2 month long roadtrip - newbe advice

Hello all, a new user here with lots of questions.

Me and my wife recently came into a bit of money, and the idea of taking a spur of the moment roadtrip for the summer sounded like a great idea. I'm a teacher that has the summer off and she doesn't work, so it seemed like the time to do it.

We live in western central Arkansas, and are planning to take a trip from the middle of June until I have to report back to school in early August. Tentatively, we talked about going down to New Orleans, then down and back up Florida, traveling up the east coast through Charleston, Atlanta, Raleigh to New York, Washington D.C., Boston, etc then over to Chicago. From there we weren't sure. We'd like to head over to the west coast and make a big loop, but haven't decided yet.

So, the questions. Are there any rough ideas on how much we should think about spending? I know it will vary greatly depending on where we stay. Probably thinking of spending 2 nights a week in a motel, trying to camp out the rest of the time.

What about attractions? Are there any books anyone can recommend that have a list of things we might want to keep and eye out for?

Last question, we have a dog that we love and want to take with us. She travels really well in a car, but we were worried about what would happen if we see something we wanted to do and can't take her with us. Does anyone have any experience roadtripping with pets?

I'm sure I'll have more questions, but thanks for any advice you can give!

Welcome to the RoadTrip America Forum!

You've got the entire country and a good amount of time to explore - that's something everyone on here wishes for!

Daily expenses can definitely vary depending not only on lodging, but on how long you drive and where you eat each day. I would budget $150/day to keep it on the safe side. If you are frugal about your dining (such as packing a cooler and seldom choose to eat at restaurants), and use inexpensive lodging (such as camping), you can cut that significantly. You will have to remember fuel costs as well. Some places may have a fee, but to be honest, I've found that to be a very small portion of every trip I've ever taken.

Would you be spending two weeks in total in a motel, or two weeks in a row? If you spread out your motel/camping stays, you can see how much on average your costs will be fairly early in your trip.