The idea of a road trip evokes the image of jumping in the car and just going where the road takes you. Sounds cool, but the reality is you'll have a smoother, more fun journey if you plan out your road trip before you hit the highway. And now you can plan a great road trip with ease with instant access to Rand McNally's TripMaker Planning Tool.

You can plot out your entire trip from start to finish - and even add your stops along the way. First select your starting location and destination and any stopping points in between. Then you can search for local attractions, things to do, hotels, transportation and more to add for each stop on your road trip route. Once you’ve plotted your entire trip, you'll get a road trip summary, which features two types of maps, the overview map of your trip’s entire route and point-to-point maps showing the route between each of your stops. You can view the details of each segment of your trip to see information on all the things to do and places to stay you've added and get detailed driving directions and current weather conditions. Plus, the TripMaker Planning Tool also features My Road Trip Notes, where you can store important phone numbers, confirmation numbers, addresses and anything you'd like to record for a particular road trip. And, you can save and print your road trip information.

So when you've got the urge to travel the highways and byways you can plan an amzing road trip with ease with a convenient connection to Rand McNally's TripMaker Planning Tool.