Time for a road trip... a LONG one

[chivas]

Sometime around June 11th-ish, the gf and I are going to drive from Houston to Los Angeles then to Vegas then back to Houston... in the X5.... maybe (which you'd come to understand after reading the whole post).

While this isn't a very difficult drive, it is a long one.
#1: what should I plan to do to the 4.6 for this drive? Coolant flush... diff and TC change..

#2: we're going to straight shoot to LA from Houston but on the way back from Vegas, were going to do a little sight seeing.

any suggestions what to do besides the casinos?
places NOT to go...?

#3: should I even attempt to do this in the X? It is a long drive and while I do have confidence in her, the Bronco seems to be more durable if we are to go off the beating path on the way back and should we hit bad weather, I don't feel so bad having dent removers taking any hail dents out of the Bronco. Plus, she can pretty much go more places than the X, albeit slower and gets worse MPG HOWEVER, she takes regular vs. 93 in the X. hum... On the way back is when we're going to do the "tourist" stuff. Route back (so far):

Rt 93 out of town
Hover Dam
Oatman, AZ
Kingman Army boneyard
Grand Canyon
deer farm
Homolovi ruins
Newpaper rock
el malpais
wheels museum
walter white's grave (yepp.....)
Unser racing
Breaking bad home(s)
Tinkertown
Route 66 Auto museum
Russels gas station

^^ that's all we got for now (update later). using roadtrippers to see what's up. Anything up there a really bad tourist trap?

Thoughts? What's the longest you've taken your X5? How did she fair?

Thanks!!