No disrespect was intended. If I offended you I apologize. I certainly recognize that you have a huge amount of experience and knowledge and that I don't have anything close to your knowledge of the subject. Nothing I have said was intended to discredit your advice in any way.

That said, while your advice is obviously excellent, I don't think it is the only reasonable approach. I don't think that my approach thus far has been unworkable or particularly reckless. I also didn't think it was unreasonable for a young acquaintance to leave on a cross country tour with only a general idea of where he was going gleaned from Google maps. He managed fine, relying mostly on state maps and local advice.