The Adventuring Day

Rest matters for how encounters are built in DND. We're not meant to go blow all of our spell slots in one or two encounters. Abilities are meant to be played out for 6-8 medium combat encounters a day with two short rests ending with a long rest.

Random Encounters: Rest and Travel

During travel you may have to roll a 1d12.
If you wish to take a short rest I will roll 1d12.
If you wish to take a long rest I will roll 2d12.

On a 11 you will get a medium difficulty encounter, on a 12 you will get a hard encounter.
This means you COULD decide you want to setup camp inside of a dungeon... if you want to risk it.

Example Day

1. (medium combat) You explore an area of the wilderness for a bandit camp, your travel roll results in a random encounter, and are promptly charged by an angry momma bear.
2. (medium combat) You find a cave they’re based at and spot a handful of people working outside and keeping an eye on the forest.
3. Inside is a storeroom containing a hidden closet with a stockpile of potions.
4. The party decides to take a short rest and nothing happens.
5. (hard combat) A path leads you to the main sleeping quarters and armory where several guards are relaxing.
6. (medium combat) The party decides to take a short rest and a returning group of bandits storm into the room.
7. (hard combat) You find the robber baron pouring over a book while a mage is casting spells over a monkey paw’s statue.
8. You safely activate the statue and reveal a cave filled with treasure behind the statue.

You end the adventuring day with 5 out of 8 events being combat with a mix difficulty that pushes us into the sweet spot for combat encounters per day.
You've used your two short rests and are free to take a long rest in a cozy bandit hideout after you've cleared out the corpses.