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There are two main ways to make the most of your trip, to make the most of your money and to make the most of your time. I'll leave the money aspects to you and those who are better at it than I am, but as for making the most of your time, you can see all of the things you've listed by making a fairly round loop of the U.S. Given that it will already be getting pretty warm at the time you leave, I'd suggest doing the southern leg first. This would entail driving roads like the Blue Ridge Parkway, US-70 and US-60 westward with stops perhaps in Nashville, Memphis, Oklahoma City, Santa Fe, the Petrified Forest, the Grand Canyon, and Las Vegas on the way to Los Angeles. You'd then drive up the coast on the Pacific Coast Highway to San Francisco, before turning east on roads such as US-50 to Salt Lake, US-89 north to Yellowstone, US-14 to Devils Tower and the Badlands and finally US-30, the old Lincoln Highway, and US-40, the old National Road back to the east coast.

For my money, state parks and national forests offer the most variety and cheapest camping, but if your planning to camp near a major national park in July or August, you'd better start trying to make reservations now. They tend to book up early.

AZBuck