I agree with that. Planning the trip was always one of the fun parts of our cross country trips with 3 kids and dog.

I used to have summers off. I did four cross country trips over ten years. The best one—the last one I did alone. I left without an agenda or destination.
After a particularly tough couple of years caring for elder relatives my told me to get on my motorcycle, and go, Spend what I wanted. Go for as long as I wanted. But when I came home, I had to go get a job.
People in this country are great. You just need to meet them.
But Arkansas in July is much hotter and more humid than you might think.