Finding a couple of sites I liked inspired me to plan my own summer road trip. I decided I'd like to visit South Carolina, which is about as far from California as you can get in the United States. But since I couldn't actually take a trip, I thought the next best thing would be to let my fingers do the driving by navigating the information superhighway instead of interstate highways.

Because I liked the freetrip.com site best, I used it to plan my online trip (Freetrip.com is described in the maps section of this article).

I started in Chico, Calif. and typed in Hilton Head Island, which is the closest town I could find to my chosen destination, my sister's house in South Carolina.

I decided I wanted to take interstate roads and scenic roads, while staying in hotels under $50.

To add flavor to my trip, I decided to stop at a few national monuments along the way.

All my information typed in, I hit start.

My trip would take an estimated 44 hours and 13 minutes, give for rest stops, take for speeding.

Unfortunately, one thing the Web won't tell you is where to stop for food and gas, though the freetrip site does try, with helpful suggestions like Sierra Sid's Truck Stop in Nevada. This means there is thinking involved. But what's a road trip without a bit of the unexpected?The first day I decided to "drive" for about seven hours, until I reached a Rodeway Inn link. Clicking on their site only got me a search engine, so I decided to drive another three hours to the next hotel listing, an Econo Lodge.

Here I found the cheapest room to be one with two queen-sized beds for $41. I mentally added a road buddy to split the cost with. Not actually taking the trip, I didn't reserve the room, but it was nice to know it was there.

The next day, I found my first national park and a valuable resource.

The site for the Colorado National Monument gave a great overview of the park, including the cost to get in -- $4 per car. Quite affordable.

I decided to stay there for a few hours and, liking the air conditioned comfort of my car, I chose the historic Rock Rim Drive, 23 miles of paved road.

Then I went on to yet another Econo Lodge, figuring consistency was a safe bet.

The next day I drove for eight hours and 38 minutes until I came to a Comfort Inn. I had now spent three days on the road and was over half way there.

On day four, there were no interesting sites to visit, except possibly the Mount Vernon Travel Center in Illinois. How I wound up in Illinois when I was heading for South Carolina, I couldn't be sure. I had my directions right there, but I wasn't reading them, because that seems like something you do after you actually start driving.

I figured it must be my preference for scenic roads.

On day five, I went to Stone River National Battlefield, which also had an informative link. However, the price was not listed.

So far, with hotels under $50 and a buddy to split costs with, I'd probably spent close to $100 on lodgings. Gas prices are another piece of information the site didn't tell me, and unless I'd be living on beef jerky and bottled water the whole trip, I was likely to have to stop for food as well.

On day six, I decided, I'd be in a hurry to see my sister, so I drove the rest of the way to Hilton Head Island.

One major frustration I encountered was the slowness of linking to other sites and returning to my itinerary. Once I even had to go offline and on again, and start my entire trip over.

Another problem was little surprises. At my first Econo Lodge reservation site, I discovered a little yellow link, what must be the online equivalent of fine print, because I could hardly read it. When I clicked, I discovered that the rates I was given were rates that only applied to people who reserved their rooms over the Internet. A phone number or other contact information wasn't even given for the hotel, so if I really wanted to stay at the hotels listed, I had to reserve them over the Internet.

Finally, using one trip-planning site for my whole road trip was fairly limiting. By far, freetrip.com was the most comprehensive site I had found, giving me lodging links, attraction links and nice line-by-line directions.

But I also know that with more time, I could have probably acquired some good maps from AAA, found more interesting attractions at Roadside America, and paid for cheaper accommodations at Motel 6.

And due to the slowness of the Web, a potpourri of online and traditional travel-planning methods would be more practical.

But planning the trip was still fun, especially since I drove all the way out to South Carolina without ever leaving my keyboard.