Tires for (new to us) 2000 LXi

[pattic777]

I've been reading fora entries, but am struggling with knowing what applies to our soon-to-be new-to-us rig. I hope you'll forgive a newbie...

We are about to acquire Corey's 2000 LXi. We know that we want to put new tires on it (drive and tag are 9 years old; steer are 2 years old). We would move current steer tires to tag and put 6 new ones on steer and drive. We think we need to do this before we drive it from North Carolina via Virginia to Texas.

We are planning on getting Michelin XZA1's 315/80R22.5 through a Michelin Advantage program. I have done some reading about using different tires on the steer axle (365), but honestly, we're in the midst of such a steep learning cliff that I think we will wait until we research/know a bit more and possibly do something different on the steer axle the next time we get new tires.

Would anyone say, "Oh no! That's a horrible thing to do!"?

What additional things besides mount and balance should we expect the tire shop to do? Should they do an alignment? Should we make any special requests of the shop, e.g. mount the tires with the date code facing outward, anything special to ask for with regard to valve stem extensions?
Anything else that the shop might ask us that we should already have an answer in mind for?

Finally, any recommendations for a place to do the work near Hendersonville or Asheville, NC? Or, possibly, near Richmond or Williamsburg, VA?