Sounds like your road trip was really fun. Barb and I took trip by car something like yours back in 2009. Cincinnati to Deadwood to Seattle to San Francisco to Las Vegas to Tombstone, AZ and back, and a whole bunch of places in between. The only difference between your trip and mine is, you had a route in mind and a schedule to keep. We had neither. Had know idea where we'd be the next day. Of course that way you can never get lost. Just like you, the fun is in seeing new places and searching for stuff.