when going on a trip by car do most people pre book hotels or just wing it?

Depends. If you are going to a beach resort during the season, you need reservations. If you are going off-season, you can find rooms. If you are just driving and need a place to crash, you don't need reservations, however I would stop early enough in the day. The later it gets the more quickly hotels fill.

Most people book in advance.

After one bad experience we now book ahead. We figure out about how far we want to go and then find accomodations in the general area give or take 40-50 miles. AAA tour books are good for this.

No Dave most people don't book in advance. Done That is correct, if you need a place to crash there are plenty of hotels off of the interstate that are completely acceptable and you do not need to make reservations.

BTW Dave-I have been criss crossing this country since before you were in diapers and I have never made a reservation.

Doug-Get a hold of a AAA book or other guidebook so you can guage where the hotels are. Always stay in a reputable chain.Never a local motel that has a bunch of pickups in the parking lot.

Don't assume that there are always plenty of room along the interstate. It all depends on what may be hapening in the area you pass thru.

Several years ago we started out about 150 miles south of Atlanta and were going to stop in the Cincinnati area for the night. That would have given us a 5 hour drive home the next day. WE didn't know that the Reds were playing the Pirates and from about 150 miles south of the city to within 100 miles of our house there wasn't a room to be had. We ended up driving all the way home. I don't EVER want to do that again. From now on, we guesstimate where we want to stop and we reserve a room.

As many hotel rooms there are in Cincy I seriously doubt everyone of them was filled by a ballgame. Especially the way the Reds have been playing lately. You should have tried Blue Ash or the other northern suburbs. What an idiot!

CF is the same person who stated on another post today that it's silly to try switching hotels from Wailea to Kaanapali on Maui since it would waste an entire day to do so.
Hmmmm. Maybe he or she just has a problem with exaggeration.

We book ahead because we travel with kids and it is easier to show them the hotel in the book and tell them when we will get there. Also, we travel in summer to "touristy" places. The questions to ask yourself are, how early do you stop (5 PM versus 9 PM), how picky are you about where you sleep, do you get annoyed taking 3 diffferent exits off the Interstate to try to find a vacant hotel room, and, most important, if you are travelling with someone, how do they feel about above.

I said it was several years ago....maybe the Reds were playing better back then.

I don't know how you all travel, but getting off interstates and running around suburbs looking for a place to stay is not the way we travel. We get off an exit, check the hotels and if they are full, we move on. We have neither the time nor desire to try every little burb in the area.

As for being called a liar, this is the reason I stopped posting under my real name. Believe it or not, I frankly don't give a &$%@.