As a kid, I was never a fan of road trips myself. In my case, its because I easily get carsick and I just spend my time sleeping in the car hoping to get to where we're going as soon as possible. Thankfully, I've gotten over my carsickness. So I am now in a better position to, as you said, stop and smell the roses.

These days, I enjoy taking pictures while traveling, especially when the scenery changes and one scene bleeds into another. It's great if you can capture that in a picture.

P.S. I got here through Kryptonia.