Where should a college student who has never been out of the coasts travel in the United States for the best perspective?

I'd probably take US30 (the Old Lincoln Highway).   Stay in small town motels, eat at small town diners, get to see what rural America is like. Here is the current US30 route Here is the gmap link from Astoria, OR to Atlantic City, NJ http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=Atlantic+City%2C+NJ&daddr=39.58745%2C-74.73206+to%3A39.66574%2C-74.81672+to%3A39.72237%2C-74.85976+to%3A39.82852%2C-75.00019+to%3A39.89058%2C-75.06494+to%3A40.0062582%2C-75.2878128+to%3A40.0452117%2C-75.4308592+to%3A40.04057%2C-75.54153+to%3A39.99293%2C-76.02639+to%3A39.92929%2C-76.8193+to%3A39.91124%2C-77.82026+to%3A40.17368%2C-79.11847+to%3A40.79622%2C-81.64724+to%3A40.9449%2C-84.71398+to%3A41.82954%2C-90.80551+to%3A42.00255%2C-93.57093+to%3A42.06738%2C-94.87287+to%3A41.38832%2C-97.49328+to%3A42.21199%2C-111.078+to%3AAstoria%2C+OR&hl=en&ll=40.713956%2C-96.328125&spn=37.633831%2C71.542969&sll=41.442726%2C-110.874023&sspn=2.338859%2C4.471436&geocode=FbumWAIdcWWQ-ykhx1xuV93AiTFiUmfpQ8tvSg&FXoOXAId5K2L-yk3v4_7-NjAiTHJjxN1Pzp26Q&FUxAXQIdMGOK-ylZVZSeUCjBiTHoWNjBECt3RQ&FYIdXgIdELuJ-ylFT_vKsy7BiTHfG0OD3SBCNg&FSi8XwIdgpaH-ymrnYqeb83GiTG0gLmUcWeo-A&FZSuYAIdlJmG-ylfig4loc7GiTHfyXS3ZkqyHw&FXJyYgId_DKD-ynpSTaMhcDGiTEzSRmfQpI-XQ&FZsKYwIdNQSB-yk7Wbs4ppTGiTGMQ1yGSGuW3Q&FXr4YgId5lN_-ykNW2_JsfLGiTH587gchYqZqg&FWI-YgId6u13-ynh9bTM8EbGiTFWorVHT82-0A&FcpFYQIdnNRr-ymD5IfNL4vIiTFY3jcqwxVIiA&FUj_YAIdnI5c-ynDlPar9YPJiTFf2u9U0qDEGA&FXAAZQIder9I-yklE9WKzSbLiTFSNQ-Hy0XtVg&FTyAbgIdeCki-ykR9kyuoyU3iDFEsmrwRW2NnQ&FQTFcAIdBF7z-iktr6e0FBE-iDHFR1gfjDYhow&FaREfgId-mqW-ikFlp17JaTjhzEyuj7aeXN3hQ&FXbogAIdjjhs-ilhYvPUOWXuhzHRNNcMcO6UCw&FbTlgQId2lpY-in5Q1EzkznthzE35UW0UFtsXA&FSCJdwId4F4w-inx7tfEr5WQhzHFstlrgCGeLQ&FZYahAIdkBVh-SkzYW3PlJ1WhzFdA2kw7fOeEA&FWzFwAIdK3ye-CmL-5UJRHuTVDG_ihuh8XLd9w&mra=dpe&mrsp=19&sz=8&via=1%2C2%2C3%2C4%2C5%2C6%2C7%2C8%2C9%2C10%2C11%2C12%2C13%2C14%2C15%2C16%2C17%2C18%2C19&t=m&z=4 Here is the history of the venerable cross-country highway http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_Highway Here is the original route which ran from NYC to SF

First, +10 for asking an important and useful question for someone your age. Fun and a certain perspective: 1.  New Orleans and vicinity. Not for Mardi Gras, however.  You will need to specifically meet locals, not other tourists.  They have a different view of life there than on the coasts. As a silly example, you can get a Daiquiri in a drive thru... http://www.travelchannel.com/Video/drive-through-daiquiris-15796/ The outlook on life is more fatalistic, and different in other ways. You need to go stay with a family, or volunteer for a project. New Orleans is different from the rest of the U.S. - it is like a city from the Middle Ages attached to the rest of the U.S.  Once you get past the tourist stuff,  it is almost a culture shock it's so different. 2.  An easy way to get a viewpoint that is not like coastal U.S. is to go to the central valley of California. Go visit a with friend from Bakersfield, Fresno, Stockton, Modesto, Marysville,  etc. It is way different than coastal, desert, or mountain California. You can do this over a long weekend. The central valley has a lot more in common with the rest of the U.S. 3.  You could also spend a week at a working ranch / low end dude ranch in Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, etc.  Arizona and Nevada may be too Los Angeles influenced - you don't want a ranch with aromatherapy options. 4. Parts of Texas are very different. Here's a wonderful discussion of Houston from multiple viewpoints... Austin is very intersting, but to some degree it is a college town, and you will have lots of experience with those.  However, you probably know people from there already, and there will be lots of people your age, so you can probably connect with a lot of people quickly. My best suggestion is to pick a place where you won't be playing tourist all the time, or if you are a tourist, find a native to show you around. Best of Luck.

I'll share my 6000-mile/3 week cross country road trip itinerary from May 2011. I'd recommend it to anybody, even though my reasons for doing the trip and choice of locations probably do not apply to most. This was east to west and was an overload of a moving trip. As it happens it was another Quora user who first suggested this rough route. I visited him and camped out at his place in New Orleans for a few days, along the way. I'll reveal my absolute favorite locations at the end, and my recommendation for a 7-9 day route from coast-coast. My route: DC-Baltimore (old home) Wilmington, DE Albany, NY Montreal Ottawa Ann Arbor, MI (nostalgia stop at alma mater) Nashville, TN New Orleans, LA Memphis, TN St. Louis, MO Omaha, NE North Platte, NE (home of Bailey Yard) Deadwood, SD (as in the show, Deadwood) Cody, WY Jackson, WY Las Vegas, NV (new home) I did a loop later that year through California, over 3 more weeks. 10 years ago, I did a trip from Ann Arbor to Florida and back, via Kentucky and Georgia, so I have that covered too. Plus I've been to most parts of the country at least briefly through random travels (thanks to conferences in my discipline being held in unusual places like Puerto Rico and Big Sky, Montana). This leaves out the SE, NW and parts of the dead-center. It's kinda geometrically impossible to include those without having to double back extensively on your own tracks, so I chose a zig-zag but unidirectional path. I prioritized what I did because I've lived in Texas for a year and visited Arizona multiple times, which made that region less of a priority. Also been down the SE coast to North Carolina enough (while I lived in DC) and visited Florida. The Pacific NW is the one region I feel I haven't explored enough, outside of one weekend trip to Seattle. I'd also like to do New Mexico (never been) and Colorado (only brief visits). So I've basically covered the entire country and its major cultural regions, except for Alaska (did Hawaii earlier this year). Top Pick The entire country is of course ridiculously interesting, but if I had to recommend  ONE portion that bicoastal frogs in the well would find mind-expanding, It'd be the Omaha - Deadwood - Cody stretch. Why? The sheer grandeur of the American West hits you in the face, from the prairies to the Bighorn mountains to the SD Badlands (the drive from Jackson to Las Vegas through Utah is a close second). Cowboy/Wild West stuff is barely 20 years of American history (between the end of the civil war and the full penetration of the railroads), but yet it shaped the American self-image and character powerfully. Where can you see where this happened? Right in this stretch. Will Bill Hickock is buried in Deadwood. Cody is home to Buffalo Bill Cody. North Platte is home to Bailey Yard, the largest railroad yard in the world, where vast floods of container and bulk shipping moving west to east get sorted.  Railroads basically built America. Somewhere along the way, you can stop and ponder Carhenge. You know what underwrote bi-coastal self-absorption during the Cold War? Yup, the nuclear deterrent. You know where that deterrent was? Yup, South Dakota. You can visit a decommissioned minuteman missile launch control facility and silo. Goosebumps and spine-chills guaranteed, as you stare at world-destroying power sitting inside inconspicuous fenced-in lots sitting in the middle of vast pastures/grasslands, with a few cows and horses looking on. I recommend watching Dr. Strangelove on your computer that night. You can see the eerie and surreal landscapes created by oil, gas and coal operations in Wyoming. I'd recommend a stop in Gillette, WY. And I haven't even mentioned the routine stuff... Mt. Rushmore (hugely over-rated piece of jingoism) and mammoth fossil caves (yawn). If you are going to do a 7-9 day drive, I'd head from California to Yellowstone via Reno, Jackson, go through the park to Cody, dawdle through to Omaha as described above, and then do a straight dash from Omaha to Massachusetts.

First, great question and top-notch answer from Bill McDonald.  I grew up in Oakland/Berkeley.  At the time, I couldn't fathom how anyone could not be actively protesting the Vietnam War or how anyone could engage in the sort of racism I read about.  (Not that my neighborhood didn't have some...)  To put things in today's terms, who are these people who support Rick Santorum?  They certainly aren't in my neighborhood.    Yet they're important.   (No offense to anyone, just a point of perspective.)   To respond to the question, I'd look for a mix of "different views" plus a relatively well-educated populace, able and willing to engage in dialogue.    Austin, Texas, already mentioned, is certainly that sort of place.  Denver and most of Colorado's metropolitan areas too. Three others that come to mind: Madison, Wisconsin.  For the most part, more liberal than the surrounding areas, but a well-read and articulate group of people.   Similarly, Des Moines, Iowa.  I was stunned with the number of colleges in the area, and with the creative and progressive areas among the more traditional-valued.   Salt Lake City, to my mind, is the most interesting place off the coasts (Chicago aside).  No need to point out the conservative values of the LDS church, but the city offers much more, again with an outspoken, tolerant, somewhat diverse population.

I would strongly suggest you spend some time in the farming/breadbasket areas of the midwest to help you understand what people "in the middle" think--and why.  Wisconsin and Minnesota also have beautiful areas to fish, canoe, hike, and enjoy nature--and are far less crowded than similar areas on the coasts.  See how cheap things are.  spend some time in the local diners talking to people.  Get a feel for another way of life.  I also suggest visiting the deep south:  Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Appalachia.   See the poverty and how people live.  eat soul food.  Understand yet another perspective on America.

Oops! I read that you wanted to GO to the coast! (see below, a great place to visit ON the coast!) But inland, MONTANA and south into Jackson Hole and Yellowstone area! Try the area below Missoula. Big Hole is a favorite. Follow some of the Lewis and Clark Trail. I can understand why the native Americans were willing to die for the land. It's stunning. Folks are friendly and the scenery is beyond beautiful. Jackson and the Teton Mountains will blow your socks off. Coast recommendations!  I'd head for Washington, the state. Olympic National Park has 73 miles of pristine, wild Pacific beaches to explore. The shore is strewn with sea stacks jutting out along the coast. Birds are abundant. Solitude can be found around every corner. Explore the driftwood. Some beaches have perfect skipping stones, some are long and sandy. Shi Shi Beach was chosen by the Travel Channel as one of the last wild beaches in America. Or, you can walk to Cape Flattery, the most NW point on the lower states. Along the way there's some really yummy food to be had: Dungeness crab, salmon, cranberries, mushrooms, oysters, along with some great wine, cideries and artisan cheeses.

Even though I never took my own advice, I would suggest looking into non-U.S. options. England, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland are fantastic choices without having to learn a language other than English (sorta). (Personal note: I felt no particular need to follow this advice because I traveled extensively during my military service. I actually regret that now - not my military service, but my decision to go to college in the U.S.) If you're dead set on the U.S., pick a midwestern state - Iowa, Nebraska, and Colorado are good places to start looking, especially (IMHO) Iowa State University. Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam (if you speak Spanish reasonably well or want to) and the U.S. Virgin Islands are also good places to look at - if you think "coastal" and "islander" are essentially the same thing, you're in for a serious wake-up call.

7-9 days is very few.  You can only really appreciate one or two cities in that much time.  In fact, you'll be doing them a dis-service by only seeing them for a few days... but that's better than doing a few hours as you drive through. With two cities to visit, 9 days gives you 3 days in each city, with 3 days travelling.  i.e. 1t-3c-1t-3c-1t where t-travel and c=city. The majority of my suggestion is the quantity of cities to visit - giving yourself 2-3 days to really absorb each one. As for cities themselves... I've traveled across the US myself, so I can recommend Nashville, TN and Las Vegas, NV as some very cool places to spend a few days.

Go on a Naitional Parks tour!! Yosemite in CA, Great Basin in Nevada, Zion in Southern Utah, Canyonlands in Utah, Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado and then just keep going till you run out of time!!! The US West outdoors are the best!!