Goin' on a roadtrip in the US... yehaaa....

[icecycle66]

Excellent.

It takes two days to drive from New Orleans to St. Louis.
Or one day if you are pushing like a beast.  That's without stopping anywhere.

I've lived in both south Louisiana and central Missouri, so I'll get on tonight when I get home and fill you chock full of stuff that you can do in both.

If you are going to do a full three weeks, you can do a lot. If you go east from Missouri you can get a lot more done.  If you go west from Missouri you can see the great expanse of the United States (awesome in it's own right.)

As a quick response, New Orleans to Baton Rouge. (I can hook you up with the inlaws in this area, they are deep into the music scene as well as being locals they know all the ins and outs.) Actually, I could keep you in Louisiana and Mississppi for the entire time.

I would then tell you to look into Mamou, Louisiana and see if the Cajun  Music Festival (or any festival with food in the name) is going on.  Go there if so.  If not, skip that and go to Memphis.

Eat a lot of bar-b-cue in Memphis, listen to a lot of music, go to the Museums. 
Then go to Nashville, do the same thing there.

Then go to St. Louis, do all the same stuff.  Also, go to the Anheiser Busch brewery and take the free tour.  Whether or not you like beer, go do this. It's really cool and they go on all day every day; no reservation required.  If you are into beer, schedule a brewmasters tour.

Cross Missouri to get to Kansas City.  Stop at a Army base called For Leonard Wood.  They have good military history musems focused on Engineers, Military Police, and Chemical warfare.  Also, I helped build one of the Military Police exhibits.

Go to Kansas City and I can hook you up with a long time friend and his wife.  They are really cool and can give you the full KC tour of stuff to do.

If you want to go as far as either of the coasts let me know. I know people up and down each coast too.

As far as transportation is concerned, you are going to have to rent a car and do hotels, or an RV and do RV parks.  There is no reliable train system (which I would love to have) and taking the bus is a journey you don't want to have.

Oh yeah, you can do Chicago too. Whatever.

[cooder]

First of all many thanks for the kind, welcoming and inspiring replies! Cool stuff guys!

New Orleans to Chicago sounds like a great road trip with Memphis and St. Louis in the middle. Also, Austin, Texas is less than 8 hours from New Orleans. A little bit of planning and I'm sure you could fit it all.

NYC is great, but Northeast/New England is a trip of its own. And nowhere near Missouri. I'm from NJ and definitely agree that Hoboken and Jersey City are excellent choices for a NYC trip. I also work for PATH, so thanks for the plug, don't-tase-me-bro!

Congrats!

Austin city music fest is in early October.

It would be shame to spend your days driving though, but flying makes it doable. You've seen one Midwest plain for an hour, you've seen it for the next 3 weeks.  . That said driving gets you out of the touristy stuff so I always like to shoot for a mix.

With that in mind, I'd hit Austin first, then Tennessee and/or NO, enjoy the wedding in St. Louis (no jet lag at that point) then drive to Chicago. Amtrack may be an option from St. Louis to Chicago too. There's a blues bar in Evanston (just north of Chicago suburb) that has a great blues bar, don't remember the name atm.

Dress in layers, the weather will be all over the place.

I've heard before that Austin has an apparently very cool music scene, and a festival then? Sounds good...

Yes we'll have to figure how much we're going to drive and how much we're going to stop and stay to check out places I guess...
Hiring a campervan / RV I definitly would be happy with a small one like I own here and not a two bedroom two bathroom mothership that you need three parking spaces for... so are there lots of campgrounds/caravan parks to find to stay in all over the place?

If you're going to Chicago, I'd say start there, then Memphis then nolens then St Louis


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Ok, what to see in Memphis, what about Nolens (never heard of it...), what's cool in St. Louis?

Excellent.

It takes two days to drive from New Orleans to St. Louis.
Or one day if you are pushing like a beast.  That's without stopping anywhere.

I've lived in both south Louisiana and central Missouri, so I'll get on tonight when I get home and fill you chock full of stuff that you can do in both.

If you are going to do a full three weeks, you can do a lot. If you go east from Missouri you can get a lot more done.  If you go west from Missouri you can see the great expanse of the United States (awesome in it's own right.)

As a quick response, New Orleans to Baton Rouge. (I can hook you up with the inlaws in this area, they are deep into the music scene as well as being locals they know all the ins and outs.) Actually, I could keep you in Louisiana and Mississppi for the entire time.

I would then tell you to look into Mamou, Louisiana and see if the Cajun  Music Festival (or any festival with food in the name) is going on.  Go there if so.  If not, skip that and go to Memphis.

Eat a lot of bar-b-cue in Memphis, listen to a lot of music, go to the Museums. 
Then go to Nashville, do the same thing there.

Then go to St. Louis, do all the same stuff.  Also, go to the Anheiser Busch brewery and take the free tour.  Whether or not you like beer, go do this. It's really cool and they go on all day every day; no reservation required.  If you are into beer, schedule a brewmasters tour.

Cross Missouri to get to Kansas City.  Stop at a Army base called For Leonard Wood.  They have good military history musems focused on Engineers, Military Police, and Chemical warfare.  Also, I helped build one of the Military Police exhibits.

Go to Kansas City and I can hook you up with a long time friend and his wife.  They are really cool and can give you the full KC tour of stuff to do.

If you want to go as far as either of the coasts let me know. I know people up and down each coast too.

As far as transportation is concerned, you are going to have to rent a car and do hotels, or an RV and do RV parks.  There is no reliable train system (which I would love to have) and taking the bus is a journey you don't want to have.

Oh yeah, you can do Chicago too. Whatever.

That sounds like a bunch of cool tips there too, thanks so much and I might try to get some more detail on that.
What's happening in Baton Rouge, the name rings bells.
Kansas City here I come...

[icecycle66]

Baton Rouge is the Louisiana state capitol.
It's just a little northwest of New Orleans. 
After Hurricane Katrina a lot of the culture and population didn't return to New Orleans and stayed in Baton Rouge isntead. It's got all the same old city charm and new city traffic as New Orleans, as well as a significant portion of the social life that never went back south.

However, Baton Rouge has 100% less of the Bourbon Street/French Quarter.

[davent]

Nolens...

Guessing... slangy New Orleans, the local pronunciation?

[jimilee]

Memphis has Beale street Nashville has broad street nolens is New Orleans. St. Louis I don't know anything about except the arch 


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[icecycle66]

Do not say "Nolens" around people from Louisiana.
They'll give you the stink eye and quickly lose their southern charm.

[dont-tase-me-bro]

Don't forget, we drive on the right side of the road here.

And according to the Simpsons, our toilets flush different too

[davent]

Don't forget, we drive on the right side of the road here.

And according to the Simpsons, our toilets flush different too

Doesn't the draining vortex rotate in the opposite direction? North vs southern hemisphere.

[cooder]

Thanks again!
So by the sounds of it things like Beale St / Memphis, Broad St / Nashville, Bourbon St New Orleans are all worth checking out and not just tourist traps...? I don't mean "tourist" in  a bad sense of the word as we'll be obviously tourists ourselves, I just don't wanna miss the authentic stuff and "only" see a clichee...

Don't forget, we drive on the right side of the road here.

And according to the Simpsons, our toilets flush different too

Being from continental Europe (Germany) I still should have enough ride side driving in my genes to be fine, wasn't a problem last time I was in Europe either.
And yes, the vortex water draining down the bath tub goes the other way around down here... as do the high and low pressure airsystems.
And we do have the sun in the North at lunch. Which is why a good number of early settler houses are built the wrong way around, facing away from the sun as they used British build plans first which orientate the house towards Sun in the South. Doh.

[marmora]

I'm in Chicago. At any point let me know if you have any questions, I'm happy to help you have a fun trip.

[Govmnt_Lacky]

Damn it! 

You are gonna be a ways away from my neck of the woods (Washington DC area) but I really do hope you enjoy what the ole USA has to offer! 

[icecycle66]

Warning: I like Museums.  All the bar-b-cue places have long lines, ignore the lines and eat the bar-b-cue.

New Orleans:
Tourist:
French Quarter: This place is cool because there is a lot of living history here.  There's Jackson Square, a tribute to when Andrew Jackson beat the life out of the British.  The Cathedral is there.  All sorts of neat things. 
Don't eat at Café du Monde. It's better you don't have beignets at all than the tourist trap crap at Café du Monde; their coffee sucks too. 
Bourbon Street: if you want to get drunk, there's no better place to do it.  There's more booze here than anywhere else in the world.  If that's not your thing, there are some niche shops, live sex shows, and the Voodoo/Santeria store.
If there isn't too long of a line at Central Grocery, stop and split a muffuletta with whoever you are travelling with.

Real deal:
Magazine Street and the New Orleans Garden district. It's super pleasant there.  Street cars, little shops, a little more like "real" Louisiana than the French Quarter. It's aA little more southern belle and a little less southern hellion.  You can see plantation style homes and stuff like that in the Garden district.
Faulkner House Books in Pirate Alley has a cool owner who will tell you all sorts of New Orleans stories if she is there.
If you are there on Friday night, the Playhouse become a burlesque at midnight.
New Orleans has the WWII museum.
Go down Frenchman street in the evening and you can take your pick of music billowing out of clubs.  From rock, to funk, to jazz, to reggae, to zydeco.

Food: here are some Louisiana food hints.
Go to Acme Oyster House in New Orleans, there will be a line but it's okay.  Sit at the bar and watch the guy shuck oysters like he's done it all his life (because he has).  Tell him where you are from and tell him a quick story.  Then ask him for a story and experience one of the great story tellers of our time.
Dat Dog has some strangely fantastic, but slightly overpriced hot dogs.  Really, check them out. http://datdognola.com/
Eat at gas stations.  Seriously. Some of the best food can be found at gas stations.  If you ever see "boudin" or "cracklins" at a gas station in Louisiana, EAT IT.  Never eat either of those things at a restaurant.  Gas stations also have the best fried chicken.

Music stores:
New Orleans Music Exchange
Ray Fransen's Drum Center

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Memphis
Beale street: unless you want to go to some casino's just south of Memphis, Beale Street really is where it's at. In my opinion, "The Pig on Beale" has the best bar-b-cue in town. I haven't eaten at all of them, and the last time I was there was in 2010, but sometimes I still have dreams about "The Pig on Beale".  They are sort of jerks, the service is intentionally rude; it's supposed to be part of the charm.  It's annoying, but the smoked chicken is like an orgasm in your mouth.

Of course, don't just stay on Beale, the area around there is nice too. Union Street has the Cotton Museum, and there is a big post office somewhere around there.  (Because that's what you foreigners are interested in right? Mail?)

----------

Nashville
The Grand Ole Opry.  Man, you gotta go there.  That's history forever.  There is a big park around the Opry and all kinds of stuff. Look it up.  It's cool and on the outside edge of Nashville.

Nashville also has the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.

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Chicago
There's plenty on Chicago.  I haven't been there for maybe 15 years, so I'll leave that to your own research.
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St. Louis
Don't fuck around in the city of East St. Louis.
It's on the east side (Illinois) of the river.  Do, however, go look at the Eads Bridge.

Again, do the Anheiser-Busch brewery tours. 
The Arch is neat.  You can go up to the top, but buy tickets ahead of time if you want to do that.  There are only so many a day.  Do not do this if you are claustrophobic. 

Away from the down town area is Pappy's Bar-b-cue .  Eat there.  It's the best bar-b-cue in St. Louis.  If you have to stand in line for two hours it's worth it.

If you drive over the Mississippi River in Louisiana, drive across it again in St Louis.


Don't fuck around in the city of East St. Louis.
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Fort Leonard Wood is smack dab in the middle of the state.  It has cool military history museums if you have an extra day to kill.  There is also a little town called Wayensville right there.  It is super small, maybe three blocks long, but if you want to get an idea of the decaying/dead Americana, drive through it on Route 66.  Maybe have a cup of coffee across the street from the courthouse.  Oh, and there is a small music store there. 

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Kansas City
Any Time I go to KC I just get carted around by my friend. Here's some stuff I remember.

Oklahoma Joe's is a bar-b-cue joint in a gas station.  While it isn't the best, it is damn good and always consistent.  It's probably the prime example of KC Bar-b-cue.

There is a place called the Pigwich that is a nice experience and has great sandwiches.  http://www.yelp.com/biz/pigwich-kansas-city

There's all kind of museums here.  The Money Museum, the Kemper Museum (which has a cool glass Labrynth),  the Negro Leagues baseball museum, the Jazz Museum, and so on.

[icecycle66]

All that is just the central corridor.

In three weeks you can go anywhere in the US.  You can go to Washington DC and spend the entire time in that city alone.
Think about stuff like the Grand Canyon in Arizona, the ghost towns in New Mexico, the Rocky Mountains, the Painted Desert, and the entire span of natural wonder can be found out west.  The entire Continent is beautiful in October.

The west coast has Highway 1, Los Angeles, the Monterey Peninsula, and San Fransisco.  I know a great pizza hole in San Fransisco and all sorts of goodies on the Monterey Peninsula. On the way you can see the Snake River in Idaho, the great expanse of Montana, Yellow Stone in Wyoming, and me in South Arizona. Joshua Tree National Forest and Las Vegas are in the West as well.  You wouldn't be able to do all that stuff, but it's all there.

In the east you have all the great American cities.  New York City, Philadelphia (my favorite eastern city).  There's Delaware.  You could go hang out in Delaware. Eh, I guess I'm more of a western states kind of guy.

[alanp]

St. Louis
Don't fuck around in the city of East St. Louis.
It's on the east side (Illinois) of the river.  Do, however, go look at the Eads Bridge.

Ross Kemp On Gangs did an episode on St Louis. Sounds like a rough town.

I think I've heard more American town names in this thread than I have in the last five or ten years... you forget that it has cities other than New York (alien invasion capital of the world) and Los Angeles (boyracer central of America).

Also nice to hear about all the good things in your country your mass media does your country a disservice, sometimes.

[cooder]

Thanks again for all the advice and ideas, especially to angelo for the indepth descriptions...
... "boudin" and "cracklins" at gas stations, who would have thought! Gotta give that a shot for sure. And a clear vote for some BBQ Midwest Southern style obviously, cool.
I think we have to see if we do the New Orleans to Chicago up the middle of the country going cool town, vibes and places with not too exciting / flat plains landscape or if we would want to catch the Rockies Westcoast first for the amazing landscape. I guess we won't have the time to do the later justice seeing that we will be a few days in Missourri for the wedding and meeting the in laws, so we gotta have time for that and be realistic about travel distances. All those places sound interesting anyway to spend quite some time there easily...
And that's cool, can't see it all anyway and rushing too much won't be good by any means.
We've got mountains, beaches and lakes here in NZ at the doorstep, not quite the same, but certainly amazing, so maybe giving the unique buzz of the towns and music etc a preference.
Hmmmm... food for thought...
Many thanks!