MakeMyDriveFun.com: The Road Trip Shortcut to Not Being Bored Out of Your Mind
Most road trips hit that weird middle zone—you’ve been driving for hours, the scenery's a blur, and every pit stop is either a gas station or a fast food chain. That’s exactly the kind of trip MakeMyDriveFun.com was built to fix.
What It Actually Does
You plug in where you’re starting from and where you’re going. That’s it. Then it spits out a list of weird, unexpected, and just plain fun places along the way. Think "world’s largest ball of twine" type of energy, not touristy brochure stops. It’s all about turning the dead zones of a drive into “holy crap, we have to stop here” moments.
No logins. No app downloads. Just a map, your route, and stuff worth pulling over for.
Why It Works So Well
Most navigation apps are obsessed with efficiency—get from point A to point B as fast as possible. MakeMyDriveFun does the opposite. It slows you down in the best way. Instead of endless cornfields or desert highways with nothing but silence and static radio, you’re suddenly detouring to see a UFO museum or a diner that still serves milkshakes in metal cups.
It’s not trying to be a travel guide. It’s more like the friend in the passenger seat who says, “Wait, let’s check this out.” And they’re usually right.
What You’ll Find
The stops aren’t random. There’s a mix of local oddities, scenic lookouts, historical spots, mom-and-pop restaurants, and the kind of photo ops that make people ask, “Where the hell was that?”
Say you’re driving from Chicago to Nashville. It might throw you a detour to see a cave you’ve never heard of, a massive roadside sculpture, and a restaurant that’s been open since the '50s and hasn’t changed a bit. It’s all the stuff Google Maps buries five clicks deep.
And no, it doesn’t overload you with options. It gives you enough to make decisions without analysis paralysis.
Who’s It For?
If you’ve ever done a long road trip, you already get it. This site is gold for:
- Parents traveling with kids who need something—anything—more exciting than rest stop playgrounds.
- Couples who want a drive that feels spontaneous instead of structured.
- Solo travelers who like to stop and explore without planning every detail.
- Photographers or content creators hunting for visually weird and wonderful stuff.
- Basically, anyone who hates wasting time in places that don’t matter.
The Real Magic? The Weird Stuff
This isn’t about checking off museums or scenic highways you could’ve found in a travel book. The best stops are the oddball ones—the dinosaur-shaped gas station, the neon motel sign in the middle of nowhere, the bridge supposedly haunted by a 19th-century ghost. Stuff that’s hyper-local, hyper-specific, and makes the trip way more memorable than the destination.
And because it’s built on OpenStreetMap data, the tool isn’t trying to sell you anything. No sponsored results. No ratings war. Just weird places that exist for the sake of being weird.
Better Than the Alternatives?
Roadtrippers is nice if you want the full trip planner experience—hotels, gas prices, crowd-sourced reviews. Atlas Obscura is great for rabbit holes of obscure history. But both assume you’re planning ahead and want to micromanage your itinerary.
MakeMyDriveFun isn’t that. It’s casual. Quick. Designed for people who decide to take the back roads on a whim and want to find something cool without overthinking it.
Some Things to Keep in Mind
No app version (yet), so if you’re planning on using it mid-drive, just keep a browser tab open. Also, while the info is solid, it’s not always super detailed—sometimes it’s a name and a pin on the map. That’s part of the fun, but maybe double-check that the museum is actually open if you’re banking on it for lunch.
It’s also better for U.S. road trips right now. Other regions can be hit or miss depending on the density of weirdness nearby.
Bottom Line
MakeMyDriveFun.com won’t plan your whole vacation. But it will turn a boring three-hour stretch of driving into a mini adventure. It’s fast, free, and doesn’t try too hard. And that’s kind of the point—it helps you find the stuff worth pulling over for, without having to dig for it.
Next time you’re planning a road trip? Don’t just hit the GPS and hope for the best. Run your route through MakeMyDriveFun first. There’s probably a statue of a giant chicken waiting for you somewhere.