Lolololo I quit my job to motorcycle across the southern USA

[Neddie]

I'd tell you to come to California but I actually got out to Oregon for a weekend and much prefer that to every sector of California I have ever visited.

Don't coast the southern border. If you're alone, don't travel the south - good rule of thumb.

If you get somewhere around where I am (Which may be Berkeley, San Jose or Portland, OR depending on whether I stop living on a plan and start flipping coins to decide where to remain.) I'm down to meet up or hang out.

[pintle]

I have a good friend from Uni working in Chicago atm, route 66 is looking kinda appealing, and then heading up along the coast into Oregon.

I had really hoped to see the grand canyon and monument valley, and well, Texas. I may take an internal flight or something, but the budget is really gonna dictate my schedule (yay couch surfing).

Is this drug war malarky quite as bad I am being led to believe? I'm aware of the media's propensity to be sensationalist about these kinda things, but some people are really making a lot of noise about it, I'm not as inclined to dismiss it as I initially was...

[CarRepairer]

Is this drug war malarky quite as bad I am being led to believe? I'm aware of the media's propensity to be sensationalist about these kinda things, but some people are really making a lot of noise about it, I'm not as inclined to dismiss it as I initially was...

No. People here are being drama queens, San Diego is one of the safest cities. It's where it's @. I don't use the @ sign lightly.

[Panda]

Is this drug war malarky quite as bad I am being led to believe? I'm aware of the media's propensity to be sensationalist about these kinda things, but some people are really making a lot of noise about it, I'm not as inclined to dismiss it as I initially was...

It depends on exactly where you are. When I was in high school kids doing marajuana was commonly seen and some were doing heavier drugs. They really didn't understand the risks (such as braindamage, death, and sometimes, though rarely, hitting someone with a car or shoting at them because they were hallucinating and thought that he or she was a deer) involved. Some people trying to talk about some of these risks, but it's not likely that you will be affected by that if you visit, at least not in Louisiana.

However, we don't have designated coffee shops over here like they do in some other countries where drugs are legal and we don't live on an Indian reservation where they have specific religious practices which tell us how the drugs are to be used in order to prevent such events, so as a visitor you should stay out of the bad areas in the cities. Any place where there's a lot of drug usage going on in which the drug has serious side effects and was not prescribed by a doctor, is likely to not be safe due to improper usage.

[pintle]

Is this drug war malarky quite as bad I am being led to believe? I'm aware of the media's propensity to be sensationalist about these kinda things, but some people are really making a lot of noise about it, I'm not as inclined to dismiss it as I initially was...

It depends on exactly where you are. When I was in high school kids doing marajuana was commonly seen and some were doing heavier drugs. They really didn't understand the risks (such as braindamage, death, and sometimes, though rarely, hitting someone with a car or shoting at them because they were hallucinating and thought that he or she was a deer) involved. Some people trying to talk about some of these risks, but it's not likely that you will be affected by that if you visit, at least not in Louisiana.

However, we don't have designated coffee shops over here like they do in some other countries where drugs are legal and we don't live on an Indian reservation where they have specific religious practices which tell us how the drugs are to be used in order to prevent such events, so as a visitor you should stay out of the bad areas in the cities. Any place where there's a lot of drug usage going on in which the drug has serious side effects and was not prescribed by a doctor, is likely to not be safe due to improper usage.

I meant drugs war related violence, not being hassled for change by crackheads :) I lived in one of the roughest neighbourhoods in London (ergo one of the roughest in England), and have seen my share of heroin/crack related horror.

I meant specifically the risk of what I read of quite worryingly described as the "failed state" brewing in Mexico.

Tbh I don't think it will factor greatly in my route planning regardless; the risk of and RTA when riding that many miles has got to be much higher than that of kidnapping or w/e