Thanks everyone for the great advice.
djkimd, thanks, will send you an email.
Trojan4Life, that’s one of the reasons I wanted to drive instead using Eurail. I feel driving you just get a more intimate feel for the area and it also offers so much more flexibility. I hear you about the gas prices, shocking indeed! When I visited Europe last in 2006 the Euro was at 1.2, hopefully it will not go higher than what it is currently.