[Gore]

Wow, this is really cool! There are so many places. If your wife wants sides (collards), then I definitely recommend hitting the Carolinas. I am blown away by the sides in this region. I can give recommendations for lots of areas, but would have to narrow it down 'cause you're talking half the country(!) If you're looking at a fairly direct route, I would absolutely get to Decatur for Big Bob Gibson's and there is a thread here about some places in Tennessee:
https://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/s...d.php?t=286727
If you want to sidetrack to the right, we can give recommendations in Carolinas right in this subforum, just expand the date range to a year and there are many threads. I'm guessing Texas is too far out of your way. Personally, if it were up to me, I'd expand my trip a couple of weeks and make a grand tour. There are so many beautiful places to see in the lower 48 and this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity where you can take a bit of time and see a few things. I remember when I was young, my grandparents used to tell me that they moved from Minnesota to Florida and they drove by way of NYC. I was going through a box of their things a few months back and found a pristine 70-year-old program from a Yankees game that they saved and I know it was from that trip. They never mentioned that to me, but I almost felt like I was on that trip with them when I saw it.