Hello there! I'm new to this website but I thought it might be helpful for me to ask for advice here, since most people seem to be experts or enthusiasts when it comes to roadtrips...

So I have many questions that I hope some of you can answer :)

Here are the details of my trip:

I'm renting a car to move from Los Angeles to NYC at the beginning of December (I haven't decided the date yet because I want to have some of the details figured out) but tentatively I'd leave on the 6th. I have friends/family in Houston, TX; Athens, GA; and Leesburg, VA; and so I'm choosing those routes and making stops in all those places.

So... here are the questions:

I need to make one more stop before I get to Houston and so I was thinking about stopping in New Mexico, since I'm a sucker for zombies I was thinking about choosing Roswell. Since I've never been there, do you guys recommend that as a stop or do you have a better suggestion?

I've rented cars many times, but never for a roadtrip this long, do you guys have any suggestions at all as to what car to rent (be mindful I'm on a budget). I'm making sure I have every insurance available but besides that I don't know what else to ask for. Price wise especially, I was thinking about renting a Hyundai Accent, would you recommend that or should I spend a little more and upgrade?

My cousin also tells me about these websites that you go on and find people that need rides going the same direction and that way you save gas and money... It seems a little untrustworthy (I'm a 25 year old girl traveling by myself) to me but I'm willing to take a look at it, do you guys have any suggestions as to what are the best websites for this?

Also, any suggestions as to what routes to take? Any scenery I might want to check out? What to avoid? What to watch out for? What hotels are the cheapest to stay at (at my stop in New Mexico)? Any tips on saving money on the road? Staying safe?

Really, anything at all you may say to me it's going to help, this is an adventure I'm choosing to take because I've never done this and I've never seen any of these places before and since I work so much, I'm taking advantage of the fact that I'm moving to NY to see all these great places on my way there!

Oooooh one more thing! I was thinking about tentatively staying for a night in New Orleans, it'd be a weekday in winter, do any of you think it'd be worth it? I'd love to check out live Jazz but I don't even know if there's anything going on at that time of year and if it's even worth trying.

Thanks so much in advance for all your suggestions!