Cross Country train journey... help planning?

Hello everyone,

I have a friend coming up from Brazil in a few weeks, and we are planning on taking a cross country train trip.

So far, we will be going to my home state of North Carolina, from my current home of NYC, via train. There, we will get a car and do most of the state. After that, things are kind of up in the air. I think we'll go from Asheville to Greenville SC for another friend to catch a flight, and then continue on from there. We were looking at New Orleans, as that's more or less the only thing between Asheville and Texas worth doing. Any suggestions as to what to do after that? Colorado is on his list, and I kind of want to see parts of Texas.

I'm kind of a "culture" guy, not as in to nature. I prefer interesting cities with a variety of things to do and meeting cool people.

Any ideas for fun stopovers on the way to CO? Any suggestions on cool places to see in Texas? I'm not totally averse to doing something that is "natural" in scope, it's just not a focus. I remain open to any and all ideas/suggestions.

To condense, the loose outline is: NC, Louisiana, Texas, Colorado, SoCal, San Fran, Portland, Seattle. Thanks for any suggestions.