hi! we're 5 guys from spain planning a road trip for the last week of july... around 30 days, but we will be spending at least 7 days in new york...

this is the plan:

leaving new york down to washington, then coming back up to buffalo, toronto, detroit, then chicago and in springfield illinois take route 66 (interstate 55 at this point, i think), st louis, then leave route 66 and going down to memphis (we have to see graceland), then we're heading for texas BUT we're not really sure if we should go through arkansas, louisiana (maybe go to new orleans) or mississippi, before going to dallas... after that, we're heading to arizona, then las vegas for a couple of nights... then we'll go north and enter california through san francisco. the trip actually ends in tijuana, mexico...

so, pretty much, we're just asking for help... we're really looking for that AMERICAN experience wich we can't really live here in europe... you know, truck stops where we can have this huuuge breakfast... funny things to see on the road (you always see things in the movies like "the biggest 6 pack of beers in the world" and we just want to know if those things really exist), and pretty much anything that would help us... thanks a lot!!

ps. should we rent a car? we're trying to keep it cheap... and renting a car is like 2500 dlls... would you recommend tu buy a car for at least half that price?? thanks!