We decide on where we want to go and then look at the route. Most of the time going from east coast to west coast we use interstates just because of the time to get there. Once we came back to Middle Georgia from South Dakota and drove on interstates for about 15 miles total. For the most part if you stay on US highways and state highways you will be fine. We did find a few state highways in Missouri that were more like county roads in other states but we just went slower and saw some amazing sites.