Orlando,fl to San fran, ca

[lanie]

two of us girls are going by car from orlando,fl to san fran, ca, but we only have roughly one week to do it. is this enough time? and also what are some awesome places to stop? we have no idea as of what route to take as of yet, we plan for aug. Please help us with ideas for an awsome trip. thanks

[Mark Sedenquist]

The shortest route would be the southern route and at 2900 miles it can be done in four days of driving. However, since it will be a tad warm in August, you might consider routing through the Rockies along I-70. This route will add an easy fifth day to the journey. How many scenic side-trips are you interested in? And how many hours per day are you interested in driving?

One more thing -- use the Search Utility on this forum and enter keyword "Colorado" for more perspectives.

[lanie]

Thanks for the advice on which route to take. we will keep that in mind. we now have two weeks to do this road trip rather than one week. we plan to drive about 6-8 hours a day; is this a good amount of driving? and with this much driving, how much stops do you think we can take? we plan to stay in motels for the most part. we both don't have much roadtrip experience. also, how safe is it to go on a long road trip like this one?

[Mark Sedenquist]

A frequent question that pops up here on this forum is centered around the issue of safety. Where does the notion of danger come from? Unlike many countries around the world, the USA does not have bands of criminals roaming the highways looking for booty like pirates in the caribbean or the open sea. "Safety" is probably easier to find on the open road than in your own neighborhood. I have driven a couple of hundred thousand miles on road trips in recent years and the only signficant threat was from severe weather. Put your mind at ease on this score!

[Don Woodmancy]

As a general proposition, I agree with Mark that this is a very safe country to travel. However, you started your original message "We are two girls..." and girls are always more attractive targets for whatever element of danger there is in a situation. There are a number of women who have posted to these threads over the years that travel frequently and safely and you should be able to do so also.

I do recommend you use the same common-sense precautions you would use at home: Don't put yourselfs in dicey situations; after dark, truck stops and well traveled gas stations are safer to use than highway rest stops; there's safety in numbers-go together rather than separately into rest stops and truck stops; if you breakdown or have a flat, call for help on your cell phone (you do have one, right?) and wait for help in your locked car; traveling the desert, make sure you have at least a gallon of water apieice in the car in case you do breakdown; drive defensively-you have a much higher risk of being injured in an accident than you do being the victim of a crime.

There is very low risk in travel and you should relax and enjoy seeing new places and meeting new people. Just exercise normal caution but don't get paranoid and you should do fine.