Originally Posted by
TiHabanero
A wide variety of thoughts on this, and one overwhelming theme, "She will be fine."
Yep, and she undoubtedly will.
The trip is likely to start next fall from the east coast, travel a southern route and then wind up in Seattle, WA. She may just stop once in CA and fly up to Seattle where my son lives. I have told her to start planning now and to do it in great detail.
Planning what to pack in great detail is a very good idea. I wouldn't stress planning the day to day route mileage and stops in detail. Way better to take that stuff as it comes in my experience. Some flexibility in the actual route isn't a terrible idea either. Starting out with and generally following an Adventure Cycling route can free you from the detailed planning of route and stops. Also if you like you can vary from and return to the AC route as you see fit. Traveling a Southern Route I'd suggest either generally following US 90 until it ends in Van Horn TX and then picking up the Southern Tier or just following the Southern Tier route. In either case modify to suit with detours where you feel you want them.
Having ridden the ST from San Diego to Pensacola and having ridden and or driven lot of US 90 I think maybe I'd use US 90 if doing it again, but a first time tourist would find the resources on the AC maps pretty useful. Those resources are the reason that I'd even consider using the mapped route again. In west Texas restock opportunities can be very few and far between so those listings (and updated addenda) are pretty useful.
Also told her to learn how to work on her own bike. She has been shown flat tire changes, and she did assemble the bike I shipped to her and wrap her own bar tape, so she is capable of a great number of things outside her normal routine.
She definitely needs to be able to do basic bike maintenance and repair. The southern routes are all very remote, a lot of the time with long distances between services, so it is especially important there.