There are lots of amazing places to travel to in the USA, but for almost every single one you'll need a car. Like, almost EVERY single one. Unless you only plan on travelling to big cities. If you want to do that, you'll pretty much have to fly.

The US is A LOT bigger than most people think. If you want to travel it without a car (and without taking literally weeks or months) you'll have to fly, or you can take the train if you want to keep it condensed to one area.

For example, you can do an east coast trip and see NYC, Boston, Philly, and DC. Or you can do a west coast trip and do LA, San Diego, San Fran, Portland, Seattle, etc. But it's nearly impossible to do both unless you are willing to drive for days or weeks on end across empty country.

Which, for the record, can be amazing. I took a road trip from Chicago to San Fran and back again and it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life, seeing the ghost towns and natural beauties that are usually off limits to me because I don't own a car. But I was travelling with friends and we were able to switch off driving, and even split between three people and sleeping in the car it cost a fortune.

Bottom line is, as much as I also loved reading "On the Road," it's pretty much impossible to do something like that on a budget.

If you're willing to spend a little, though, there's a ton of incredible stuff throughout the states. National parks like Yellowstone, Yosemite, Mount Rushmore, etc, and smaller towns with a really "America" feel are hard to get to, but worth it.

As for where to go, that totally depends. Are you looking for nature? Cities? Culture? Museums? Oddball, off-the-beat-path destininations?