What route would you choose?

Imagine that you won a sweepstakes for which the prize is to be set down in Florida, where you are provided a car and a credit card to be used for travel expenses, and told you needed to be in San Diego, California, in a month. Where would you go?

Over the weekend, an enthusiastic and charming young Japanese couple who had won just such a sweepstakes prize showed up at our gas station cum bookstore here in the middle of Oregon. They had opted to zig zag across the country. Up to New York. Down to Louisiana. Up to...

Well, you get the picture. Huge zigs and equally huge zags, all the while tending west.

I must be getting old. I think it's a great idea, but I'm not sure I'd be up to that ambitious a travel plan. Certainly I wouldn't try to get so many miles packed into one month (I think they had a month) but that's probably only because I've mellowed into a slow-down-and-smell-the-roses, fewer-stops-but-more-time-in-each-place, people-are-generally-more-interesting-than-scenery kind of person. At their age, I suspect I might have done what they're doing. (Their age being about 20, at a guess, or so I'm told. I wasn't there, worse the luck.)

Here's wishing them a safe and enjoyable journey from here on out.

So, tell me, can you resist playing with what you'd do given a similar opportunity?

Feel free to let the rest of us know about possible itineraries if you come up with any.