May 2013 road trip guidance- san fran - ny

[esandy]

Hi Everyone,

My partner and I are planning a 6 week road trip from San Fran to New York, for May 2013.
We are from Australia, both under 30 and really looking for an adventure of both beautiful landscapes, great food and some wacky things along the way. We are both pretty cruisey, we won't mind if we change plans and want to stay or skip somewhere if we want to keep driving.

I'll admit first, there are quite a few stops and places we want to see...so if anyone can suggest what we could turn into a day trip/or just as a place to drive through rather then stay that would be great (or if there's somewhere to cut out altogether!)

We are hoping to fly into San Fran (5 nights, another night at Yosemite) ...drive down to LA along the coast (3 nights), drive to Vegas (3 nights), Go to Bryce Canyon (1 night), Grand Canyon (1-2 nights?), Phoenix (2 nights)...This is where it gets a bit confusing...whether we drive from Phoenix to Tucson (?) , then Roswell then Houston/or Dallas. I know this is a BIG drive...so we were hoping to have a night or two at Tucson then a night in Roswell to break it up..

Would Dallas be okay to visit for a few nights instead of Houston as well? From all of the reviews, Dallas looks a bit more desirable.

From there...New Orleans for 3 -4 nights.

Two plans...1) New Orleans to Georgia, Drive and visit Savannah (1 night) and Charleston (1 night).
Then Norfolk to Washington. From there we wanted to FLY to Chicago then do New York.

Or...we could just fly from New Orleans to Chicago and New York.

I know that's a lot of kilometres and reading, but would like to know what locals and other travelers can suggest.
Also - we are looking at an RV or something that means we can sleep at parks etc along the way...or at a hotel for a bit of luxury!

Thanks!
Esse and Andy