I take my dog on vacation with me too whenever possible. He’s driven to both coasts and all over the midwest.
I don’t even fly (other than for business) simply because I’ve heard too many horror stories about pets in cargo. My Ranger (and Timber before him) have always made the best road trip partners. I’m nocturnal when I travel and it seems that wherever I go and pull into any rural service station at 3:00 a.m. for gas, I’ll ask the clerk if there’s a little patch of ground I can let my dog use. They always want to come out and pet him :-)