Hi everyone! So excited because I just found this site and I have already learned so much, thanks in advance for that!

My boyfriend and I are planning a cross country trip to celebrate graduation from college. We have been looking forward to this for many years, and I can't believe its coming soon! He is a photographer, and we would like to capture some unique and beautiful sights.

We are leaving from NJ in June, and would like to make our way to San Francisco and back. I estimate we have about a month to do this. We're trying to do it pretty cheap, so we'll be camping often or staying in basic motels/rest stops, and packing most of our meals.

What I'm looking for are recommendations about routes to travel. I'm really in the basic planning stages right now, so I'm open to suggestions. We want to see many of the big time sights, as well as some things that are a bit "off the beaten path." We want to see thing like the national parks out west, as well as old ghost towns or ruins. I'm interested in seeing some local festivals or other things that make each place wonderful, so if anyone has had a good experience please share. He's a big motorhead, so we would like to include a bit of that on the tour. We also want to leave time for stopping at random for things we see while on the road.

I realize this is a bit vague, but please, suggest away!