Road trip suggestions

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Any suggestions from people who don’t like a planned trip?

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I think you need some amount of planning even if it is only "I plan to be gone two weeks" or "I'm going to San Diego and be back when I get back." I retired 8 years ago and we have taken quite a few road trips in that time. My thoughts, FWIW.

Get a hotel app, if you don't have one, such as Hilton or Marriott so you can make hotel reservations on the fly. We stay in Hampton Inns a lot because they meet my wife's minimum requirements (usually) and they are in a lot of smaller towns. The last road trip we took was to Key West and the only hotel we had booked before we left was there (in KW) for 3 nights and maybe the 1st night in GA. We were gone 10 nights or so.

Get the National Park Service app, the one with the white bison, snow capped mountain, and tree on it. It has all the Nat Parks and Nat Monuments, Seashore, Islands, etc. It has much information about each site and you can create your personal list of places visited. A lot of Nat Monuments can be seen in a few hours and are well done. Without the NPS app you might drive right by them.
You will learn some stuff. And don't overlook state parks (they are not on the NPS app).

Always stop at the visitor center and talk to the ranger. They have good info.

Get off the interstate as much as you can. Talk to the locals when you get a chance.
But, if you're on the interstate stop at the welcome centers and get information about the state you are entering.

We have found that two nights in one place works well for us if there is something to see or do there. Unless it is a very short trip between hotels you don't have time to see or do much if you only stay one night. And even if it is a short drive between hotels if you are stopping to see sites a 5 hour trip becomes an 8+ hour trip. Presumably you're taking the trip to see things and not just drive.

But, sometimes we just want to get from point A to point B as quick as we can though. That's usually when we're headed home.

If there is something you like then try and incorporate that into the trip. I like to stop at bar-b-q places, especially the ones seen on TV, so we check those out when we can. Maybe you like craft beer, unusual museums, old court houses, battlefields or presidential libraries.

And don't overlook short road trips. There is probably a lot to see within a short drive of where you live.

the two night road trip rule is a good one.

night 1 is usually after a long drive, I have a secondary rule of no driving after 6pm. Get to the room, get cleaned up, go get dinner/drinks/etc. next day you can see the area at leisure without worrying about a schedule. Wake up after night 2, get packed and hit the road to the next stop