Next month, my dad and I will have to embark on a roadtrip from Boulder, CO to West Palm Beach, FL...neither of us has ever undertaken a big road trip like this before, and instead of just doing nothing but driving the route over 3 days or so, we've decided to turn it into a little 6 day mini-vacation...I've put together an itinerary for us and I have a couple of questions though about certain aspects of it though, and any insight in answering them is appreciated...thanks!

Day 1: Boulder to Wichita, KS

Day 2: Wichita, KS to Dallas area...we plan to catch a Rangers game that night...however, something we are considering is instead of staying in Arlington that night, we'd consider driving east across the Dallas metroplex after the game and staying in the Mesquite area to shorten our drive on Day 3...

-How long will it take to drive from Rangers Ballpark to the Mesquite area (will be a Friday night)???

Day 3: Dallas area to Baton Rouge, LA...the catch to this day, since we have nothing else fun planned for it, is that I'd like to be able to somehow sneak in a visit to Arkansas, and "bag it" on my list of states...obviously it's a little out of the way, but it doesn't seem so far out of the way as to be impossible to include...my question is, what would be the best way to include Arkansas on this route??

Specifically, I was looking at finding some way of reaching the TX-LA-AR tripoint, which by my own personal rules, suffices as a visit...it looks like Texas State Highway 77 takes you right to it...
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=3...,1.043701&z=10

-What would be the best way of getting there from Dallas while not adding too much time on our drive to Baton Rouge? What are the roads like in that corner of Texas, since getting there seems to involve a fair bit of driving on state roads? (what are speed limits on state roads in that area too?)

Day 4: Baton Rouge, LA to Pensacola, FL - this was meant to be a relatively short, fun, day for us...here are my questions about this particular segment

-Something I'd like to do, being a stadium buff, is take a peek inside LSU's Tiger Stadium...is there any way to tour it at all (unfortunately this leg of our trip falls on a Sunday and can't be changed)??

-We'd like to visit New Orleans, and our plan to do that is to approach the city by driving south over the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway (seems like that would provide a great view of the city coming in), visit the city, then exit via one of the two bridges over the eastern end of Lake Pontchartrain...either I-10 or US 11...any reason why one bridge is better/preferred over another?

-How dead will New Orleans be on a Sunday (also Mother's Day!)???

-We'd like to stop in Biloxi, MS for a few hours and hit up a casino there...any suggestions as to which casino we should visit (me and my dad both prefer blackjack as our casino game of choice)?

-Finally, on a slightly morbid note, we'd both be interested in taking a look at some areas that still show signs of being ravaged by Hurricane Katrina...is there any particular place along this drive that still has not really been rebuilt and is not too far off the route???

Day 5: Pensacola, FL to St. Petersburg, FL...we plan to drive all day and catch a Tampa Bay Rays game that night...

-What is the best route from Pensacola to St. Petersburg? It seems like after Tallahassee, we have the option of leaving I-10 and getting on US 19/98 which takes us directly into the Tampa area, as opposed to sticking on I-10 to I-75...Google Maps says that taking US 19/98 is about 20 miles shorter but a couple of minutes longer...any thoughts on which route is best?

Day 6: St. Petersburg, FL to West Palm Beach, FL
-Basically the only question about this leg I have is again, which is the best route? Bear in mind that we are north of West Palm Beach proper...the best geographical landmark near our home is the triangle formed by the Turnpike, Northlake Blvd., and the Beeline Highway...

Google Maps suggests going up I-4 to the Orlando area, then cutting back down south on the Turnpike to WPB...the alternate route I had in mind was to go south along the Sunshine Skyway and I-75, then cut across the state using State Road 72 and 70 to Lake Okeechobee (my dad's been wanting to visit Lake Okeechobee anyways but hasnt yet had the chance to do so since my folks moved to WPB)...hug the lake for a bit, then cut over to the Beeline Hwy and drive home...something like this:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=e...6,3.647461&z=8

It certainly looks a little faster that way...any thoughts on what would be the best route?

Sorry I rambled on for so long...I do appreciate any help on any of my questions that you guys can provide...any other additional thoughts/tips/suggestions that you have are of course welcomed...thank you so much!