Stoves are one of those personal choices where everyone has their own solution. Everyone comes at it with their own experience and perspective and no solution is better or worse really than another.
The isobutane/propane canisters are popular in many areas of the US, but are not universally easy to find. You can bring your stove from Europe and if it uses the threaded canisters the canisters you will find here will work just fine with it. The French style Camping Gaz cylinders without a thread are now about impossible to find in the US. If you have a Camping Gaz stove you will have no luck finding those. The canister stoves can come from many manufacturers. The fuel canisters can be found in Wal-Mart stores usually, camping stores and when in very rural areas I can sometimes find them in hunting, fishing bait shop type stores. However, there are many areas of the country where they are hard to find. I like my canister stove for trips of a week or less where I can bring all the fuel with me that I will need.
Therefore, you will find the white gas stoves might be an easier stove to find fuel for here. I prefer the MSR Whisperlite. White Gas is mainly normal gasoline which has not been formulated for using in automobile engines. It is more filtered and generally purer than what you get out of a gasoline pump. It is called by several names in camping stores such as Coleman Fuel, Crown Camping Fuel, and MSR Fuel. It can be sold in 1 gallon cans and in 1 quart bottles or cans. The big stores such as Wal-mart will have the gallon can and sometimes the quart bottle. Camping stores often have the quart bottles or will sell you a quart out of an open gallon can at the store. Often, you can buy a quart off of someone at the campgrounds that has a gallon can with them, they are the people with the big RV rigs.
The MSR stoves come without fuel bottles and need to purchase those in addition to your stove. I like to carry two of the 20 oz fuel bottles. That way I can carry refill with the 1 quart bottles when needed. Airlines are particular about allowing you to carry the fuel bottles. They are cheap enough to abandon at the end of your trip if you need to leave them behind to board the plane.
Since white gas is essentially automobile gasoline you can just fill from any auto gas pump as needed if you have to. The stove will burn dirtier and will require more service, so buy a repair kit with your stove when you buy it. It is not hard to clean it and you will not have to clean it that often anyhow. It is easier to clean the stove a couple of times in your trip than it will be to fool with multi fuel stoves that burn diesel fuel, etc. So I look for fuel in quart bottles either at Wal-Mart, camping stores or hunting fishing stores as I travel or will try to buy it from someone at the campgrounds. Otherwise, I buy a quart at the gas station.
What the fellows in the other posts that will talk about alcohol stoves say is true. That's a popular choice and there is nothing wrong with what they are saying. It comes down to what someone likes. I prefer more cooking power that a white gas stove provides.
