The next time you decide to go on a road trip, don’t be in such a hurry to get to your destination. If you take the time to plan your trip – and plan it well – you are likely to find a lot of places worth checking out along the way.

Once you decide on a destination, visit your local library to read up on all the things you can see or do in and around the city or cities you’ll be visiting. It would also be a good idea to pick up some detailed road maps at a bookstore, gas station or from your car insurance company and study them. Often, these maps contain a treasure trove of information about places local residents know well, but are hidden gems for the rest of us.

Once you get on the road, be sure to also pick up the maps you find at rest stops. They often contain valuable coupons that can save you money on everything from site-seeing tours and meals to hotel rooms and even a night on the town in your destination city. Speaking of rest stops, some of them you pass along the way may be worth stopping at just so you can say you’ve seen them – if nothing else.

According to Restareahistory.org, rest areas have shaped the American experience of road trips since the 1950s. Most people think of them as merely places they can pull off when they need a break from driving, have to use the bathroom, or want to grab a meal. But it turns out many of them are worth writing home about.

Take for example the rest stop on Interstate 26 in North Carolina, six miles from the North Carolina/Tennessee border. It has all the amenities housed inside of what looks like a chateaux at the base of the mountains. A person could spend hours in the parking lot just admiring the beauty around them. And just about every rest stop along Route 66, which stretches 2,400 miles from Chicago to Santa Monica, Calif., is considered a tourist attraction in itself. Plenty of information about the I-26 rest stop and those along Route 66 can be found through the Restareahistory.org site, so consider it a valuable resource.

Whether you’ll be traveling Route 66 out West, I-95 or US-1 along the East Coast, Interstate 5 along the West Coast, or some other highway, before hitting the road another important step in the planning process is to make sure your auto insurance policy is up-to-date.

Many companies offer free car insurance quotes online, which makes it easy to compare car insurance rates so you can make sure you’re not paying more than you should. After all, the more money you save on insurance, the more cash you’ll have available to spend on your vacation.

Courtesy of ARAcontent