That sounds expensive. Not if you tour the country in a car supplied by an automobile transport company. These companies match drivers with car owners who need cars moved from city to another. The only expenses are gas, food, tolls and lodging.

I've always wanted to get my kicks on Route 66. That's certainly an option. All the way from Chicago to Los Angeles, and realistic too, since most cars obtained via automobile transport companies need to be driven coast to coast.

But how do you find that Zen moment? Try the stretch of U.S. 50 that slices east-west through central Nevada. It's known as the loneliest route in the U.S.—a spiritual journey through the arid, mountainous beauty of the Silver State.

And if that isn't enough? Then there's always the Dempster Highway in Canada. The only public highway in North America to cross the Arctic circle, the Dempster is more of a odyssey than an actual road. Below the sky and the northern lights, this road is the only access to Canada's isolated Mackenzie Delta communities of Fort McPherson, Arctic Red River, and Inuvik in the Northwest Territories.

That's a little far out. Try Route 1: The Pacific Coast Highway, California. You're never far from the ocean as you cruise along redwood groves, cow pastures, and fruit orchards.

A pie-in-the-sky drive? The Hana Highway in Maui, Hawaii may be the world's most beautiful stretch of road; carved from cliff faces and valley floors, its vistas of smooth sea and lush terrain are only made more exciting by its tortuous curves.

And if I need to stretch my legs? Hawaii's Hana-Waianapanapa Coastal Trail is spectacular. You can spend a whole day hiking along the trail, swimming in water-filled underground lava tubes, and then star-gaze at a campsite near a black sand beach.

Any final words? Look over your car, whether it's your own, you're renting, or you've been lucky enough to be offered one. You don't want to be stuck with a gas guzzler and you want to make sure that the brakes work.

What will I miss on the road? A surprise late-night layover in Newark on the first night of a national insurance convention.

What's a great American road-trip moment? Having breakfast in a diner in the middle of Ohio just off U.S. 50, knowing that you can explore glaciers, Native American burial grounds, gorges, and cliffs, or skip it all and have another pancake.