One Man's Terrorist...

We spent a very rainy Sunday doing very rainy
Sunday things. We did our laundry, ate some fish
and chips and found a swimming pool to shower.

Will tried to woo the lady behind the desk, telling
her an elaborate story of RVing woe. She didn't seem
to be empathising, so I chipped in, allbeit a bit brunt,
with 'we don't want to swim, we only want a shower.'
It did the trick, somehow, and our personal hygiene
was sorted for the next three days, at least.

Yesterday morning we headed back into Manhattan.
We took the train to Ground Zero, now a construction
site rather than a ruin; but still visually the same as
when I last saw it. Boarded up and impossible to glimpse
from ground level, it's hard to imagine what happened
there. We went into the World Financial Center to get a
better view and rest our weary legs.

Will said he expected to feel more emotion, and I must
admit I felt little in comparison to the sadness I felt last
time. Like I said, it's difficult to imagine what happened
there, especially when the site has become a tourist hotspot.

We headed for Battery Park and boarded the ferry for
Liberty Island; replacing thoughts of terrorism with those
of freedom. There's a saying in there somewhere...

The gloomy grey sky was replaced by marshmallow-fluff
clouds and a sky the colour of... Will's jumper. It made for
picture-perfect views of Libby and the Manhattan skyline.
I tried unsuccessfully to get a photo of a seagull mid-flight.
Looking back, I forget why. Shivering and wind-blown, we
caught the next ferry back to Battery Park and walked
down Wall Street to Brooklyn Bridge, before heading into
Chinatown for tea.

I had promised Will that the lower east side was an
experience like no other, and so we headed there as
the sun set with the hope of finding some dingy backstreet
bars, live bands and cheap drinks. In the end, we failed on
all three, but what we did find was, thankfully, a whole lot
better.

Stumbling upon a little bar called Lolitas, somewhere in
Noho I think, we were approached by a bloke who
informed us the show would be starting downstairs at 8pm.

Tonight, it turned out, was comedy night. This was
pretty much exactly what Will had been looking for;
a tiny basement venue, full of regulars and best of all,
completely free. We couldn't have found a better place
to spend our evening if we'd tried. It was my first
experience of a comedy night, and I liked it a whole
bunch.

Especially when I found out Kristen Schaal from
Flight of the Conchords was doing an act. I got all
excited, not least because I was wearing my Canada
geese jumper which I bought to 'be like Brett'.
Saddo, I know.

Anyway, she turned out to be not all that funny really,
but boy was I happy! After the show, we headed back
into the bar to continue our drinking, and Will insisted
I go ask her for a picture. I refused, so he went and
asked her for me. She came over and chatted a while,
and was very nice indeed; she even gave us directions
back to our tube stop.

Will and I got way too drunk and, after a disagreement
over how to get home (I say disagreement, in reality we
were one step away from a full on brawl), arrived back
to our RV at some stupid hour this morning.

Today, Tuesday, was streetcleaning on the road we
have been calling home. Time to move. I arose at 8am,
still drunk, and drove round the corner where we
managed to get a couple more hours sleep before being
moved on by a siren, informing us that we were still
parked on a Tuesday-streetcleaning road.

Nursing our hangovers, we decided to leave NYC,
despite Will not having yet being up the Empire
State Building. Another day in bustling New York
seemed too much like hard work. We craved a
quieter town, somewhere historic, sleepy, maybe
with a headless horseman to keep us on our toes.

We know the perfect place, so this afternoon we're
heading up the interstate to Sleepy Hollow.

New York City

Yesterday, 4000 miles into our roadtrip, we drove
into New Jersey. We'd hoped to get parked somewhere
across the Hudson river from Manhattan so we could get
the train into NYC. We arrived lateish, and, already a bit
stressed with the crazy road systems, pulled into a Lowes
carpark in Jersey City for the night. We asked Patel, the
security guard, if we could spend the night, despite big
signs saying no overnight parking. He told us it would be
okay, and so we thought we'd get a safe nights sleep under
the protective power of Patel.

Not so. At midnight a bunch of boy-racer types arrived,
doing their boy-racer thing in the carpark. Skidding around,
squeeling their wheels and overall being dicks. I'm sure
there are terms for the things they were doing, but it all
sounded a bit like oops-where'd-that-cat-come-from type
driving to me (i.e really bad).

Anyway, it doesn't sound that scary now, but they were
pulling these moves right outside our RV, music blaring,
shouting, and lovely Patel was nowhere in sight. It was
more the unknown which was scaring me; we'd arrived
late and had no idea what kind of area we were in, and
whether these kids were any real danger to us. Probably
not, but we kept the lights off just in case!

They eventually left us be at about 4am, and I managed
to get some sleep. There was no way we were staying
there again though, so this morning we decided to head
for a residential area in a different part of town. We
settled for a decent looking place called Hoboken, and
parked up on a residential road opposite a park.

It's a 20 minute walk away from the train that takes us
across the river into Manhatten. Bit of an effort, but we
were parked up for free, and the train gets us all the way
to 33rd and Broadway. Winner.

So this afternoon we hit New York City! Second time
around for me; Will's first. I was more excited about
Will seeing it, I thought he'd love it and I couldn't wait
to show him Times Square and around the lower east side.

But New York somehow seemed less special this time
round. Perhaps it was because I was last there at
Christmastime. Perhaps it was the snow. I'm fairly
sure it wasn't the company.

Most likely, it was because we drove there. A couple
of hours drive through New Jersey seems less significant
than a 9 hour flight from Heathrow.

New York was just another city; only more difficult to
park up in and navigate around. Will said it reminded
him of London. I could see his point. To me, it seems full
of life and yet lacking spirit. The two loneliest cities in
the world, apparently.

We popped up on 33rd and Broadway, right in the midst
of it. We battled through the crowds towards Times Square,
past the street vendors and smoking grates and other such
New York-esque sights.

We checked out some shops, took some snaps, soaked up
that Times Square atmosphere and, most importantly,
met the Cookie Monster. He didn't have any crumbs
round his mouth though. Disappointed.

Stomachs rumbling, we set out on the search for Jackson
Hole, a burger joint recommended to us by some bloke in
a coffee shop sometime last week.

Walking through Central Park, we found it on 64th and 2nd,
sitting down to eat delicious 7oz burgers in a dingy basement
hangout; movie memorabilia, licence plates and old signed
photographs hanging from the brick walls, pipework and
foundations of the building above us. It was wicked.

We headed home via Grand Central Station, standing
still to watch the city move around us, all under the
watchful eye of Pegasus and chums.

I was reluctant to head home; normally the RV feels
like our haven, safe and homely. But for some reason,
I just didn't want to go back. It could have been the
thought of the lenghty train journey back across the
river, the fact I knew the duvet would feel damp from
the cold, or maybe because I wasn't entriely sure our
RV would still be there when we got back (parking
restrictions are confusing and longwinded in New
Jersey. Streetcleaning, snow evacuation laws (?!!?),
residential permits, non-residential allowances,
weekday vs. weekend limits, national goat parade
day for all we knew).

For once, it was me who suggested we have a couple
of beers before bed, hoping the alcohol might dilute
my hesitance to go home. It worked, I guess, because
we got the 11pm train home to find our RV untowed,
undamp, and not a single goat in sight.

I drove to New York
in a van, with my friend
we slept in parking lots
I don't mind, I don't mind
I was in love with the place
in my mind, in my mind

Philadelphia

We spent yesterday in Philadelphia. Once again, we parked
just out of the city and got the Subway in to the centre.
There wasn't much to do, but the city was nice and we had
Philly cheese steak sandwiches. Yum Yum.

We didn't know if the Liberty Bell was in Philadelphia or Chicago.
We started to doubt ourselves when we couldn't find it on any
maps, and didn't want to ask someone where it was incase
we were in the wrong city!!

Eventually we asked a tramp. That way, how could we be
embarrassed. He pointed us in entirely the wrong direction,
but at least we knew we got the right state!

After walking about 50 zillion miles to find it, we were in for
a disappointment. Liberty Bell; second biggest letdown since
the White House. Not only was the bell smaller than you'd think,
it was in some kind of greenhouse prison. They'd apparently
built a monstrosity of a cage around it after someone tried to
crack it. Isn't it already cracked? I dunno, I couldn't get close
enough to see.

We headed home, feet aching, looking forward to a lovely cup
of tea.

We got back to our RV to find the carbon monoxide alarm going off.
The good side of this is it probably put off any prospective burglers.
The downside was, well, death.

The gas was off, and we really couldn't figure it out. We opened all
our windows and waited for the alarm to stop before hitting the
road again. Better to freeze painfully to death than pass peacefully
away in your sleep, right.

We found a Walmart and made soup and hot chocolate before bed.

We're currently in a Borders bookshop, recharging everything.
We've had our first glimpse of the time for a few days.
Shocking stuff.

We want to head in to New York as soon as possible, but as yet
haven't come up with a plan. Eek.

Washington DC

On Sunday night we slept in a state park in Northern Virginia,
about 80 miles south of Washington DC. We wanted electricity
and showers, but for some reason the state parks we checked
out in that area had neither. After running out of options, we
gave in and decided to stay the night, hoping we'd pass a Pilots
truck stop on the final leg of the journey to DC.

The state park was a little freaky. It was deep in some woods,
in black bear country, and no one else appeared to be staying
there. Will made a campfire while I cowered in the RV, pretending
to tidy up whilst checking out the windows for bears and murderers.

So yesterday morning we heading into Washington. No showers.
This upset me a bit, as I was looking forward to it and didn't want
to be a grease ball. But there wasn't a lot we could do about it.
We got parked eventually, for free, and caught a bus into town.

We saw the George Washington Memorial in the distance so
began walking towards it, arguing over whether Washington DC
is a state. Will was adamant it was. What a retard.

We walked through some little park, and I saw some rubbish
white building on the edge.

I jokingly said, 'ooh is that the White House, har har'.
Evidently this wasn't the White House. Will tried to convince
me it was, but I wasn't falling for it, no sir.

The joke went on a bit long, with Will even making me pose
for a photo in front of it. I got mad and wanted to find the
actual White House.

Then other people started posing with it, and I overheard some
bloke asking someone if they could take his picture with 'the white
house'. Christ. I still refused to believe it until I saw a sign.
It was only the bloody White House, biggest anti-climax ever.

God.

Anyway, it looked a bit better round the back, but I was still
seriously underwhelmed.

We did the other touristy things. The memorials.
So many memorials. Capitol Hill. Some other big buildings.
It was super cold, but Washington DC itself was wicked.
I liked it. We found our way back to the bus stop just as
the sun was setting.

We slept in the RV where we'd left it, too tired to think about
moving it, even though we were parked on an angle and the
blood rushed to our heads as we slept.

Since leaving Florida, bedtime has become a bit of a palava.
We've been adding more layers to our night-time attire the
further up the east coast we've travelled. I currently sleep
in two jumpers, two tops, leggings, 3 pairs of socks, slippers,
and then my pyjamas on top. We even bought an extra
blanket from Walmart, but it doesn't stop the pillow freeze
everytime you change sleeping position.

We're dreading Boston.

This morning, after driving back into Washington to check out
Iwo Jima, we were seriously desperate for showers. So we
found a Pilots truck stop just outside Baltimore and got another
free shower, curtesy of a second nice man donating his unwanted
ticket.

Clean has never felt so good.

Next stop, Camping World, somewhere in Pennsylvania.
Or New Jersey, I lose track. We've been through four states
plus DC today; Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware and
New Jersey. Gosh.

I'm not sure if I already wrote this, but our self contained RV
hasn't been so self contained seeing as we couldn't work it.
We couldn't figure out the gas, which meant no hot water,
no showers, and no cooking. A nice man immediately solved
this for us by flicking a switch we'd previously ignored. Score.

We still can't work the generator though, but we can't afford to
get that sorted, even though it's probably a simple thing like not
been hooked up to the battery properly. They wanted to charge us
$109 to look at it. But we can live without a generator. We can't
live without $109.

We're spending the night in their carpark, as we're only 150 miles
out of New York. We aren't too sure how we're going to work it;
we can't take our juggernaut into the city, so we're hoping to park
it up somewhere and couchsurf instead. We parked up in a Holiday
Inn carpark tonight and stole their internet to contact some people
on Couchsurf. We shall see what comes of it.

North Carolina

It's been a few days since I wrote anything. We're currently
in Virginia, via South and North Carolina.

On Thursday we slept at a Pilot truck stop in Gaffney, near
Spartanburg, South Carolina.

We managed to get showers, after a nice truck driver gave us
his shower token. Pilots have a scheme where 50 dollars worth
of gas gives you a free shower. We can only fit 50 bucks in when
we're empty, and it's impossible to judge when we'll hit a Pilots.
So we can never get a free shower :(

Anyway, this bloke didn't want his shower. Hurrah.

On Friday morning we drove into Winston Salem, North Carolina.
My cousin Samantha lives there, with her husband David and
daughter Grace. We had planned to see them on Saturday, but after
wandering round Winston Salam and having a cup of tea in a cute cafe,
we decided to give them a ring to let them know we'd arrived early.

So we headed over at about sunset on Friday evening, looking
forward to a warm meal and a good nights sleep! It's odd how
I think in terms of sunset. We never ever know what time it is,
seeing as we hardly ever have battery on any of our electronics,
and even when we do, we aren't sure what time zone they and
we are in.

We judge the time by the position of the sun, like proper cowboys.

Anyway, Samantha's friend Michelle, from Virginia beach, was
visiting for the weekend, and Sam cooked for us while we chilled
out, before heading to bed.

Yesterday, after a delicious donut breakfast, the lot of us headed
for Pilot mountain. Our RV did real well to get to the top, and the
views over North Carolina were pretty impressive. After walking
round the funny shaped outcrop of the mountain, Will and I once
again got back on the road.

We spent last night in a little town called Roanoak, Virginia, in a
Walmart. We could easily have driven further but after eating
nothing but donuts and chocolate bars I felt all peculiar, and stopped
for a rest which turned into a nights sleep.

Today we're planning on driving to near Washington. We want to
get showers before we get there, as it's been a while and I want to
be clean for DC!

Georgia

Yesterday we left Florida, on the sunniest day we've had yet.
I didn't really want to leave, I wanted to go play on the beach
and enjoy the sunshine after all the dull weather these last two
days. I think we've both enjoyed it, to say we were never
planning on coming here. I'm glad we did! On Monday we
went for another walk, on the search for alligators. No such luck,
but we saw lots of big birds like ospreys and eagles and blue herons.

Monday night we stayed in the state parks day use area for free.
We had wanted to spend another night here, but the camping
was fully booked so the nice lady at the desk made a special
allowance for us. The day area is right next to the water, and
we stood and watched the dolphins swim up and down before
retiring to bed.

Yesterday morning we found a super cute little shopping plaza
and made a hot chocolate last an hour while we charged our
stuff and I spoke to mum. Then we headed back into Alabama;
Montgomery this time.

We pulled into a Walmart late at night, tired and ready for bed.
As soon as I parked up, a security guard drove up to us and ask
if we planned to spend the night. He said it was no problem, but
we were in a bad neighbourhood, and we weren't allowed to
leave our RV until morning! He said Walmart couldn't be
responsible for anything that happened to us. Not the kind of
disclaimer you wanna hear before bed. I asked if anything had
ever happened, but he said he wasn't allowed to discuss that.

We said thanks, but no thanks.

We got back on the interstate and found a truck stop.
Safer but noisier.

So after a surprisingly good nights sleep, we drove into Georgia.
We headed for a state park, a few miles north of Atlanta. It's
super nice here. We borrowed aluminium foil of the camp host
to make jacket potatoes, and watched the sun go down over a
pretty lake.

Florida

We stopped off in Pensacola, Florida, yesterday afternoon.
There didn't seem to be much there so we carried on, planning
on sleeping in a beach state park in Gulf Breeze. We got there,
found the road was closed, and drove to a different state park.
This one was not only closed for the evening, but also full.

This was new!

We started driving for another one, but gave up on the way
when we saw a sign for a proper RV park. It would have cost
us over $80 for a night there. As if! We asked him if he knew
which state parks would still be open.

No chance, he said, it's Spring break. Oh yeah. Balls.

So, desperate for showers, we headed to yet another
carpark for a lovely evening of 2am streetcleaning
vehicles circling our home.

This morning, a bit disheartened with all the carpark
sleeping and lack of showers, we headed to the beach.
It was overcast and chilly, but I was in Florida, and I
was going to the beach, goddammit.

I liked the beach, a lot. It was nice to chill out. The sea was
far too cold to swim in, but we crashed out on the super
white sand and relaxed.

This afternoon we headed to a state park 10 minutes inland,
called Rocky Bayou. It only cost us 12 bucks for the night,
and it's probably the nicest place we've stayed in so far.

I like it here a lot! It's right on the edge of this massive lake,
or river, or something. Whatever it is, it's joined up to the sea,
because we saw BOTTLE NOSED DOLPHINS. It was amazing,
we walked down to the edge of the water, and there was a sign
saying there were dolphins, and I said, ooh maybe we'll see
dolphins! And they appeared.

They swam past us, blowing their little blowholes and one even
did a jump! It made me on a bit of a high.

I keep forgetting we're in the gulf of Mexico. It must be all the rain.

After seeing DOLPHINS we went for a walk on this little nature
trail. This time we saw signs for aligators again, but I traipsed
along the riverbank and couldn't find a single one!

There are about 50 zillion squirrels here. They're everywhere.
If they were rats, it'd be an epidemic. But they have fluffy tails,
so it's okay.

After our walk, we had showers.

The nicest, most welcome shower EVER.

Being clean is underrated.

I wanna stay this clean forever.
So we can stay like this forever.
And we'll never need a laundry,
cos we'll have clean clothes, constantly.

This evening, we had planned to repeat our jacket-potoatos-and-
beans-cooked-to-perfection-on-an-open-fire evening of yesteryear,
but after building a fire and sitting our potatos in it, the rain came
back.

I'm currently microwaving tea.

Two fingers to nature.

Mobile, Alabama

Last night we arrived in Mobile, Alabama! We drove all the way
from Louisiana, via Mississippi. We slept in a Lowes carpark again,
and this morning drove into the town. Mobile is real nice. The houses
are amazing, and people really were sitting on their front porches.
Mobile county is where To Kill a Mockingbird is set.

First Streetcar, now this. It's like GCSE English all over again.

The houses are massive and all colonial looking. Quaint yet bloody
huge. We found a little cafe and had hot chocolate and ate some super
delicious food. The sun came out and we sat outside and watched
teenagers ballroom dance in the park opposite us.

Mobile are celebrating St Patricks day today, and we have finally figured
out why we've been seeing trees drapesed in hundreds of strings of beads
as we've driven across the country.

We thought it was Mardi Gras, but no, it's St Patrick.

They went crazy for it. As we walked around the town, there was a
green-clad gathering on the square. The worst festival in the world,
I named it. It all seemed a bit lame until the parade started.

Then, it started raining sweets and toys, and thousands upon
thousands of coloured beads! It was the best thing to happen
to anybody, ever. We collected sweets off the floor like the
scummers we have become, and I weighed myself down with
beads. They'll come in useful, for sure.

We're back on the road this afternoon. We had no plans to head
into Florida, but it seems a shame to miss it as we're so close.

New Orleans

We awoke on Thursday morning, still in a Lowes carpark, still
in lost in New Orleans, but thankful for the sunshine, at least!
We had a plan; find the internet!

The internet can be a pretty tough cookie to find. Cookie. Heee.

But we tracked him down, in a hospital, and used his knowledge
to find us an RV park to spend the night.

Thankyou internet!

So, we got parked up by ealy afternoon, tried to converse with
some bloke who didn't understand a word we were saying, and
headed off into New Orleans, proper.

We caught a bus, and got stared at the entire time for being the
only white folk around. It didn't feel hostile this time, at least.

We hoppped off in the French Quarter, which is where the famous
streets, like Bourban, and the streetcars are. It was all quaint
streets and pretty houses. Definitely more Blanche than Stella.

We stopped at a bar and ate fries covered in all sorts of fatty
delights. Not very Louisianan, but they sure tasted good.

The bar was serving two dollar drinks. So we abused this until
we could abuse no more.

We moved on to another bar, and abused ourselves with more.
We met a bloke called Matthew, a caricature artist from Michigan.
He sat and drank with us a while. I don't remember what we spoke
about, but he was cool. Although I do remember feeling slightly
disconcerted with the caricature thing.

We got a taxi back to our RV park, and slept.

This morning we fed our hangovers a fried chicken breakfast and are
currently awaiting our laundry before we hit the road, once again.

Shut up and drive

On Tuesday evening we found ourselves in Jasper, which
I think is in Texas. On the drive there I got pulled, again!
Apparently I was driving real close to a lorry in front of me.

This is lies, the problem is everyone slams their brakes on
when they see a cop car. Anyway, they were pretty nice and
didn't bother searching us. Lucky, what with all them dead
bodies and heroine stashed in the bathroom.

Our problem is, we look suspicious. Our RV doesn't exactly
blend in. Maybe the cop stops will stop when we're away from
the Mexican border.

We stayed in a state park, right on the edge of a lake. Now,
not only did we have mountain lions and coyotes to contend
with, we had alligators too. Not that we saw any.
It was too dark. Reassuring.

Will built us another fire and we ate jacket potatos and beans
and cheese. It was literally the best food either of us have
ever eaten. Maybe beacuse it was the first hot food we've
been able to make ourselves! Or maybe it just tastes better
if you cook it over a campfire.

After leaving Jasper, we found ourselves in Louisiana on
Wednesday. We headed for Baton Rouge. However, after
arriving in the dark, in the rain, in the hood, we decided to
push on for New Orleans.

So on yesterday evening we got here. Once again, we found
ourselves in the hood. Only this time, it was actually pretty
damed scary. I spazzed out and drove the wrong way down
a busy one-way street. New Orleans is a one way city.
I got beeped, a lot!

We'd planned to sleep in a state park just outside the city,
but we got all freaked out by the area it was in. So, instead
of lovely showers and electricity, we spent another night in
a carpark. Lowes, this time.

Dallas

Last night we parked up our RV in a carpark in a town called
Abilene, Texas. I had the worst nights sleep I've ever had,
on account of some chuffing birds that a) would not shut up
and b) entered my nightmares.

It was so bizzare, there were literally thousands of birds
gathered together in a carpark until well after midnight,
making horrific noises and turning the trees black. I would
like somebody to tell me what the balls they were doing. Thanks.

Anyway, I had some weird dream about a murderer who'd
trained a bunch of birds to kill people, and the squawking
outside my window didn't do much to help.

So this morning I woke up all stressed, in a carpark, in some
odd little town in deepest darkest Texas. Then I drove god
knows how many miles to Dallas in a nomadic shack.

Dallas is super hot. Humid and sticky and stressful. But it's
nice, all the same. We did the JFK stuff. The 6th floor museum.
Which cost a fortune, but Will seems to like JFK, or he likes
the conspiricy, or something.

Either way, despite having a lovely earpiece telling me all I
needed to know, Will took on a Tourguide of the Month routine
and maintained it for the rest of the day. Ha. I'm joking Will,
it was interesting, really.

He got a little annoyed, I think, because I'm not clued up on
the story. Plus I think it's perfectly plausable that Oswald guy
shot him!! Jeez.

We just watched The Watchmen at a cinema. It was a wildgoose
chase finding one that was actually showing it, but we succeeded.
Sleeping in the cinema carpark tonight. I smell bad.

Carlsbad Caverns

We've driven about a million miles since Wednesday.

On Thursday we drove almost the whole way across
Arizona into Lordsburg, New Mexico. We went through
a bunch of odd little towns and lots of pretty amazing scenery.
Arizona is mountainy. We spent the night in a carpark behind
a restaurant, after stealing showers from Pilots truck stop.
Thanks Pilot!

On Friday our intention was to drive the whole way from
Lordsburg to the Carlsbad Caverns, also in New Mexico, but
via El Paso, Texas. On the way we drove through a border patrol,
each vehicle is stopped to check for illegals. Third brush with the
law! I've never once been stopped in England!

We did pretty good, and managed to get about 50 miles west
of Carlsbad before we ran out of gas! The highways here are
endless, and we managed to get through half a tank without a
single sign of life. We chugged into an RV park way up in the
Guadalupe Mountains on the last of our fumes.

The sign for the campsite couldn't have come a moment sooner;
a single extra mile and we'd have been camped out on the highway.
We used a payphone to call AAA, and a couple of hours later
we were fueled up! We decided to stay the night, as it was
pretty damned late anyway.

We escaped this morning without paying (again) and made it to
Carlsbad Caverns by 9am this morning. It's in a creepy little town
called Whites City. The kind of place that breeds murderers and
psychos. It's also the windiest place ever, dust storms and tumble
weed keep battering our lovely home!

I decided today is my day off, so we're hooked up in an RV
park recharging our batteries, literally and analogically.
Is that a word?

We went down into the caverns this afternoon. It was cool!
13 degrees in fact. It was impressive, for caverns. Although
there were no blokes sat in rowing boats playing the violin,
like the caverns in Majorca!

We just ate burritos. Feel a bit sick.

Back on the road in the morning. Goody.

Joshua Tree

Yesterday we drove through the Palm Springs windmills!
Have you seen Alphadog? I watched it at Leon's. The windmills
are in that film, and show the scale of them. There are literally
thousands. We parked up in a sand pit and walked across desert
to get a closer look. It was windy!

Someone did good with that location.

A helicoptor flew over us, and I discovered the incident in the
Hollywood Hills has given me a phobia of them!

At sunset last night, 200 miles into our trip, we hit Joshua Tree
National Park. We headed to one of the campsites and found a
spot big enough to squeeze our 30 footer. We did good!

When I say we, I mean I.

We had a picnic bench and everything! Will made a campfire
like a real man and we sat round it drinking beer and eating
chips and home-made guacamole. The stars came out and there
were zillions, and we were nestled inbetween the biggest
boulders ever. Everything looked surreal.

It was a super nice night!

Today we woke up to the sunniest, quietest, most pretty day
ever. We went for a walk and climbed some rocks. There were
tonnes of chipmunks and other fluffy creatures Will reckoned
were 'ground squirrels'.

What rubbish. We didn't see any coyotes, although Will heard
them howl or something while he smoked a dirty midnight
cigarette. Again, what rubbish!

In the afternoon we drove deeper into Joshua Tree to Keys View,
where you can see all the way to Mexico! Then we began to make
our way out, via a few stops such as skull rock and Cottonwood
Spring. Oh yeah, it's called Joshua Tree because it's full of Joshua
Trees. They're cool.

We escaped without paying, somehow. Thirty bucks saved.

We're spending the night in a truck stop just to the west of
Phoenix, Arizona. No showers for us! On the way here we got
pulled by the cops. We had a brake light out, but he was obviously
suspicious of us because he split Will and I up. He made me stand
by his car while Will was told to stand way behind the RV by a road
sign. He questioned us separately about how we knew each other,
who were were and whether we had any drugs on us.

Then he searched our RV, which was slightly disconcerting.
Especially when I saw him go into my underwear drawer through
the rear window!

Anyway, we escaped with a verbal warning and carried on our way.

It turns out I got sunburnt today. The desert is a tricky trickster!

In and Out

Today we finally left LA! We said goodbye to Leon this morning,
after he drove us around while we sorted out AAA breakdown
cover and moved our luggage from his kitchen to our new house!
Then he took us for burgers at In and Out, best fast food EVER.
We also eventually got insurance this morning. Talk about
organisation.

We're only about 100 miles out of LA, but it feels good to be on
our way! We're staying at a proper Koa RV site tonight, as we
wanted to work out how our hook ups work. Luckily, the electrics
work! Although we have realised we have no hose for water.

Yesterday we went to the Griffith Observatory. The views over
LA were awesome and we watched the sun go down from the roof.
We'd planned to see Dana in the evening, but in the end we stayed
in with Leon and his friend Sunday and played Rock Band. I'm
bestest on drums.