A good friend of mine just got back from a road trip where they had absolutely no plans. They drove from point A to point B and back again and stopped wherever they wanted to. She said they ran across several golf courses they'd never have found otherwise and stopped to play if they had the time.

Have you run across any lesser known courses by doing something similar? It sounds like a great way to explore new courses.

I have not done that, but one of these days very soon, I'm going to do exactly that. Going to a neighboring state, without the help of any directory or listing and drive around with a couple buddies and see what we can run into in terms of golf courses.
I think it's a terrific idea.

I did something similar with my son when he graduated from 8th grade. I gave him the option of going on the class trip to Washington DC or going with me and taking our clubs and playing golf along the way. I had just retired from ATT so I took a month off and we had a plan play golf early as we could, see sights and learn about our great country all day eating meals we prepared ourselves for breakfast and lunch then splurging on a nice restaurant for dinner. We spent 9 days in the DC area staying in an extended stay in Virginia and taking the train into the city after golf everyday. Then made our way to Annapolis, Rehoboth Beach (played a little par 3 course there), Pittsburg (a fun little 9 hole course near the airport on fathers day) and Philly, New Jersey (Eagle Ridge was a great club) and New York, Connecticut played in a little town called Torington I think, and then up to Massachusetts to see basket ball hall of fame in Springfield, Then stopped at a range called Fenway had a blast then down to Boston, on the way back played a little course in Rhode Island called Trigs what a great course then ran out of time but what a great way to travel. I made my son be the navigator on the trip we started with a lot of arguments but once we figured out our roles it was fun. I would recommend a version of this trip for every father and son. You will always remember it as one of your best times together.

Sounds like a lot of fun.
I remember when my husband and I drove up to Mass. a couple of years ago we looked for local courses to play along the way. We played at Triggs also. I think that might have been the one where people in the parking lot were incredulous to see our car with NJ plates!

I did that on my honeymoon. We flew to Sand Diego and took a week to drive up the coast and stop here, stop there. It was fun.

That sounds like fun, My wife and I going up to Mass. in sept and we plan on playing some courses around the area there.

Although we really did have fun just stopping in and playing or asking people we met where they play if I had it to do over and we may I would do a little more research maybe even ask people on here for recommendations and tips on best rates. We did meet a lot of very interesting people on the trip and one college student we met in Boston still is in touch. We stayed in a boarding house that once housed the author of the Battle Hymn of the Republic or so the sign said. We want to do a trip starting in Georgia then in South Carolina, North Carolina, and back through Virginia and DC.