I live on the east coast. There is Amtrack available here. I dont know about buses. I personally would rather drive. If you take a train (Amtrack) your views and stops would be limited. If you drive you can go where you want and stop where you want.

Definitely hire a car when you can! I was in Oz for two years and it’s similar here in the US. It’s hard to get to things off the beaten track without a car both here and in Australia.

A car will cost you (with your own insurance) about $100 per day, much less if you have your own insurance that works in this country. Plan your trip in order to stay over in great places that don’t need a car. (There are many!) Coinsider hitchhiking, but it would be better to meet people in different locations and ask for a ride. Americans would be delighted to help you, I feel certain.

In fact, I personally live on the East Coast of the US and if you’d like, you can organise to come by our house on your way through North Carolina, which would save you some money. We can exchange some emails, in order to feel more comfortable with that, if you like! We’d be happy to have a traveling Australian stop by and could take you to your “next destination”. Perhaps you might find a chain of Yahoo! Answers people to help you on your journey North. That is SO cool.

Good luck with your travels, in any event.

Better mix trains and car: take the train from city to city (the distances are too long in USA) and when you get to each city, hire a car locally. Usually you can find car rental near every train station.