Keep the doors locked and the windows rolled up in this neighborhood.
How old is she?
Why is she doing this?
Going to school?
Changing jobs?
Getting married?
I've been on I10 a lot between San Antonio and Junction and it is a good road with good signage - tell her just to keep an eye on her gas level and not to let it get below a 1/4 tank.
I would definitely route her away from Squantos and Eaker.
Just make sure she knows that if she sees a town and thinks she has enough gas to make it to the next town she should pull over and fuel up. It is not a bad drive just make sure she keeps her eye on the temp gage, as the car can overheat quickly, and keep plenty of water in her vehicle. I have driven that stretch around 15 times and she will see some amazing sights but it does get redundant after 300 miles.
Once the 8 turns into the 10, she’ll go through a few large and a few smaller size cities. It might be a good idea to MapQuest out the mileage between these:
Tucson, Arizona
Lordsburg, New Mexico
Deming, New Mexico
Las Cruces, New Mexico
El Paso, Texas
Van Horn, Texas
San Antonio, Texas
Even though W Texas is empty, the worst leg of that trip is Yuma-Tucson. Get gas every 200 miles. Drive to avoid the rush in Tucson and El Paso. Carry a shotgun in case of breakdown. Junction Tx is out there. Good news is you can’t miss I-10, no way to get lost.
Is she a hippie? Only hippies live in Austin.
I’m in SD. Wind warning in the mountains east of SD today but it isn’t bad. Once over the mountains and into the desert it’s pretty boring and flat. Then she will hit El Centro, lots of food, gas, etc then another hour or so into Yuma. Can’t help you much after that, been too long. Supposed to have some rain move in SD tomorrow will will go east, hopefully she is leaving before that.
Tell her to keep her cell phone charged and pay attention to the service signs just prior to many off-rams. Also, look at the billborads to see what businesses are up ahead. Stop every two hours or so at stations/food marts.
From what I’ve read, would suggest she take the I-8 portion during daylight hours. Apparently the ‘coyotes’ have been known to drive the wrong way on that stretch late at night to avoid the law.
Whatever happens, don't let your other daughters find out she's your precious daughter. Jealousy and all that.
;-)
It's been many years since I took that route. I recall one long and torturous hill on I8 in CA that very few vehicles can maintain highway speed on the way up. I used to have a '70 Bonneville with the humongous 455CU 360HP V8. That car pulled away from ALL the rest of the vehicles on that hill.
She will burn a lot of gas, and maybe some oil, on that hill.
What kind of car is she driving? What shape is it in? How are the tires? Does she know how to change a tire? Have her take a small gas can with a couple of gallons of gas (if she has a trunk. Take some extra oil, coolant, a small tool kit, pliers, adjustable wrench, screw drivers, folding reflectors, etc. and teach her how to use them.
Does she have a handgun and know how to use it? I assume she'll have a cell phone, but reception can be spotty in remote areas.
Have her plan her route and stops. How many hours or miles a day does she want to drive? Have her join AAA and get a route plan. Have her sign up for some hotel/motel chain plans. Have her take the little guide books from the various chains so she knows where the next place to stay is and whats ahead in the next town. They usually have maps on where to find the motel/hotel. Call ahead for a room reservation.
Tell her to stop early, check in, have a nice dinner, get up early, have a nice breakfast and hit the road early. As a woman, she should stay on one of the upper floors, not a ground floor room.
I don't like to drive more than 8 hours a day. In small towns the good restaurants may close by 8 or 9 PM.
Don't keep valuables visible on the seats when she leaves the car. Have an extra “Hide A Key” under one of the back or front part of the car. Take it from me, you need one of those.
Keep her doors locked. Be sure her cell phone has an in car phone charger, same for an in room charger and maybe her laptop computer. Take her digital camera and email you some pictures as she goes along.
She could also take a small cooler, snacks, water, etc. When I travel by car, I usually take a small electric kettle and French press coffee maker or tea bags and some utensils, spoon, fork, knife, paper towels, etc. My own coffee is better than the stuff in the room.
I buy a small container of milk for the morning coffee or tea to avoid the powdered creamer.
You keep a written description and photos of her, her car, license number and planned route, etc.
Maybe this is overdoing it, but being prepared never hurts.
Tell her to have a good time. Enjoy America. And be careful of course.
My niece drove from our house at the time in Redding, CA to Houston by herself; i.e. she was starting school at UT-Austin but wanted to visit her mom in Houston first. She had just turned 19 at the time.
I wasn't happy to have her driving alone, and we had originally planned that I would go with her, but due to some family circumstances at the time there was no choice.
HOWEVER, I set very strict rules for her to follow.
1. While driving she HAD to call us every hour on the hour (NO EXCEPTIONS) to let us know she was ok. 2. She was only allowed to drive during the day and I mapped out all of her stops for the night along the way; i.e. motels w/reservations. 3. She had to call when she checked-in/out of the motel. 4. She had to call us to let us know where she was at every food/gas stop along the way. She was to look in the car before getting back in and lock the doors immediately. 5. She was to pull into the next rest-stop/gas station if she thought she was being followed, ask for help and then call me. Or if one wasn't close she should not stop under any circumstances and immediately call the State Highway Patrol (I provided the telephone numbers) or 911. 6. She had a brand new car so I wasn't concerned about mechanical issues, but in the event something happened she was to call me immediately. However, I did show her how to change a flat tire; i.e. I actually made her do it in our driveway before she left.
I also got her a can of pepper-spray, showed her how to use it and sent along a aluminum bat just in case. I also got her an AMEX card in her name for her expenses along the way so she wasn't flashing money around.
I know how anxious you will get. We were both nervous wrecks for the three days it took her to make the trip. But when she called us from her mother's house to let us know she had made it, it felt like a ton of bricks had been lifted from our shoulders.
She is 21 now and tells us that she still follows my rules when she drives back and forth between school and Houston to visit her mom.
You should consider taking a couple days off and traveling with her. A bit over a year ago, my 16 year old daughter’s pen pal died in surgery. They had become best friends and were planning to meet sometime in the next year. My daughter was devestated and wanted to go to the funeral in Atlanta. (we’re near Detroit)
Thus began a hastily planned roadtrip. I rented a high mileage car, threw the sleeping bags in the car and off we went. Outside of the funeral, which was joyful and sad, we had an awesome time. I introduced her to the concept of rest area accomodations and we enjoyed the open road and we had the opportunity for some great time together.
The funeral service for this strong Christian young lady marked the end of a good life well lived and her family welcomed two strangers into their lives for a few hours.
The girls shared a birthday as well. On their daughters birthday, they send flowers to my daughter. That really got the tears flowing again.
Sorry for going on, but I cannot emphasize enough the benefits of a good daddy-daughter road trip.
I can’t wait till my other kids start driving so we can repeat it...without the funeral
For future reference if your daughter goes into Americas Outback
again in the future...
Maybe this is overkill, but there are some hi-tech “beyond cell phones”
items for signalling from the middle of nowhere.
The first one is new and reasonably priced (with yearly service fees).
The second one has been out awhile and is a more serious device.
MAJOR CAVEAT: don’t use these sorts of items frivolously. IIRC, one
j-ack@$$ got himself in plenty of trouble with the authorities for
signalling for emergency rescue in the Adirondacks of New York...
TWICE in one winter season from the same location!!!
(The Army/National Guard was NOT smiling when they sent a
helicopter in to save that peckerwood TWICE!)
“SPOT” Satellite Personal Messenger
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp;jsessionid=IS4JKRHZ0O333LAQBBICCO3MCAEFCIWE?id=0051330518244a&navCount=0&podId=0051330&parentId=cat603302&masterpathid=&navAction=jump&cmCat=catrtcamp&catalogCode=UH&rid=&parentType=index&indexId=cat603302&hasJS=true
ACR MicroFix™ 406 Personal Locator Beacon
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp;jsessionid=IS4JKRHZ0O333LAQBBICCO3MCAEFCIWE?type=product&cmCat=Related_IPL_518244&id=0029764517793a
Keep the doors locked and the windows rolled up in this neighborhood.
Look at it in Google Earth. You can literally scrutinize every mile of the route, you can even have it mark gas stations, police stations, banks, restaurants, hotels, etc...
Freepers!!! You guys are the greatest. There is so much good advise on this tread that I copied the whole thing and send it to her.
If you/she has AAA, go to a AAA office and they will print you out a custom map showing rest areas, gas, food, lodging etc. I think it might be called a TripTix. It is compact and very easy to use. If she knows anyone that has AAA, they can help her get one. I use it when I travel from CA to OK.
We don’t go on any road trips without one.