Friday 11/04/2008 - Texas (Panhandle) and New Mexico

Mileage - ~300 miles (via Amarillo and Tucumcari)

Left the motel this morning and popped into the National Route 66 museum which was quite interesting. Lots of nice old cars and bikes on display. The sat nav went mad around Sayre City when we found the road was blocked and we tried to go around the fallen branches.

We ignored the sat nav and headed west which worked well. We mainly drove down a newer bit of Route 66 with a really old bit running alongside it. It was amazing to see how quickly nature grows back through concrete, but we did drive down some of the old bits of road.

We eventually crossed the state line into Texas which was quite spectacular although suprisingly cold (46 farenheight and not celcius). We stopped in Amarillo for a burrito which was ok. Lots of Mexicans in this part of the world, the faces, the accents and the food are changing. We then came across Cadillac Ranch (Google it) which was interesting - lots of people legally spraying slogans on some old Cadillacs buried into the ground.

We crossed the Panhandle of Texas quite quickly and now we're in Tucumcari, New Mexico for the night. We've checked into the Blue Swallow motel which I've seen on TV (can't remember the name of the programme, but one of the guys in it was in celebrity big brother). The motel is very retro with lots of old features and old cars parked-up. We've even got our own garage. The owner looks like Gimili from Lord of the Rings. $66 a night which is quite apt.


Highlights - Pow-wow-wow bar, Texas and New Mexico landscape, Route 66 museum in Elk City, seeing a Texas Ranger wearing a cowboy hat, people wearing cowboy hats in general, Cadillac Ranch, Blue Swallow motel, loud V8 cars, direct but polite people.

Lowlight - Jaffa wiping his face on a skid-marked hand towel (again), some hick throwing a stone at us because we missed the proper road and probably went down his private road, finding 'Beavers' fully nude gentleman's club only to discover that it was closed, weather (cold and wet), 75mph speed limit in New Mexico but too much water on the road to go more than 60 without aquaplaning all the time.

Tomorrow - Santa Rosa, Albuquerque and beyond, aiming for another 300 miles or so.

Andy and Jaffa.

Ps tomorrow we are on detox, we have just seen 2 people so fat that they needed zimmer-frames to walk out of the restaurant after eating 4 courses with bread rolls.

PPS ordered a bottle of wine with dinner today, you guessed it, they don't sell 75cl bottles here, we got a double-size bottle! They were scared to serve it to us until we said that we'd have 2 anyway.

PPPS saw a commercial on TV where an old guy trades-in his Chevvy Malibu (same as ours) for a Harley and takes a young lady away to a motel room - it was an ad for Viagra! Brilliant!

PPPPS Couldn't send this message until today (Saturday) as I had no telephone signal.

Thursday 10/04/2008 - Oklohoma

Mileage - ~350 miles (nr. Tulsa, Oklohoma City, Elk City)

Hello,

Had a bad nights sleep yesterday, serious storm. Everything is flooded (even a bit of the inside of the car), worried that the road might be impassable in places as the water goes right up to the road in places. Still a chance of a tornado as we head west.

Went past Tulsa this morning, didn't go into the city as it was out of our way. Went through Oklohoma City which had some nice buildings. We had our first Wendy burger which was square but tasted like a combination of McDonalds and Burger King.

Hit the big plains and ended-up in a bit of a dust storm, the winds are still amazing despite the temperature being around 70F (about 23C). Hit lots of off-road sections of Route 66, many of which were dead-ends. We're now in Elk City. Went for a walk today, everyone beeps cause they think we're wierdos for not driving everywhere. This place is mad, drive through food, drive through ATM's, drive through cappuccino, drive through pharmacy, I swear people only get out of their cars to take a dump.

Just had a Mexican meal which was fine but my dessert was basically 10 donuts full of cheesy cream. Got a take-out, eating them now. Petrol is cheap $3.10 per gallon which probably explains the number of massive, massive pick-up trucks. Food is cheap, just bought a six pack of Corona beer for $4.

Highlights: -
Surviving storm, seeing Buffalo this morning, peppered beef jerky for breakfast.

Lowlights: -
Flooded-out roads, detours, crazy sat nav making us go around in circles, Jaf not letting me stay in the Pelican Motel.

Tomorrow we're hitting Amarillo in Texas and possibly stopping somewhere on the way to Alberquerque (spelt wrong).

Andy and Jaffa

Wednesday 09/04/2008 - Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma

Mileage - ~400 miles (via St. Louis, Springfield and Joplin)

Got a bit carried away today and barely got out of the car, muscle wastage setting in. We are getting soars on our backsides. We're in a small place called Afton which is not far from Joplin nr. the Kansas / Oklohoma border.

Just about to tuck into Liver and Onions, Chicken strips with Jello (we don't know what it is but will report back in the morning). The Chevvy Malibu is still running despite being caned. Economy is down to 26mpg but it's stopped making funny noises and is running well despite us filling up with 84 RON cheapo petrol all the time.


Highlight - foot long cheese chilli dog, St. Louis and the amazing Busch Stadium, Elvis themed motel room, lightning.

Lowlight - storms, rain, threat of tornados, skid-marks on motel towel.


Next report tomorrow.

Andy and Jaffa


PS - Jello is just fruit jelly served with your meal.
PPS - My diet has gone out of the window corn dogs and liver are great

I had mash that u wud have loved

The storm is amazing the cafe we were in was shaking

Twisters are a high risk in the next few days get the insurance papers ready

Tuesday 08/04/2008 - Illinois

Mileage - ~450 miles (via Chicago and Springfield)

Trip is good so far. We are already tired as we've already done many miles despite only just heading West since yesterday. We’ve already done New York, Washington DC (via Philladelphia and Baltimore) and are now near Chicago passing Cleveland and Toledo.

Heading into Chicago this morning before picking-up Route 66 and heading South towards St. Louis and the tornados!!!!

We've got a 3.5l Chevy Malibu which is dreadful but is at least comfy and let's us mess about as it's not slow (although the police are everywhere).

Stopped at a Waffle House yesterday and ate some oil with a bit of meat in it. It was empty which was a sign that we shouldn't have gone in. We tried some grits which were almost as bad as the hash-browns. We've tried to buy some fruit and only managed to buy 2 apples and 4 bananas after visiting 10 shops. More caffiene drinks and meat-based snacks than we've ever seen though. Got the giggles in the Waffle house and couldn't stop laughing, I think the (huge and ugly) waitress with soars on her face that called us sweety thought we were laughing at her.

Apple, banana and epidrin plus speed pill for breakfast and we're off..............................

................ later that day........................
Left Chicago this morning. Got a bit lost in the city centre and almost ran out of petrol. Picked-up Route 66 and started heading South. Progress is now much slower than on the Interstate. Weather is getting much warmer already but there is a storm brewing.......

Ate in another Truck Stop this afternoon - I had a monster Taco 'salad' the size of a football full of meat that I only just managed to eat. Our first motel choice of the night was not good, not very welcoming (we feared for our lives). Second motel choice is better and has further improved since we found that they sell 32oz cans of lager (almost 2 pints each) - so we bought 4 and some bags of pig skin. Still in search of healthy food. Found some apples today and 2 rotten bananas.


Highlight - finally getting off the Interstate. The town of Lincoln was very nice but it rained hard when we were there so we kept on trucking.

Lowlight - Route 66 runs alongside the interstate but you go 20mph slower and cops are everywhere.


St. Louis tomorrow (beer capitol of the USA) followed by the other Springfield.


PS to Sarah, Spiro had his first Reeses peanut butter cup today, he nearly puked.

PPS the storm has broken, very heavy rain, looks like we made it back from the liquor store just in time!

Monday 07/04/2008 - New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indianapolis

Mileage - ~700 miles (via Cleveland and Toledo)

Got up, had breakfast and Tadek / Krzysiek took us to pick up the car up at 09:00 from Newark Airport. Luckily we got a free upgrade and ended-up with a half-decent car. Went past Detroit and some other pretty monotonous terrain in our huge >700 mile drive. This country is big but we got as far as the outskirts of Chicago in one hit. We crashed-out in a motel somewhere in the middle of a truck-stop where everything else was closed.

Sunday 06/04/2008 - Washington DC (crossing through Delaware and Maryland states)

Mileage - ~500 miles (we weren't driving our hire car yet).

Tadek and Krzysiek kindly agreed to drive us all the way to Washington DC (passing Philladelphia and Baltimore). We saw Capitol Hill and the Whitehouse and had a really good look around the treasury and surrounding buildings. We went to a huge aircraft and space museum which was very interesting. It was a long day and a lot of driving for Krzysiek who took us back to New Jersey for the night.

Saturday 05/04/2008 - New York, Pennsylvania

Saw the New York sights superficially including Times Square, The Empire State Building, Central Park and of course the Bronx (where we saw a mean looking Peurto Rican leaning on his car with Hispanic music blaring out and another guy who looked like Wesely Snipes listening to NWA). In the evening we drove to Pennsylvania where we had a nice dinner and stayed the night at my cousin’s (Agnieszka and Daniel’s) new house in the country. We got a great and informative guided tour of New York from Uncle Tadek and Krzysiek who made the time to drive us around.

Friday 04/04/2008 - Newark, New Jersey

Got to Heathrow before 5pm and hit the bar before the flight. Arrived in Newark just before midnight where we were picked-up by my uncle Tadek and taken to his house. We chatted (and drank) until about 4am so we had a very long day (considering we were both at work today).