Chicago to San Diego and back in June

My wife and I are going on our 1st road trip in June of 2008. It is going to be two weeks long and we are on a strict budget. We have some friends and relatives to stay with on some of the trip and want to camp some too. I think that I have found a few "cheaper" hotels but I am not sure how to find ones that are nicer yet still "cheap". How would I go about that? I know that there is the star rating system but I don't always agree with the ratings :)

Also, I am not sure if I want to put a ton of miles on either of our cars. Does anyone have any suggestions on a specific rental car company that is reasonable with unlimitied miles?

Welcome to the RTA forum!

Short of personal experience, its pretty much impossible to know if a motel will meet your expectations. There are rating systems out there, and there are some websites, like tripadvisor, which provide some reviews, but as you've said you don't always agree with those ratings. Everyone has different expecations, which is going to result in different feeling about how nice a place is.

Of course, when you get right down to it, you usually get what you pay for. If a room at one place is $50 and the place next door is charging $70, you will usually get something extra for that extra money. Its not a sure thing, but it will be true more often than not.

As far as rental car companies, I've never found that much of a difference between the individual companies, and rates can change so much depending upon your dates of travel, rental location, etc you really have to shop around to find which company will provide the best rate for you when you want to travel.