Driving from Maine to Arizona (Northern Route)...tips where to stop?

In mid August I will be taking a trip out to school in Phoenix, AZ from the east coast with a friend of mine, driving the taco XC once again. We are looking to make it a quick <5-6 day ride, but would like to drive by/through some nice terrain on the way. We are thinking about heading north from his place in Philly to southern South Dakota, through the black hills and past mount Rushmore, and then down through Colorado (Denver area?), into Utah, perhaps through Moab and Zion, Grand Canyon, then down to Phoenix. Anyone have any other suggestions along this route or tips on where to stop/which way(s) to go? any advice is appreciated...thanks!

 

while driving through colorado:

head into estes park and head into rocky mountain national park and take trail ridge road up and over into grand lake area. take it south over berthoud pass to I70. you could even take another scenic route through some canyons if you take 40 west from granby coming down from rmnp into kremling, then head south into silverthorne/I70 from there
if you don't do rmnp scenic route, check out mt evans (highest paved rd in america) is not far off I70, brings you up to ~14000ft
hanging lake (a hike off I70 before glenwood springs)
hot springs in glenwood springs

 

HamnSwiss
Did you keep track of the gas mileage and what speed did you run on the open road?
Tom

 

i didnt really keep track of my mileage, but have been getting right around 20mpg. i know it was a little less through most of minnesota/south dakota/wyoming/utah, because i was consistently running at between 90 and 100mph. overall, i spent right around $600 on gas for the trip.