Insert your own musical choices- my last trip was a Springsteen, Eagles, Journey, REO extravaganza, so I must’ve been feeling nostalgic! 
I change it up on Sirius XM between 60s on 6 (love Phlash Phelps!), the Bridge, the Broadway channel, the Coffee House, NPR, and during hockey season, the NHL channels.
When we traveled overseas, we packed a rubber door stop and wedged it under the hotel door when we slept. There are also door stops with built in alarms https://www.amazon.com/s/?keywords=security%20door%20stopper%20bar
Another option is to buy something like this https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077X5HY7X/ref=sspa_dk_detail_6?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B077X5HY7X&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=f52e26da-1287-4616-824b-efc564ff75a4&pf_rd_r=GKPTGK0DQEE6V8CMBNHY&pd_rd_wg=nEuPi&pf_rd_s=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_t=40701&pd_rd_w=ost6N&pf_rd_i=desktop-dp-sims&pd_rd_r=ab353f96-c0e4-11e8-a087-3928d1ba5713
Edit: Also, when you make your hotel reservation, make it for 2 people. When you check in, get 2 keys and mention your spouse will be arriving shortly or is unloading the car, etc.
When I stayed at a hotel that any key opened any door (it was only hotel in lowly per diem range), I put the dresser against the door every night. (The hotel was old enough it had furniture not fixed in place so you could actually move it.). Fortunately I didn’t have to stay many nights and have never returned to that hotel.
So funny @HImom , I moved a huge dresser against a door in the 80s in Las Vegas. New Mexico, not Nevada.
Well, I figured the dresser would slow down entry so the person opening the door would realize it was the wrong room or I would wake up hearing the commotion of the dresser being moved. It let me sleep better.
Exactly.
Next month I’ll be at a rental cabin in the mountains and no other cabin on the property is rented out, so very isolated. The outside locks with a padlock and the inside has only a chain lock. Last fall I made sur to bring the padlock inside so no one would lock me in. And I blocked the door on the inside with a large table.
Amazingly my PTSD did not kick in.
Old fart reporting back.
Tonight I figured out why my night vision has gone to crap. Turns out the inside of my truck window is so dirty it’s covered in a hazy film!! Duh…now I just need to find some time to get the truck washed inside and out:). It’s a little tough to get done right now because the back seat is filled to the brim with stuff piled up to be returned all over town
I’m jealous of the Sirius XM folks. My long trips take me through the rural parts of PA, MD, WV, VA, TN and AL where country music is king. Gah! During the trip in August, I found myself choosing conservative talk radio. I must have looked like a crazy person yelling and gesturing with no one else in the car.
This is why I bring my own music on long car rides!
I grew up in the 70’s but was never a big fan of the music. I find most of the music boring. Never “got it”. I do like much of today’s music. Nothing super hip or cool but give me Imagine Dragons over The Eagles any day. And though I don’t like most rap music I think CardiB is a hoot and Kanye while clearly personally messed up has come up with some amazing stuff.
And Drake’s Gods Plan is currently on my play list which makes my kids cringe but how can you not love “She say do you love me…I say only partly…I only love my bed and my mama I’m sorrry.”
I know, I know plenty don’t love it. But that as my dad used to say, is what makes horse races.
@coralbrook - I messaged you where I go for car wash. I’m too old to do it myself, especially since I can’t reach over the top of the car anymore and hate balancing on the running board or whatever it’s called. I’d rather pay the senior rate at the car wash now! (DH considers it a matter of pride to wash his car himself.)
OP here. I got over it, whatever “it” was and did drive down and back to see my mom with no problems. I am woman, hear me roar…
Good for you @VaBluebird! I am leaving Monday for my 2300 mile drive and just am looking forward to it. Hear me roar as well!
@VaBluebird - I hope you had a great time! Good for you!
I turn 60 next week.
Last weekend I drove from Long Island to New Hampshire to see my daughter at college. I did cheat-- I took the ferry to avoid the trip through the Bronx. It didn’t shorten the drive at all, but did make for a much nicer day.
I left home at 5 am Saturday and was at the ferry by 6:30, hoping to get on the 7 ferry. No luck; so I waited for my 8 am reservation.
Once there at 9:30 I drove 4 more hours to the campus-- half an hour of that was extra because of traffic.
I returned over the same route Sunday.
I might have been more hesitant at night, or in inclement weather, or if the car hadn’t been in good repair. But overall I really enjoyed the time alone.
I’m 65 and I haven’t crossed any such lines yet. Most years, I drive out to the midwest to visit my sister, a trip that is just over 1,000 miles each way. I travel with my dog. We stay mostly in Red Roof Inns, and I have no issue with being alone–if being with a golden retriever counts as alone! I also drive to and from CT to visit my mother, which is about 4.5 hours each way. I will say that I HAVE to have audiobooks for long drives, but that has been the case since the 80s, when I first had access to them.
I don’t have any physical limitations in particular, other than bad eyesight, which I’ve always had, although I gather that it is wise to be cautious about heavy lifting after having had a colectomy because there is more of a chance of developing a hernia. Right now, I restrict myself to 25 lb bags of chicken feed, and let someone else heft the 35 lb bags of dog food.
At one point I traveled a lot for work, and had no issues checking into a hotel alone and eating in restaurants alone. Still don’t. I always bring a book. 
Have driven 2642 miles in the past eight days. Still have another 250 before I get home Wednesday. Went down to GA to see my dad, left early and headed three hours west because my usual route was in the direct path of Michael. (The eye passed over my dad’s house. He said it was strange and cool.) Then headed another hour west, going through TN and WV to head towards Pittsburgh to see a CC friend. Then headed home. Left today and drove to NJ to help with ailing FIL.
Give me caffeine, Hamilton and Dan Fogelberg, and a Red Roof Inn for the beagle, and I can drive forever. There is still no place like home, though.
I’m losing my driving mojo. I just got home from a 5 hour trip and am stiff and exhausted. My eyes hurt so much. Three hours after dark was a little much for me, but I’ll take country roads over highways as there are fewer cars with glaring headlights to encounter.