Visit a free online navigational trip-planning tool, such as AAA's TripTik, Yahoo! Trip Planner or Rand McNally's TripMaker Planning Tool. Enter your starting point and destination, then modify the route to include cities you'd like to visit on the way.
Choose special attractions to visit on the way. Most route planners highlight these along your route so you can click on the icon for more information. AAA TripTik and Yahoo! Trip Planner also include travel guides for different areas of the country that allow you to research attractions and destinations before choosing to add them to your custom route plan.
Mark the cities in which you plan to stay overnight. Many route planners allow you to book a hotel as part of your online route plan.
Print your custom route plan in color, if possible. The plan should be several pages long, with turn-by-turn directions and zoomed-in pages for the cities in which you have chosen to stop. Also, print the information on the special attractions you plan to visit, such as address, phone number, hours of operation, parking information and cost. Some route planners, such as AAA TripTik, automatically print this with your route.
Three-hole-punch your printed route plan and place it in a binder. Purchase maps of the states through which you plan to travel, and include those in the binder as well in case of route changes or construction detours. Include a copy of your trip's budget to keep track of your spending. Add a pen and paper to keep notes on your car's miles per gallon or your thoughts about the sites you visit during your trip.
