DC on October 8, 2026. First to Joliet, Illinois for the 2026 Midwest Subiefest. Then onto Route 66 in Chicago and the full length of the Mother Road, west to Santa Monica. Ten days. 2,811 miles. Driving it in its centennial year.

Fourteen states down. The Mother Road to go. Come meet us out there.

What a country. What a tour.

Learn about our programs at: www.rally4vets.com

Live tracker: Our FindMeSpot GPS tracker

Be part of the team funding our current service dog in training: donorbox.org/2026-service-dog-program