St. Augustine, USA to Walton-on-Thames, England!

2^nd November St. Augustine – Savannah – 188 miles

I woke about 8, but it seemed extraordinarily dark. A peek out of the curtains revealed dark black skies and pouring rain. I hung around the hotel until they kicked me out and the wandered next door to a diner for a late breakfast. As usual my willpower was a little lacking, and soon I was tucking into a full sized american breakfast. It was still raining when I eventually finished. I don’t really mind riding in the rain if I have to, but there seemed little point in setting out in the rain as I didn’t have that many miles to cover. I wandered around the shops for an hour or so until the rain abated, once it did I set out for Savannah. Apart from a few miles along the coast after I left St. Augustine, it was really just a simple and boring blast north up the Interstate. Back across the state line into Georgia I was reminded that I was back in ‘tree country’, only now they were in their full autumn colours. I checked into a hotel just outside Savannah and noticed that across the road was a Curry House. So the evening meal was sorted, the spiciest curry I have had in the US, really excellent and up to Lahori standards!

3^rd November – Savannah – 37 miles

I had a lie in this morning, courtesy of the clocks going back, and then set out to look around Savannah. Savannah turned out to be a very old, leafy and pleasant city to wander around. It was established 300 years ago and grew because of its position on the Savannah River and because of the cotton trade. There wasn’t much to see per se, but most of the buildings in the historic area have been restored and on a warm autumnal day it was easy to while away a few hours. I head back to the hotel in the late afternoon to catch up on a few jobs and to sort out the bike in preparation for shipping it back to the UK in the morning.

The Riverfront – Savannah

Downtown Savannah

4^th November Savannah to Port Wentworth 13 miles

Well the lay in I had yesterday was nullified by the wake-up call this morning. The hotel didn’t adjust their clock on their automated wake-up machine, so instead of getting woken at 6.30, the call came in at 5.30. It wouldn’t have been so bad except that the clock in the room hadn’t been changed either and so it wasn’t until I had a shower that I realised the correct time. Still I head plenty to do and it was good (I suppose) to start the day ahead of schedule. I dropped the bike at the shipping company and with a surprising lack of bureaucracy and paperwork, I was soon on my way; although I do wonder that if it will ship smoothly. The Americans love paperwork more than the Stars and Stripes and there were so few formalities this time, it has me wondering if something has been overlooked. Anyway we will see if the bike gets back to the UK without a hitch……

The trip ends as it started: In a cargo warehouse

I was back in Savannah with time to spare to enable me to catch the bus to Atlanta. The 5 hours on the bus were tedious, I much prefer travelling by motorcycle!

The flight home was 4,282miles. On my motorcycle it would have taken me about a month to cover that distance. Instead, I reclined the seat, pulled up the blanket and covered the months’ worth of mileage in 8 easy hours whilst I dozed, planning what to do next. Scooter trip to Athens over a couple of months seems to be on the cards.

I may post one more entry in a few days once I am home, but in case not, thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed it.

With special thanks to:

Pam, for giving me the time and freedom to do the trip I have long wanted to complete and for accompanying me on so much of it

Lee, for covering probably the most tedious section with me, it would have been pretty desperate solo!

Raj and Rhona for putting me up in Washington, and Antony and Karen for their company

Janet, Jeff, Katie and Jack VonGillern for looking after me so well in Minnesota

Ian, Jane, Paul and Mia for their hospitality in Denver (twice!)

Michele, Donall, Mya, Emily, Oren and Aidhne for hosting me twice and looking after my motorcycle in San Francisco whilst I went home for a holiday

Diana, PK and Andrew for treating me to lunch, lovely and much appreciated

And to all of you that posted comments on the blog, thanks for your support

Key West to St. Augustine, Florida

30^th October – Key West to Miami – 164 miles

Today it really did seem like the beginning of the end and with reluctance we packed up and left Key West. It really is a lovely place for a few days, and I recommend it. We headed back up Highway 1 stopping in Marathon for a breakfast before arriving in Miami in the late afternoon. I dropped Pam off at the airport and she flew back to London.

So for the first time in 8 weeks I am back to travelling on my own. Which is kind of nice, I started the ride with a few weeks on my own and it seems right to end it with a few days on my own. When travelling with someone there is always something going on, travelling on you own you get more time to reflect and I suspect over the next few days I will have the time to do that – and I am looking forward to it. A lot has happened over the past 5 months, a lot of miles covered, a lot of places visited and I want it to sink in before I get home and life drops back to ‘normal’.

31st October – Miami to Melbourne – 208 miles

I set out late morning, intending to take the coast road as far as I could. The bike felt strange, most of the luggage was now gone and without Pam on the back, the old Harley actually felt quite nimble. Those aren’t words you usually see in the same sentence; nimble and Harley, but I guess it’s all relative! The road north hugged the coast from Miami Beach, but between the road and the sea were big hotels and apartment buildings obscuring the view.

A little bit of the old on Miami Beach

Every now and again there was an empty lot and you could see across the beach to the sea. I stopped in one or two places and it looked like a nice place for a holiday, if a little like the Costa del Sol. The problem though was that the road was slow, with lots of traffic and lots of traffic lights. The ‘towns’ along the beach all merged into one another and I couldn’t have told you which town I was in if asked. Every now and again there was a stretch of multi-million dollar places between the never-ending hotel and apartment blocks. I was determined to see the sprawl out but after 80 hot miles that took me nearly 4 hours I gave up and did a couple of hours blast up the Interstate to Melbourne where I called it a night.

I don’t think I have had a moan for a couple of days so it’s about time I stick one in. The average American seems to have trouble walking more than 100 metres. As a consequence they drive everywhere and half of the country is now a car park, enabling you to park right outside whatever establishment you need/want to visit. Which is all fine, but the problem is that if you do want to walk anywhere, in most cases there is no pavement and then after you have managed to avoid the traffic you find yourself walking across miles of car parks. Walking becomes hard work and it makes the driving mentality one an easy one to slip into. Tonight I asked the receptionist in the hotel where I could get something to eat and a beer. He told me of a place a few minutes’ walk away. When I got there it was closing (my fault it was late really late; 20.30!) I asked if there was somewhere else, the girl suggested the Burger King across the road. I walked round the corner to another restaurant but they did not serve alcohol so I asked the girl if he could suggest anywhere. Having told her I was walking, she suggested a place in the ‘Avenues’. When I asked her how far the Avenues where away, she said 3 or 4 miles. I told her again that I was walking and she said ‘what do you mean?’ so I explained to her what walking was. That bit established she said she didn’t think anywhere around the area was open that served beer and food. I walked 200 metres up the road into another place that served beer and food. Either people are just plain dim (and that may or may not be the case), or more likely maybe it comes back to this driving everywhere thing. Because everyone drives everywhere and no one walks anywhere, the consequence seems to be that people are unaware of what’s right under their noses, because there is no chance to see things. I honestly think after my 30 min walk around, I know more about what’s around this immediate area than most people working here, and I would lay a few $s on that. It really is a sad state of affairs, especially in the US where a significant percentage of the population NEED to do a bit more walking (or a whole lot less eating).

1^st November – Melbourne to St. Augustine – 161 miles

I decided to give the coast road another chance, so I did a quick blast up the Interstate to get north of Daytona and then headed back to the A1A, the coast road. And I am glad I did because the coast road in this part was lovely. I could see the high-rises in Daytona in the mirrors behind me, but in front it was just the sea to my right and sand dunes to the left. There was little urbanisation, it was mostly left wild apart from the odd small town I passed though on the way north.

Back road Florida on the way to the coast

I have a confession to make. Most mornings for the past few weeks, we (mostly I) have been liberating some fruit and a bagel and cream cheese from the breakfast buffet and we would have this as a picnic somewhere at a nice spot along the road. Today, I picked a spot on the beach in a State Park. Unfortunately as I opened the top box, an empty plastic bag was caught by the wind and it blew out across the road become lodged on the other side of the road amongst some cacti. I walked over to retrieve it but there as a sign saying don’t walk on the sand dunes. The bag was a couple of steps out of reach, so I had a dilemma: Ignore the sign and retrieve the bag, or leave it where it was, spoiling the scenery taking an age to decompose. I went for the former option and carefully walked a few steps into retrieve it. As I turned to come back, my leg brushed a cactus. The needles went straight through my fairly thick jeans, detached from the plant and stuck into my calf. I could not believe it, I had really only just touched the plant; it’s an amazing thing nature (I would use the word awesome, but the Americans have devalued that word and the now use it to describe things such as a cup of coffee). Anyway I gingerly hobbled back across the road and spent a couple of minutes extracting the needles. That task complete, I headed onto the beach, ate my lunch and had a little doze in the afternoon sun.

On the beach for lunch after extracting a few cactus needles

I arrived in St. Augustine in the late afternoon, dumped the luggage in a cheap hotel room and rode back in town to have a look around. The first thing that struck me was that most of the buildings were built of stone and so hadn’t been blown away by the hurricanes over the years. As a consequence, St. Augustine has an old historic town centre with a Spanish influence. It’s very nice indeed, with the restored buildings, converted into cafes, bars and restaurants and the streets pedestrianised. It’s a lovely town to stroll around in the early evening and makes the Number 3 spot in my list of good Florida towns, after Key West and Naples.

Early evening in St. Augustine

After something to eat, I weakened to temptation and rode back to the hotel without my helmet or jacket on. If there was less traffic on the roads and the standards of driving was higher, I could get addicted!

The Florida Keys and the big 5-0

27^th October Key Largo

We had a lazy day around the pool and on the beach before heading off for a sunset sail. Unfortunately the sailing was cancelled due to the weather. I am not sure what was wrong with it; it was sunny, warm and there was gentle breeze blowing so it seemed perfect to me. Anyway, cancelled it was, so we took a short ride down the coast and found a bar and watched a spectacular brilliant red sunset with a cold beer in hand.

Had dinner at a restaurant call The Fish House. Very good food; prawns and scallops for me, grilled fish for Pam. So the day turned out all right in the end – it always seems to!

28^th October – Key Largo to Key West – 111 miles

A beautiful ride down to Key West, hoping over the ’Keys’ along Highway 1 crossing mangrove islands and big bodies of water across massively long bridges. Some of the islands are really tiny, only made up of mangroves, others are a little more substantial. The sky was cloudless and the sea aquamarine blue, and although the road itself was unappealing from a motorcyclists perspective, the views were absolutely spectacular for the majority of the run.

On the road to Key West

Once in Key West we headed down to the maker for the southernmost point of the continental US and had the required pictures taken.  You cannot drive any further south on the mainland US and it really is feeling like the end of the road.

You cant drive any further south – Key West

The next stop will be Miami airport to drop Pam off, and then north to Savannah, Georgia to drop the bike off for shipping back to the UK and me to fly home. Mixed feelings about that, I am looking forward to getting home and seeing family and friends, but on the other hand, I am (we are) in a bit of a groove now, taking each day as it comes and enjoying life ‘on the road’. Perhaps if we were getting home in spring, not the start of winter I would be looking forward to it a bit more!

As it was going to be my 50^th Birthday the next day, I didn’t want to spend it in a dive, so we treated ourselves to a little luxury! After checking in to the hotel we had a quick wash and brush up we headed out in downtown Key West. It’s a great place, plenty of character, and with a really laid back Caribbean feel. Duval Street is where it all happens and its pretty lively with lots of restaurants, shops, bars and music,

Duval Street – Key West

Away from Duval Street, things quieten down and the backstreets are full of old colonial buildings with a very laid back topical feel. We watched the sun go down at Mallory Park. All the street performers are out, doing their thing, getting the crowds involved. The music is playing and the whole place has a great atmosphere We nipped into a bar and sat on the deck to watch the sun go down before heading back to Duval Street.

Another sunset – This time Key West

We sat outside an old colonial house in the warm evening and somehow before I knew it I was getting stuck into a ridiculously sized burger and fries. The big slice of Key Lime Pie after was unneeded but wanted and rounded off another chilled and good day.

29^th October – Key West

So today was the day, the ‘Big 5-0’. When I woke, I didn’t feel any older than the day before so I felt that was a good start. I had promised myself (and been looking forward to) a full monty breakfast, but I was still completely stuffed from the night before and so with unusual restraint, I skipped breakfast! We headed down to the quay and set out for a days sailing and snorkelling. It was a perfect day; sunny and with a good breeze for sailing. We sailed for about 90 mins accompanied for part of the way be a pod of dolphins, which was tremendous.

The snorkelling wasn’t quite so good; the wind made the sea pretty choppy and the shallow waters were stirred up by the waves restricting the visibility a little, but still, there were plenty of fish and it was a great way to spend an hour or two. Back on the boat the crew set out a fabulous lunch and by now I was ready for it.  Bit of sailing and a bit of motoring had us back on the dock late afternoon.

A quick wash and brush up and we headed out to dinner. Pam picked a swanky place for me, down on the beach, where the food, service and location was spot on; Fois Gras, a few more prawns and another Key Lime Pie were despatched and it was a great end to a memorable day. It certainly took my mind off being in my 6^th decade!

50!

30^th October – Key West to Miami – 164 miles

Today it really did seem like the beginning of the end, with reluctance we packed up and left Key West. It really is a lovely place for a few days, and I recommend it. We headed back up Highway 1 stopping in Marathon for a breakfast before arriving in Miami in the late afternoon. I dropped Pam off at the airport and she flew back to London.

So for the first time in 8 weeks I am back to travelling on my own. Which is kind of nice: I started the ride with a few weeks on my own and it seems right to end it with a few days on my own. When travelling with someone there is always something going on, travelling on you own you get more time to reflect and I suspect over the next few days I will have the time to do that – and I am looking forward to it. A lot has happened over the past 5 months, a lot of miles and a lot of places visited and I want it to sink in before I get home and life drops back to ‘normal’.

A few days on holiday

23^rd October to 26^th October – 330 miles in total

We spent a few days on the gulf coast on ‘holiday’, doing the usual stuff; sitting on the beach, swimming in the sea and eating way too much.

St.Petersburg Beach

Two or three days of that sort of thing is enough for me, so we packed up and set out for the Florida Keys. I have to say that inland Florida has by far the most boring scenery of the trip so far. It is essentially pancake flat, featureless and swampy, so the run across the state to Key Largo wasn’t especially inspiring. Luckily every now and again you get the chance to run along the costal roads and some of those are spectacular.

Boring road across the swamps

Spectacular road on the way to Naples

To break up the journey, we stopped overnight in Naples. What a lovely town; nice beach, compact town centre that is set up for walking around and a choice of good restaurants, mainly Italian (is that in connection with the town name?) and no fast food chains or pawn shops to be seen. So not much to report but thought I had better post something, just to prove we are still alive and kicking!

On the beach, Naples

 

Kennedy Space Centre

21/22nd October – Kennedy Space Centre – 238 miles over the two days

We spent the day at the Kennedy Space Centre.

I have to say it was a little underwhelming; I had visited the Space Centre a few times before but not for many years. Things had changed and not, in my opinion, for the better. Maybe it’s just me getting old, but everything seems to be getting dumbed down. There is little factual information and everything is reduced to playing with simple simulators or playing the space version of Angry Birds. I don’t know, to me, space exploration is rocket science, it is about pushing boundaries, being inventive and for the astronauts, being brave. The Kennedy Space Centre tour captures little of that. They do have the space shuttle Atlantis on display though and that particular exhibit was really well done and almost made the day worthwhile.

Space Shuttle Atlantis

The Shuttle Launch Control Centre

The other thing that has changed is the prices. Our tickets were $75 each for a tour of the main exhibits and the Launch Control Room. If you wanted to see the whole facility, the cost was twice that amount. Crazy prices if you want to take the kids.

We had our evening meal at a restaurant on the pier. It was nothing fancy but we were outside, the sun was going down and it was a chilled way to end the day.

The next morning we revisited the Space Centre, primarily to see one of the IMAX films as we missed them the day before. Although the steeply priced admission ticket said it was good for 6 days, apparently what it means is that the tickets it is good for one day in a 6 day period. I had to spit the dummy out over that; eventually the ‘Manager’ turned up to see who was causing the fuss and in the end we were begrudgingly let back in. The IMAX film of the building of the International Space Station was excellent and well worth seeing, We actually got to learn something and it made the hassle of going back and fighting to get in worthwhile. So mixed feelings on the place really. I appreciate a lot of their customers are kids and they need to have all the stuff there that makes it fun and engaging for them. On the other hand there are plenty of adults there and they really need to make a part of it more informative. Slightly better than Coca Cola World, but not much. The Smithsonian it certainly isn’t.

The Apollo 14 Capsule

In the late afternoon we blasted (keeping with the rocket theme!) across Florida to St. Petersburg on the Gulf coast, where we plant so spend a few days. Dodged a few tropical showers but got really caught out in the evening. To make matters worse , we were shopping for supplies when the rain started and so when we returned to the bike my crash helmet, which had been hanging upside down from the handlebars, was now full of water. It will take days to dry out.  Doh!

On the beach St. Petersburg

 

Biketoberfest – Daytona Beach, Florida

19^th October – Daytona Beach 40 miles

What a complete madhouse, bikes, bands, booze, noise and 150,000 bikers out to play and pose.

On the road to Daytona

My bike is somewhere here

Not sure that kilts qualify as approved motorcycle wear

More kilts

The main street in Daytona Beach has been converted into to a bikers mecca. There were at least 4 big stages with live bands blasting out good old fashioned rock music and dozens of bars, again all with live bands blasting out the music. The noise combined with thousands of motorcycles with loud pipes was incredible. Most of the bikes on display were unbelievable. The crowd all aging bikers; men and women squeezed into clothes that were several sizes too small, out to party and have a good time. It was completely crazy, but great fun. If you like bikes rock, music and greasy food, it’s heaven; if you don’t you’re going to be in trouble!

 

Main Street – Daytona Beach

Sorry about the blurred picture, had trouble steadying my hand for this shot

Live music on Main St

 

Across Florida to the Atlantic Ocean and Daytona Beach

18th October – Daytona Beach

A bit of a landmark day today, I just didn’t realise it until I saw the ocean. It was my first view of the Atlantic since I left Acadia National Park in Maine on June 3rd. Since then 18,479 miles have passed under the wheels. The west to east crossing of the US worked out at 9,598 miles from the coast in Washington State to the coast in Florida.

Another milestone. In the Atlantic Ocean after completing the west to east leg – 18th October 2013

We had spent the previous couple of days crossing Florida. The beaches on the panhandle were pristine and we spent a couple of easy days switching between chilling out on the beaches and swimming in the sea to blasting across boring flat swampland. To be fair, probably 100 miles were right along the coast and the riding was lovely, but the next 300 inland and across the state were the hot, humid and tedious.

But we are now in Daytona Beach for Biketoberfest there are tens of thousands of bikers here to party, report to follow!

Thats it – Florida state number 48!

15^th October Gulf Shores to Destin, Florida – 88 miles

So that’s it: Just over 18,000 miles since starting back in May in Boston, Massachusetts, we crossed into state number 48 and the journey to cover the lower 48 states of the USA is complete. It was a little bit of an anti-climax; a tatty sign at the side of a busy road and had I planned things a little better (and I should have, I have had plenty of time!), I would have bought a couple of beers or bottle of Champers or something. But I didn’t, so instead of a celebratory drink we had a swig of warm water.  But never mind the objective, loose as it was, was achieved. And it felt good.

State number 48! 15.52 on 15th October 2013

But to back up a little. We had a casual day, spending a good chunk of the day on the pristine beach at Gulf Shores before having a late picnic lunch. We didn’t get on the road until about 3.30 and then just a few minutes later we crossed into Florida. We continued east following the coast road to Destin, Florida, a really nice town on the coast so we stopped for the night. More good seafood. A lovely place to spend the night after the days events.

On the beach – Gulf Shores Alabama

And to back up even further – the day before is below

14^th October Biloxi to Gulf Shores AL 106 miles

We continued our amble eastwards, following the coast road before turning inland for an hour or so. Once away from the coast, the areas turn very poor again very quickly with people living in very makeshift housing. We crossed back into Alabama and eventually ended up on Dauphin Island, where the road came to a stop at the sea and we had to wait 90 minutes for a ferry to get us across a bay.

This road looked more like a ski jump as we went up it!

On the ferry to Fort Morgan

It wasn’t a hardship, we had food with us so we found some shade and had a picnic on the edge of the dock. On the horizon there  were lots of oil rigs, drilling away for the black gold that I rely on to get me around this country. The 40 minute ferry crossing dropped as at Fort Morgan where we continued along the coast road, passing small holiday towns as we headed east is the late evening sun. At Gulf Shores and found a cheap place to stay, ate some good seafood and called it a day. Not too bad as days go!

New Orleans and the Missssippi coast

12^th October – New Orleans

We weren’t really in the best of moods to take on the city this morning, I think it was a bit of a left over from last night, the unpleasantness of Bourbon St. and a little bit of travel weariness. After nearly 8 weeks of being on the road, riding, seeing stuff and constantly moving on I think we need a few days to relax somewhere. But relaxing wasn’t going to happen today, so we had to make the best of it. And has it happened it turned out to be a good day. We wandered around the French Quarter and once you get away from the main drag it was actually quite pleasant and charming.

Not looking too happy on Bourbon St, but the rest of the French Quarter is worth a visit

Then we took a cruise down the Mississippi on one of the last 2 remaining paddle steamers. There was a comprehensive commentary of the ‘sights’, there weren’t many to be honest, but it was interesting to see where the levies broke in 2005 when Katrina blew through and caused such devastation. As you look out across the landscape all you can see is the roofs of houses as they are all built on land below sea level. Once the levies burst, the area just filled up like a lake. Nearly 2,000 died. On a perfect late summers day it was hard to get to grips with the event.

New Orleans from the river

A few miles downstream the boat turned around, the jazz band started and we were treated to some fantastic music as we headed back to the city. Once ashore, a little more wandering, a cold beer, watching another great band and then my first southern seafood meal of the trip (Crawfishcakes) rounded off a great day. We left Bourbon St to the youngsters and headed back to the hotel happy. New Orleans had redeemed itself!

Music everywhere in New Orleans. A cold beer here hit the spot

13^th October New Orleans to Biloxi – 102 miles

An easy day following the coast road east from New Orleans. The first part of the ride skirted the swamps and Bayous of southern Louisiana before we emerged onto the gulf coast properly. From there the road followed the sea for probably 50 miles, with just a strip of pristine sand between us and the blue sea. All the houses in these parts are built high on stlits, some at least 20 feet up in the air. We read that the sea here can rise 17 feet in big storms and 90% of the buildings here were destroyed by Katrina. A beautiful place to live – but not without its risks.

Houses on stilts in case of floods

A couple of hours spent on the beach

Along the coast we stopped for an hour or two soaked up the rays and went for a paddle before continuing on. We stopped for the night in Biloxi and ate in a seafood place on the beach. A pound of prawns for Pam and the seafood platter for me. 10 out of 10! I can’t tell you what the town was like, we stopped at the hotel, crossed the road to the beach for the restaurant and left in the morning.

Fantastic carving (you cant see all the details) from an old tree stump. Wouldn’t last long in the UK before someone vandalised it!

Across Mississippi and Louisiana to New Orleans

10^th October Greenville to Natchez – 204 miles

After a night of luxury (the Holiday Inn Express is luxury for us now!), we made a latish start and headed west across the Mississippi and then turned south following the river towards Tallulah. Crossing the state line into Louisiana ticks off number 47 of the 48 states that I plan to visit, just Florida is left on the ‘to go’ list. Not much to see in the road, still flat farmlands, and cotton plantations, but at least it isn’t trees. I have learned over the last few weeks that you have to stop whenever you see any kind of attraction or museum, they are usually worth stopping for. Today we stopped at a place that made chilli sauce, except that we couldn’t do the advertised factory tour as everyone had gone to lunch, but we as we were in the shop we bought four bottles of chilli sauce and the owner gave as a jar of sweet Jalapeno peppers. We had them for lunch on our picnic outside the Louisiana State Cotton Museum. Both the museum and the Jalapenos were much better than they might sound. Today, everyone we spoke to wanted to chat; which is lovely (including a prisoner from the local jail, who was let out to tend the gardens at the museum), but it meant we probably lost close to two hours today and as a consequence it was late afternoon when we got to Vicksburg. Quite a nice old town (many shops closed down though) and lots of Civil War history, but not too much to delay us so we carried on to Natchez, a pleasant old town, with a bit of life so we stopped there for the night. The other attraction was that it had a Thai restaurant, so it made a pleasant change from burgers, steaks and ribs, the staple diet of the past 3 or 4 weeks.

The Mississippi River

11^th October Natchez to New Orleans – 204 miles

Today was supposed to be a quick blast straight to New Orleans, but it didn’t really work out that way. For starters we decided to take a wander around Natchez town and the more we walked the more we found to look at. Then we made the ‘mistake’ of talking to a couple of people (including a local artist who gave us her first-hand account of Hurricane Katrina and the impacts it had on her family causing them to move from New Orleans to Natchez) and 90 minutes went by and so as a consequence, it was well after midday before we left. Not much to see on the road but it does give the chance to let the mind wander, and today it went into overtime. Todays thought was the perception of the USA by Americans and foreigners. I came to the conclusion that the USA is a bit like an IKEA wardrobe. It looks good and shiny from a distance but once you scratch the veneer you get to see the MDF underneath. The USA promotes the polished image, the veneer, to its citizens and the rest of the world. But the reality is that there are large chunks of the MDF beginning to show through, especially in these parts. A significant proportion of people live in dilapidated mobile homes or very makeshift wooden buildings and it’s not surprising that when hurricanes or floods pass through these areas, people are killed and livelihoods are washed or blown away.  I am certainly not saying that things in the UK are perfect, far from it, but in the UK at least it’s generally acknowledged that lots of things are broken, and as a nation, we seem to lack the ideas, will or ability to ‘fix’ them. In the US, it seems heads are firmly buried in the sand. Keep repeating the mantra; America is the biggest, the best, the most powerful, the land of the free etc. Eventually, you will believe it’s true, regardless of what you see around you. Anyway enough of that, everyone is still dead nice and super friendly and talking to people along the way is a big part of what makes this trip so enjoyable.

We arrived in New Orleans in the early evening and headed down to Bourbon St in the French Quarter. On a Friday night it was crowded, smelt of stale beer, urine and vomit. We had an overpriced crappy meal, you can draw your own conclusions on our mood as we headed back to the hotel!

A mix between a smile and a grimace. Friday night on Bourbon St, New Orleans