Welcome to the RTA forums !

With 12 day's available you certainly have time to do some 'wandering,' but driving across country means that there are thousands of routes and attractions to choose from. As Donna said, dig around the forums and use the road trip planning links in the tool bars above. In the Map centre you can create routes and find attractions along the way and you can get some lodging costs and ideas for places to stay in the 'Hotel' link. On multi day trips we don't recommend trying to cover more than 5-600 miles a day when looking to 'make up time,' with only short breaks for food, gas and bathroom breaks but no major sight seeing. So you will also need to consider how much time you are planning on staying with your friends and in New Orleans etc. Of your 12 days you can expect half of that time to be accounted for in the car, the other to go as and where you please.

Once you have worked on your trip and other questions crop up, just ask and we will help to fill in the blanks