I know Charlotte well, so I thought I'd offer a few local suggestions. A great southern breakfast place that is cheap is the Original House of Pancakes (used to be on South Blvd. but is now on Charlottetown). A great southern bbq place is the Penguin on Central Ave. Charlotteans are very proud of both and they're both inexpensive. I know you want to go to up to Mooresville, but another cool place near Charlotte is the US National Whitewater Center if you like to climb, kayak, mountain bike or do an easy hike. www.uswc.org for details.

it looks like you're going through asheville- an AWESOME little artsy, hippy-ish town. my favorite coffee shop there is the Dripalator. Has a lot of local art and vegan desserts. but you can just walk around downtown and see a lot of cool little artsy shops. It doesn't look like your route is allowing for you to go to Boone, NC but let me tell you it is awesome and beautiful if you can fit it in.