Coming to Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine on a road trip during the week of Oct. 9th through the 16th. Prefer to drive and sightsee and stop at motels when I want to. How hard is it to find motels in different towns as I drive? I do not know which town I will be in so I do not want to reserve a motel room in advance.
Will fly into Manchester, NH and drive up the coast of Maine then onto NH and Vermont. Thank you for any help you can give me.

That weekend is a holiday weekend, Columbus Day in the US and Thanksgiving in Canada, at the heart of the autumn leaf season. It will be impossible to find a motel on that weekend. During the week it should not be a problem.

If you are coming that weekend, as earlier stated that is the busiest weekend of the season, and leaf peeping is at it's height probably, depending on the summer and rain. Anyway if you want to be a bit loose with your schedule, how about picking a hotel/motel centrally located and then doing day trips. That way you won't have to move hotels, and can see what you want.

Also BOOK NOW because the later in the season, hotels will be FULL, some probably already are.

Have a great time.

You really need to decide since there are some areas where hotels/motels are scarce. There are several in Concord NH (one recently built) and quite a few in the lakes region but further north in the mountains, they start to get scarce since they only have tourists to count on and not regular business travelers. Last weekend we drove Rt 32 from Athol MA to Keene NH and there was absolutely nothing, not even a place to stop for lunch.
Pick a town, google loding nameoftownstate to see what there is available. I love the Sandwich NH area where there are very few choices but staying within 20 miles is fine.

As noted, there are likely to be few lodging options in some areas you will visit.

I learned to book ahead by traveling with friends who preferred "to drive and sightsee and stop at motels when they wanted to." We often ended up in dumps that charged us top dollar because we had no other option--all rooms having been booked at the desirable hotels and motels.

HTTY

It is definitely best to have reservations ahead of time, especially if the rate is important to you. There are plenty of places to stay, but places with vacancies would be a real challenge in the foliage areas.

I don't think it will be impossible, but yes it will be tricky. Route 1 thru southern Maine is literally lined with motels - I can't imagine they would all be full, especially since foliage season is not as big on the Maine coast as in the mountains. Mountain areas will be difficult. There are lots of motels near the big ski areas - Killington, Stowe, Loon, etc. You might get lucky there, but pay top dollar. Other options might be in downtown, less scenic areas, like Concord NH, White River Jct. Vermont, Rutland, etc. Bring your cell phone and a long list of places to try.

We did essentially the same trip last year at the same time and I saw many people being turned away at motels when we were checking in for our reservation. Also, another instance was when I witnessed a man being quoted twice what I paid for my reserved room when he just showed up. So I highly recommend you plan ahead and book rooms. Also, at that time of year many hotels have a two night minimum.

Not a good idea to rely on finding a place to stay during the busy weekend in that area.

Who wants to spend time finding a motel after a busy day of traveling? Not me!

Just pick out the areas you want to be and pick a town and find a motel and make a reservation. You can check in late in the evening if you are finding things you want to see along the way.

That plan works OK in off-season, I've done it, but *not* during foliage season &/or over a holiday weekend! Or your main vacation itinerary could be looking for places to stay every day.

To add to everything that has been said...you can find rooms last minute as there most likely will be some cancellations but you may spend hours calling around or going from place to place and who wants to waste the day looking for a place to stay rather than enjoying the day!

I can't tell you how many times all the rooms in our area are booked and at five or six in the evening we are sending people 30-60 minutes away to the nearest vacancy.