23rd March 2011 – London Heathrow to Baltimore
Well, here we are again in the good old US of A. We arrived safely at the Travelodge at Terminal 5 yesterday evening courtesy of my brother Tony (Thanks Bruv) and settled in for a good nights rest, or at least that was the plan! Unfortunately whoever decided to set off the hotel fire alarm at 4am had other ideas and we were rudely awakened to an awful noise and people rushing for the exits, thankfully it was a false alarm and we were able to get a bit more (fitful) sleep. The flight itself was uneventful even arriving 45 minutes early, unfortunately we lost all of that 45 minutes and a bit more when we got to Immigration. Graham was seen first and was accepted for entry without problem but when it came to my turn I was advised that there was a “technical problem” and was shunted off to a side office. It seems that their equipment was unable to read my fingerprints properly and I was asked if this had happened before, I explained that I’d not had a problem at this stage before BUT that when I applied for my US visa they’d had trouble getting a read of my prints. After meeting with the Supervisor and having my prints taken again I was given the all clear but I can honestly say they had me a little nervous for a while!! Our next challenge was getting a rental car that Graham could drive, it wasn’t too much of a problem but it did cost us a bit more for an upgrade to an SUV. Having got that sorted we headed to our pre-booked motel (one we’ve used before) and went to the restaurant for a portion of their rather good ribs. As we left we discovered that there was quite storm going on with thunder and lightning all around – not quite what we’d expected but at least we didn’t have far to go.
24th March 2011 – Baltimore to Ocean City.
We left the motel fairly early this morning and went along to see Paul our dealer friend who’s bought our black trike from us. We spent a very pleasant hour or so chatting and collecting the bits we’d left on the trike before heading south. From there we made our way to Bob’s BMW to take a look at some riding gear and then over the Bay Bridge to the Eastern Shore and Ocean City where we met up with Edith for the first time since Jeff’s untimely demise. We spent quite some time catching up and sharing our memories before meeting up with Ed (Jeff’s ex-business partner) and Edith’s daughter Maria for dinner and more reminiscing, it all seems very odd with him not being here.
25th March 2011 – Ocean City, Maryland.
We had an easy day today and took the opportunity to do some shopping whilst we had Edith as our local guide. We took lunch at the Ocean Pines Yacht club overlooking the inlet and although it was cold and largely overcast we had a very pleasant day. After having a pizza at a local Café/Pizza house we spent a lazy evening together at Edith’s house.
26th March 2011 – Ocean City, Maryland.
Today dawned very bright and sunny although it was still pretty cold. Following a little more shopping and a return to the Yacht club for lunch we took a drive out to Assateague, a barrier island with superb beaches which is inhabited by wild ponies; we’ve been there before but it’s always worth a visit and we had a pleasant, if cool, walk out to take a look at the views. This evening we went along to Whiskers bar which had been one of Jeff’s favourites for a burger and a beer to toast his memory.
27th March 2011 – Ocean City – Plymouth, North Carolina.
We had a bit of a surprise this morning as we woke to around 2 inches of snow with more still falling; this definitely wasn’t in the script!! Although there was plenty of snow around the roads were clear, so we decided that we’d make a move south once we’d had our pre-arranged breakfast with Edith, Ed and Maria. We headed south through Maryland, across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge/Tunnel (fascinating as always), through a small part of Virginia and in to North Carolina. I’d seen details somewhere of a historic coastal town called Edenton and we decided to take a look and had thought we might stop there for the night but it turned out there was nowhere to stay, so after a brief look around at the historic homes and the very pretty waterfront we continued south to Plymouth. We haven’t really had a chance to see the town yet but as it’s said to be another pleasant historic waterfront town we’ll probably take a look in the morning before moving on.
28th March 2011 – Plymouth to Morehead City, North Carolina.
We did go into the old town this morning and very pleasant it was too (although not very big). The museum there is closed on a Monday but we did get to see the replica of the Iron clad boat that was used during the civil war era. From there we’d decided to take a looping route out through the swap areas (interesting but not much to see really) finishing up at another historic waterfront town called Beaufort. It was cold and overcast with some light rain on and off throughout the day and although we did go in to Beaufort it seems that the historic waterfront is pretty small and most everything is still closed as we’re out of season so we back-tracked a bit to Morehead City and booked in to a Holiday Inn Express that has a Texas Steakhouse just up the road. Not sure where we’re going to go tomorrow, we’ll see once we’ve had a chance to look at the maps.
29th March 2011 – Morehead City to Georgetown, South Carolina.
It was bright and sunny today (although still cool) so we continued south hugging the coast where possible. We stopped a number of times for shopping and food and, as a result, we didn’t get as far as we might have done. We had thought about staying in Charleston (we’ve been there before and it’s a nice historic town) but as we were running out of day and needed a laundry we decided to stop in Georgetown, there is apparently a nice waterfront lined with restaurants a few streets away so I dare say we’ll go take a look once the dryer has finished.
30th March 2011 – Georgetown to Savannah, Georgia.
We did go into the Georgetown historic district last night and very pleasant it was too; there were a number of very plush historic homes, original storefronts and some very good restaurants so we had ourselves a very nice fish dinner before retiring. The interesting thing is that if the young lady at our motel hadn’t told us about the old town we’d never have guessed it was there, it certainly wasn’t obvious from the main road through. This morning dawned very overcast and it wasn’t long before the heavy rain and thunderstorms they’d forecast arrived, in fact, there came a point along the way where it was impossible to see the white lines on either side of the road and we had no option (as there was nowhere to pull off) but to closely follow the truck in front and hope he could see where he was going – not nice! As there appeared to be no let up in the weather we decided not to go in to Downtown Savannah (we’ve been there before anyway) as we didn’t relish the idea of walking around the waterfront in the pouring rain. Instead we used a voucher from one of the books we collected along the way and checked in to a Holiday Inn Express where we got use of a suite for less than $78, not bad eh?
31st March 2011 – Savannah to Waycross, Georgia.
That will teach me to brag about what a great room we got! Just after I’d finished updating the blog yesterday the hotel fire alarm went off (yes, I know that’s twice this trip) and we were evacuated to the parking lot whilst all of the emergency services attended. It turns out that one/some of the machines in the laundry overheated setting off the sprinkler system, this caused part of the ground floor to flood which, in turn, meant the power and water had to be switched off. After an hour or so we were told that we could be waiting 3 or 4 hours before the building could be re-occupied as a fire officer had to certify it as safe. As our room was on the ground floor we were allowed to go in and collect our belongings, check out (with a full refund of course) and move to another hotel which, unfortunately turned out to be decidedly rough around the edges – hmmm! It was foggy when we left this morning and stayed that way most of the day but as we’d already decided not to travel too far it didn’t cause any problems. We’d decided on Waycross as it gives us the opportunity to take a trip out to the Okefenokee Swamp tomorrow when the weather is supposed to be much better. As we’d arrived nice and early we took the opportunity to visit the Okefenokee Heritage centre, which turned out to be interesting but not outstanding. The motel we’re in tonight has it’s own restaurant and bar so, fingers crossed, we’ll get to have a drink and relax this evening.
1st April 2011 – Waycross to St Agustine, Florida.
Although last nights motel had a restaurant we chose not to use it as the menu was very limited, instead we went to a chain restaurant just up the road and as it was offering 2 beers for the price of one we had a few there and were glad we did as we couldn’t afford to drink in the hotel bar (2 spirits cost us $15). As promised the sun was shining this morning so we went along to the Okefenokee only to discover that we couldn’t get out on a boat trip as the water level was too low, just as it was a number of years ago when we tried. As a result we decided not to go in to the park as most of what was available entailed a lot of walking or waiting 1 and a half hours to share a train ride with three busloads of school kids!! We did, however, see a number of alligators just outside the park so managed to get some pictures there. As we had plenty of time we took a slow run down the coast to St Augustine and arrived mid-afternoon in time to take a mini train tour of the town. We left the tour before the end so that we could stay in the old town to eat before returning to our hotel but we didn’t find anywhere that took our fancy so stopped at a very nice restaurant on the way back. Tomorrow we’re going to be meeting up with Jeff’s Mum and her partner Ted in St Cloud, it will be good to catch up with them despite the circumstances.
2nd April 2011 – St Augustine to St Cloud.
We had a later than planned start this morning as I woke with a really bad headache and decided I needed a lie in. Once we were underway we stopped for brunch and then jumped on to the Interstate to try to catch up some time. We arrived at Ann & Ted’s at around 13:30 and spent some time reminiscing and catching up before going to one of their regular haunts, Beef O’Grady’s for a late lunch where Uncle Russ popped in to say Hi. We then went down to Old Town Kissimmee for the Saturday night car show which was great; there were far more cars there than the last time went in 2008. We arrived back at the house around 21:00 and sat down to watch the semi-finals of the College basketball championship which was won by the Butlers – very appropriate.
3rd April 2011 – St Cloud.
Ted acted as tour guide today and started by taking us on a nature drive on Merritt Island, which proved to be really good with lots of alligators, turtles and different birds to see. From there we went out to Playalinda (a fabulous beach) on the Space Coast where we had a great view of the shuttle which is standing on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral ready for lift-off on the 29th. On the way back we stopped at ‘Dixie Crossroads’, which is reputed to be one of the best seafood restaurants in the area, and we tried Rock Shrimp for the first time (a bit like small crayfish). Overall we had a great day despite me managing to get my arms sunburnt!
4th April 2011 – St Cloud.
This morning Ted took us shopping for a suitcase (yes, another one, what with all of our riding gear and crash helmets we’ve got so much stuff to bring home we’re going to have to pay for extra luggage). We later went to a very nice Veggie restaurant with a huge salad buffet for lunch before Ted took us for a drive around the Orlando area, down International Drive etc where all of the really big hotels etc are. This evening we went back to ‘Beef’s’ as they had a Trivia night (much like our pub quizzes) and we were joined by Uncle Russ, his Son Bruce, Daughter Suzie, her husband John and her Son Mitchell, we didn’t do too badly really considering Graham and I had no clue about the American sport or politics questions. The weather was really great again today with temperatures in the high 80’s.
5th April 2011 – St Cloud.
The weather wasn’t so good today with the severe thunderstorms that had been forecast arriving at around 10:30. They didn’t last all that long but were pretty lively whilst they were there and it cooled the weather down considerably for a while. We sat out the storms watching TV and chatting before heading out to a Brew Pub for lunch. Ted then took us on another drive around the local area, the bits that tourists don’t see, and after a rest at home we went for our final visit to ‘Beefs’.
6th April 2011 – St Cloud to Tallahasee.
We had breakfast at the Koffee Cup this morning before saying a fond farewell to Ann & Ted. As we had previously used the road that hugs the West coast we decided to use one of the roads which runs up the spine of the peninsula and although there was a lot of traffic for the first part of the journey it tailed off as we got further north. As there was little to be had in the way of accommodation for much of the route we decided to make for the State Capital Tallahassee which has proved to be a nice looking city if rather smaller than you’d expect for a State Capitol.
7th April 2011 Tallahassee to Evergreen, Alabama.
It was bright and sunny when we left this morning so we headed south & west to the Gulf Coast hoping to find somewhere to, maybe, stop for 2 nights. Unfortunately we were a little disappointed as, although the beaches were fabulous, the traffic was awful and there are (overpriced) hotels and apartments all along the waterfront with just a few glimpses of the beach/sea to be seen. Rather than pay over the odds for a hotel we decided to give this idea up as a bad job and headed back north and further west with a view to taking a scenic route across central Alabama and Mississippi before turning further north along the edge of the Mississippi, just how far we will get with this is to be determined as there are some reports of flooding around the river at the moment. We’ll see!
8th April 2011 – Evergreen to Natchez, Mississippi.
It was very overcast, almost foggy, when we woke this morning but it was also 71F and getting warmer by the minute! We had a pleasant run across Alabama & Mississippi and arrived at Natchez early afternoon, in fact an hour earlier in the afternoon than we’d realised having missed that we’d crossed into Central Time. We’ve been close to Natchez before (when we rode the Natchez Trace Parkway) but had not been in to the town and it turns out it’s a very pleasant, old (by American standards) town. It sits right on and well above the river so although there is still some flooding it hasn’t affected the town only as far as we could see, the riverside footpaths. It appears that we’ve arrived in the middle of the ‘Spring Pilgrimage’ when a number of the old Antebellum homes are open to the public so the hotels are busier and more expensive than they may have been otherwise but we managed to get in to one of the historic hotels downtown, not cheap but very nice. We spent the afternoon looking around town and went along to a local bar/restaurant called Biscuits & Blues for food and some live music. The young lady singing had a very good voice but the music was much more Country than the Blues we’d expected given the name of the place, not to worry, we’re going to Clarksdale ‘the home of the Delta Blues’ tomorrow so, you never know, we may find some music there
9th April 2011 – Natchez to Clarksdale, Mississippi.
As usual we took the back roads today and drove through thousands of acres of Mississippi Delta farmland; there was mile after mile of nothing and, even though we were running alongside the ‘Mighty River’ we couldn’t see it at all because of the levees that have been built to prevent flooding. It was a pleasant ride although nothing outstanding. We’d arrived at Clarksdale by 14:30 so went straight to the Delta Blues Museum just in case it shut early, it was worth the visit but it’s in downtown Clarksville which it turns out is a complete dump. That said we’re going back in later as the ‘Ground Zero’ blues club (owned by Morgan Freeman) has a band playing who we’re told are really worth the visit. Oh, by the way, I said yesterday that we’d lost an hour well it seems that we actually lost the hour the day before and hadn’t even noticed – it’s no wonder the breakfast room at our motel had been empty on Thursday morning!!!
10th April 2011 – Clarksdale to Decatur, Alabama.
We went along to Ground Zero last night and had a really good time although the music was a lighter form of blues (bordering on Soul at times) than we might have expected. The music started at 21:00 and was due to finish at 02:00 but we gave up at around 11:30 – we’re just not used to the late nights anymore!! As the powers that be are forecasting possible severe weather over the next few days (it’s already been really bad further north with lots of tornadoes) we decided to start to make our way back west so that we’re not too far from the Concord drag strip if we need to sit it out for a day; we need to be there for Wednesday evening. The first part of our route entailed one very long, very straight road; it was pretty enough but seemed to go on forever. We then joined up with the Natchez Trace Parkway for 70 miles or so; it was very pretty what with all the Dogwood trees in bloom and the wild flowers covering the banks. Once we’d left the Parkway we called in to one town to try to find suitable accommodation and got mislaid in the process so carried on finally stopping at a motel with steakhouse next door, very handy if we do need to stay another day!
11th April 2011 – Decatur to Blue Ridge, Georgia.
The weather front that’s causing all the problems seems to have slowed a little and as the storms aren’t now forecast to reach eastern Alabama/Georgia until this evening we decided to move on and to head for the hills. It’s been hot and mostly sunny all the day but we can now start to see the clouds building and it looks as though the rain, winds etc. will be here before the nights out. The first part of today’s journey was fairly ordinary but as we came further east and north we reached the foothills of the Appalachian mountains and it became much prettier, we’re now well positioned to head in to the mountains tomorrow, weather permitting.
12th April 2011 – Blue Ridge to Maggie Valley, North Carolina.
Well, that certainly wasn’t one of our best nights! We got back from dinner to find that all of the TV stations were flashing up severe thunderstorm warnings (warnings meaning that storms are definitely on their way) and tornado watches (meaning that the weather conditions were favourable for tornadoes to form) for the area we were in and lasting until 03:00. The storms duly arrived at around 22:00 and were definitely severe, the storm tracker radar counted over 2300 lightning strikes in a single hour. We sat up watching TV until around midnight and, once the worst of the storms appeared to have passed, we went to sleep but kept one ear open for any tornado sirens; thankfully they didn’t materialise. The forecast for today was showers this morning then improving but it rained on and off for most of the day and it was also pretty cool. However, we decided that as we were here we may as well take a drive through the mountains and despite the weather it was a pretty drive. We took a very circuitous route around and about finishing up close to the Blue Ridge Parkway at a hotel we’ve used before. The forecast for tomorrow is better and we have all day to do around 150 miles so we’ll probably take more of a look around tomorrow.
13th April 2011 – Maggie Valley to Kannapolis, North Carolina.
It was decidedly chilly when we left this morning but there were bright blue skies so we decided to take a trip up part of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Having completed around 40 miles of the Parkway we discovered it was shut, there was no notice at the entry point but we met a motorcyclist who said he’s been in to the Visitor’s Centre and had been told that part of the road would be shut at mid-day; as it was on 11:40 is seems they decided to shut it early. Unfortunately, that meant that we (and everyone else) had to turn around and go back the same way, not very helpful. From there we decided to cut our losses and just head across country to our pre-booked hotel. The route we took turned out to be really slow so it took rather longer than it should have but never mind we’re here now ready for the drag racing this weekend and we’re invited along to the hotel Manager’s reception (free beer & wine) so I’ll finish now.
14th April 2011 – NHRA Drag Strip Concord, North Carolina.
We had a bit of a slow start this morning as there wasn’t much racing taking place first thing. We arrived at the strip and, having shown a copy of Graham’s Blue Disabled parking badge, were allowed to park in the handicapped parking area which is served by a Golf cart shuttle service – very helpful. We had a wander around in the pit area and met another British couple (from Skipton), bought a few T-shirts and then went along to watch the Sporstman classes run. There were some really good times set (222 miles per hour for a standing ¼ mile) and we had a very enjoyable day; hot & sunny, good seats, good facilities – can’t be bad and we’ll be going back for more tomorrow; it’s a hard life!
15th April 2011 – NHRA Drag Strip Concord, North Carolina.
We had another good day at the strip today; there were some really fast runs and seeing/hearing 4 Nitro cars (32000 bhp) leave the start all at once is something else! There were quite a few stoppages during the day mostly the result of blown engines and oil on the track so we didn’t get away from the strip until late and we ate on the way back so as not to have to go out again. The weather forecast for tomorrow isn’t great with the threat of severe storms so whether or not they’ll run is debatable. If the days racing is cancelled all together then we may get a refund but if a single nitro session is run then that’s it, no refunds, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
16th April 2011 – NHRA Drag Strip Concord, North Carolina.
As it was pouring with rain when our alarm went off this morning we re-set it and went back to bed for an hour. The rain continued on and off for a while but had stopped by late morning. Graham called the Strip and was told that they hoped to start running by around 12:30 and then run into the night if necessary. We left the hotel and went for lunch (big mistake in our choice of restaurant but, hey ho!) before making our way to the Strip, we were around half way there when a really, really bad squall hit us, it was bad enough that lots of vehicles were pulling off on to the shoulder of the Interstate but we made it safely to a nearby shopping Mall where we hung around for half an hour or so before leaving in bright sunshine?! It seems that we were very lucky as a huge Tornado apparently hit just 100 miles or so up the road and there were, unfortunately, a number of fatalities. We finally arrived at the Strip at around 14:30 and the racing started at 15:00 with the Pro classes running first to ensure that they got all of their qualifying runs in. Some of the runs were superb especially when you consider they were being run on a track that had recently been under water. It remained very windy all day and once the sun had gone down behind the grandstands it got cold very quickly so we managed to sit it out until around 19:45 before making our way back to the hotel via a very good old fashioned Diner (with real old fashioned burgers and thick milkshakes - yum).
17th April 2011 – NHRA Drag Strip Concord, North Carolina.
What a difference as day makes! It’s been blue skies and warm temperatures all the way and we’ve seen some really great, close racing again. Unfortunately, only one of our favoured drivers won the day but we had a great time all the same. One thing I have decided after today though is that I must have some sort of magnet for all of the ‘smuts’ off of the cars (spots of rubber that come from the tyres) as I came away looking rather like a Dalmatian i.e. covered in black spots but, not to worry, it does wash off.
18th April 2011 – Concord to Woodstock, Virginia.
We’re now on our way back to Baltimore for our flight tomorrow evening. We had originally planned on spending most of today on the Blue Ridge Parkway but unfortunately we had to give that idea up as, once again, we came across an unexpected road closure (I’d checked the website last night and it was supposed to be open all the way). As we couldn’t guarantee we wouldn’t be turned around again we decided to cut our losses and we jumped on the Interstate, not as interesting but it got us here. We don’t have to be back to the airport until around 18:30 tomorrow (for a 21:30 flight) so we probably won’t take the direct route as it takes you right through the middle of DC, which is no fun at all. We’re due to arrive back at Heathrow on Wednesday morning where Tony is very kindly going to pick us up we’ll then be staying over at his house to recover before heading home on Thursday, where has this month gone??