Road trip virgin!

[kleigh]

I am new to this road trip business, but I have long had a desire to travel; the most I have done is visited a few states up and down the east coast with family or friends. But, I desire more! I want to plan a trip across the US; after I graduate grad school in 2014, I want to take six months to a year off to just travel... I imagine I could do quite a bit of sightseeing in a year, no? ;) Finding places to stay will probably not be a huge issue, as I know (or my parents know) people in just about every state who would be willing to put me up for a few nights. So... my question is: how do I plan for this trip? I live in Pennsylvania, and I'd like to see as much as possible. I don't necessarily need to hit every state (although that'd be super rad), but I'm dying to see Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon and Mount Rushmore and New Orleans... and so on and so forth.

Suggestions as to places to stop? (I suppose I should first create a list of places I most definitely want to visit.)
How would I go about creating a fairly direct route without winding all over the place?

It'd be kind of nice to head south, then west, then loop back around... or something of the sort. Any advice or suggestions from road trip aficionados?

Thanks so much!!! :)