New Mexico

We've had a pretty busy week on Route 66!

After sitting out the tornado warnings and visiting the
shoe tree, we drove out of Tulsa, through Oklahoma City
and into Shamrock, Texas, where we spent the night.
It was an odd little town. Proper hicksville. We ended up
sleeping in a parking lot behind a gas station, before heading
for Amarillo.

On the way we made a couple of stops; first to take a few
snaps of a leaning water tower, which is a famous Route 66
icon, and again for the largest cross in the western world.
It was a pretty big cross, I admit. It made me feel a little
uncomfortable.



















We made it to Amarillo by lunchtime, deciding to eat at the
Big Texas Steak Ranch; home of the 72oz steak.

Eat it all and it's free. No thanks!

We got ribs to share and slagged off the waitress for not
bringing us our bread roll. Desperate times!

We got back on the road, driving through the ghost town of
Glenrio. I did not like that place one bit. I'm sure someone was
living in one of the shacks, and a dog came out to bark at us.
Will got out for a cigarette while I sat with my foot poised next
to the accelerator.

We made a few more Route 66esque stops. At a Bug Ranch, and
then a Cadillac Ranch. This is basically where some strange souls
have buried some cars into the ground in a row. People have then
come along and graffitied all over them.

The Cadillac Ranch was my favourite!













We decided to spend the night in Santa Rosa state park.
It was super pretty. I feel so much safer camping out in Texas,
New Mexico and Arizona. I think it's because there are no
forests for people to hide in.













Will and I sat on the RV roof watching a lighting storm rage
in the distance.

I got up at 6am the next morning. I was the only awake person
in the whole park. I don't very often see 6am, but I'm sure glad
I saw it that day.

After Santa Rosa, we headed for Santa Fe.

We picked up some of the oldest stretch of Route 66, which
incorporated parts of the Santa Fe trail. The town was all pinks
and oranges, smooth terracotta buildings, housing art galleries,
jewellry stores and gift shops.



















Street vendors layed out their treasures along the streets,
and we wandered around the town square, watching the
tourists haggle in broken Spanish. It was all very pretty.
Totally different from most of what we'd seen of America.
Like a totally different country. Almost like a new Mexico. Oh..

So anyways, after Santa Fe came Albuquerque, which I can
spell without looking up!

The style was similar to Santa Fe. Only it seemed a little less
authentic. Outside of the Old Town Plaza, Albuquerque was as
lacking in character as any other town. Samerica.

We spent last night at some truck stop or other, and this morning
we are making a quick stop in Gallup before leaving New Mexico
for Arizona.

Is that a tornado or a camel moaning in slow motion?

Driving through Kansas yesterday, Will and I pointed out
houses where Aunt Em might live, or the barn where the
people in Twister might've hid when the tornados hit.

I've always wanted to see a tornado, or maybe chase one,
or perhaps get sucked into one, with the cows and the trucks
and the babies.

Today, it's becoming a reality! We arrived at a Flying J truck
stop in Tulsa, Oklahoma, last night, hoping to grab a shower
and get back on our way. And we're still here, along with all the
truckers also planning on heading south.

The national weather service have put out tornado warnings
for the whole of Oklahoma, with golf ball sized hail stones being
reported across the state. There've been a bunch of deaths from
tornados this last week so we figured we'd play it safe.

If the truck drivers are staying put, then so are we! It kind of
sucks though, if we weren't in our stupid RV we'd drive closer,
but a nice lady truck driver warned us we'd be sure to tip over
in the 80mph winds. God.

The only thing that could make this situation better is if the
tornado sucked up a hundred armadillos and rained them down
on our RV.

It's given us chance to get showered, do our laundry and plan
out our route. Which is a bonus, I guess, but I sure was looking
forward to visiting a shoe tree today!

Did you know, in Twister, they make the sound of a tornado by
slowing down a recording of a camel moaning.

FACT!

Save Ferris

Today has been one of my favourite days so far, probably
because we spent almost the entirety of it on Route 66
rather than the interstate.

We made our first stop Carthage, Missouri. We wandered
around the town square, made up of antique and bric-a-brac
shops, packed full of dusty remnants of America-gone-by.
Then we headed for Carthage's historic Route 66 drive-in
theatre, which was wicked!

We stopped in a couple more towns, including Webb City,
where we found ourselves right in the midst of their annual
Spring Carnival!

We ate crappy food from burger stands and watched a local
barber shop quartet perform. The minature fairground was
probably the biggest event since 1861, when the town became
the location of the first battle of the Civil War.

We left Missouri for Kansas, following Route 66 through endless,
seemingly deserted towns. We passed the Rainbow Bridge, which
predates Route 66 and became part of the famous journey west.

There's armadillo roadkill all over the place. My emotions get
all mixed up when I see one. Excited or sad? I just don't know!

Route 66 took us through the South-Eastern corner of Kansas
before we found ourselves in Oklahoma. We pulled up in Afton
to take pictures of a now-derelict Rest Haven Motel, and went
into a weird mostly-empty grocery store where we were presented
with an autograph book to sign. Foreigners are apparently a novelty
in this town. And, likewise, this town was a novelty to us.

A man walked in behind us, holding some kind of metal torture
contraption in his hands.

"You wanna buy a meat grinder?"

Will kindly declined, and asked him why he had a meat
grinder anyway?

"I was gonna sell it to a guy" he informed us.

Well, I'm glad he cleared that one up.

We got out of freaksville before we were grinded to a pulp,
or worse, and headed for Foyil, where a man had single handedly
created a Totem Pole Park, within which lies the world's largest
totem pole. Much less freaky.

The race was then on to make it to Catoosa before the sun went
down; we had a whale to ride!

I'm not entirely sure why there's a gigantic blue whale in an
otherwise normal lake by the side of the highway in this town,
but there is.

In days gone by, the whale was a well-known rest stop for
travellers, who can walk into the whales mouth and dive off it's
tail into the lake. The whale was one of my absolute favourite
things so far.

I loved it!

Gettin' our Kicks...

Yesterday we had our first taste of Route 66! We stopped
at a themed diner in Dwight, Illinois, and I got all excited at
the Route 66 chairs, and the signs, and the tack... the beautiful
tack.

After freezing our asses off for about a month, the weather
suddenly turned HOT. Like, boiling hot. It hit 30 degrees
and our RV transformed from icy tomb to sauna overnight.
Gone were the layers, the wolf jumpers and the gloves.

It was crazy how quickly it happened. I've no idea if the
temperature did a u-turn, or if driving 100 miles south put
us in a different weather system? That probaby sounds stupid,
but it was damn hot, okay.

We headed for Springfield, Illinois. Abraham Lincoln's
hometown. We stumbled upon his tomb, and found ourselves
surrounded by a bunch of kids on a school trip. They asked a
tonne of interesting questions, and I learnt a bunch of stuff I
never knew! I forgot it all now though.

We spent the night at Beaver Dam state park, watching the sun
go down over a lake. It sounds romantic, but really we were just
waiting for it to go dark so we could steal some firewood.

That's a $5000 fine right there.

So today we carried on driving, hitting St. Louis, Missouri sometime
this afternoon. We pulled up by the Gateway Arch on the banks of
the Mississippi.

The arch dominates St. Louis' skyline, making it my favourite one
so far! It's known as the Gateway to the West, which I like a lot.
It's the tallest monument in the US, which is kind of difficult to
photograph when you're stood right under it. Still, it was well
impressive and I'm super glad it was sunny!

So tonight we're staying at a Walmart, with a record number
of other RVers, and in the morning we're headed out of
Missouri on Route 66.

Chicago

We have spent the last 3 days in Chicago.

The windy city. Or more precisely the rainy city.

We arrived on Monday afternoon, pulling into a Walmart
in a dodgy area a little way out of the city center.

We got straight on with our mission to sell the
RV (mission impossible).

We headed to Panera Bread, who offer free WiFi and have
been our saviour in recent weeks.

Craigslist and Ebay both hate us, apparently, and our adverts
on each got removed within hours.

Ebay thought someone had hacked my account, so I had a
lovely chat with Jasper, an online help person. Jasper got
pissy when I asked if he had ever been in love. But he
unlocked my account for me, which is more than I can
say for the bright sparks who work for Craigslist.

Anyway, after another day trying and failing to advertise
our RV properly, we needed a break. So yesterday evening
we battled the rain and Chicago's erratic public transport
system, and settled ourselves down in a pub where every
fourth drink was FREE!

We sat at the bar and watched that quiz-show-in-a-taxi
programme with the staff, who let us order takeaway in
and never once let us down in the 4th free drink department.

We listened in to some old professor-types having the best
discussion ever on topics they knew nothing about, but who
threw incredible words into the conversation to sound
exceedingly clever. Like, not even relevent words. Nor in
a sentence. It was amazing.

We found a bus and headed home. When I say home, I
mean Walmart.

This morning, it turns out we had been ticketed by the
cops!

A $50 fine for selling a vehicle on commercial property,
or something. Which I guess is techinically true, but how
were they to know we weren't just shopping in Walmart!?

So we went down to the police station and I gave them hell.
Well, I asked nicely, and they found us 'not guilty' and
scrapped our fine. Hurrah.

Then we went to Lincoln Park Zoo, which is a little north of
downtown. The best thing about the zoo is that it was free.
The second best thing was the sand cats. Then the naked
mole rats, then the aardvark, who was curled up in a barrel.

We headed back on the subway via Old Town, where we
stopped at a restaurant and had 16 chicken wings for 35
cents each.

I quite liked Chicago, even though we didn't see as much
of it as we should have.

This afternoon, giving up on Craigslist, we decided to leave
Chicago and head back to LA, which was always plan B anyway.

So this evening we headed out of the city, figuring we needed
to make good time if we wanted to have long enough in LA to
sell the van.

We're spending tonight at a truck stop about 50 miles south west
of Chicago, and tomorrow we'll join up with Route 66 and begin
the journey West!

Cursed RV for Sale

Alleged 1990 Fleetwood Flair motorhome, although we
firmly believe it may be a bronze age prototype.

120,000 miles on the clock. FACT. The black fellow we
bought it from was adamant about this.

Length: Undetermined. Although a nice man, with what
he thought was a dingo, but was actually just a dog,
instructed us it was 26 feet. Personally, we believe it's
roughly the length of two medium sized cars.

Feel free to bring a tape measure or a pedometer.

Slight damage to rear. It's probably not worth getting
this fixed. You'd only be throwing money down the drain.

It does go!

Miles to the gallon: Unsure, although it has almost
bankrupted us.

Can reach 0 to 60 in three minutes (when going downhill).

We have never needed to do an oil change or check the tyre
pressure. We don't know how.

Really long, curly dipstick.

Two non-locking windows make ideal escape hatches, one
large and one small. Great family selling point!

Non-retractable step. Watch out for those curbs!!

Front door used to have a dead bolt.

Double battery, sometimes.

Pleasant breeze from unfixable gap in front door,
which provides respite from constant Woodstock-esque odour.

Sleeps six small people. Ideal for mobile nursery.

Carbon Monoxide alarm: Definitely working.

Paper plate holder.

Engine inaccessable from interior and exterior.
Perhaps there's a secret door?

Venetian blinds!

TV stand. TV not included.

Shower / Foot jaccuzi when holding tank overfills.

Generator needs attention.

Please buy this RV! We are an English couple who went on
holiday by mistake.

$8000 for quick sale.

Thoughts and stuff

So we're currently 9 weeks into our trip.

Over 5000 miles on the road.

23 States visited. Almost half!

I figured I'd write something different, seeing as the USA
roadtrip will be over before long, just as soon as we can
sell the rust bucket.

Then onto the next adventure!

In the past 12 months Will and I have each visited 10 countries.
15 different countries altogether. That's not bad going!

I'm writing them down because it makes us sound more interesting
than we really are; thailand, malaysia, vietnam, australia, china,
new zealand, mongolia, indonesia, russia, hong kong, germany,
singapore, america, canada, and of course england.

We've seen some pretty wicked things! Will climbed Anak Krakatau
and I climbed the Great Wall of China. He roadtripped through New
Zealand and I Trans-Mongolianed through Russia. Will spent
Chrismastime sunbathing on Australian beaches while I ate
roast chesnuts from Berlin Christmas markets.

And not forgetting Thailand! Thailand started it all, and maybe
Thailand is where we'll end up again. I sure hope so!

So our original plan for America started with the idea of driving
historic Route 66. Problem being, Will landed into LAX airport
and it would mean driving Route 66 the wrong way, ie. the
whole point of it is that it winds from East to West, Chicago
to Los Angeles.

So it was either drive it the wrong way, or do a massive
detour and do it the right way. Obviously, we chose the
most complicated option.

And so our plan became; drive the whole way around America,
via Canada, to Chicago, and drive back to LA the correct way.

This seemed like a super idea until we realised just how much
gas we used up. I mean a lot.

Then we started running out of time. Mainly because driving
across and up the USA is no walk in the park. There's lots to see.
But our paperwork also played a part. A massive part really, in
that it became the main undercurrent to our lives for a while.

We registered our RV in LA without considering that the pink slip,
our proof of ownership, would have to be mailed out to us, taking
somewhere between 2 and 4 weeks.

Now we didn't have 2 to 4 weeks to hang around waiting.

And, more importantly, we didn't have an address.

We knew Dana, Will M and Leon in LA by this point. Dana and
Will were both about to move house and Leon was going away
on his travels the day we moved out of his house. So we ended
up using Dana's friend Huw's address in San Diego as our
permanent address in America. A friend of a friend of a friend.

Great idea.

Huw, Dana later told us, is majorly unreliable. We'd hoped
to get the documents sent to us somewhere in America but
we ran out of time and contacts to get it sent to. So we figured
we'd get it sent to Will's friend Dave in Toronto.

That way, the mail would be waiting for us by the time we got
there and we could get back on our way. We hit Toronto on
bank holiday Friday, a week after Dana had posted our mail
on after receiving it from Huw.

No mail on Friday, Saturday or Monday. Nothing on Tuesday.
We managed to escape Toronto on Wednesday, pink slip in hand.

So now the plan is to sell it as soon as possible. Maybe fly out from
this side, or greyhound it back to the west coast. Hopefully we'll
sell it for a profit. We bought it for $3200. We've listed it for $8000.

This is ambitious at best, but we'll see what happens. We might end
up driving it all the way back to LA yet. God knows.

We need to be out of America by the 13th May. We have flights
back to England. I have no idea if we'll use them. We have a few
alternative plans.

Central America maybe. I fancy Belize. Maybe Panama.
I'd like to go back to Mexico, as long as we stay away from
the bad bits.

Plan B, the most likely, is that we head back to Thailand.
Teaching English remains an option, for me at least.

Going back to Chiang Mai is a possibilty, that way I get to
finish the TEFL I started for free. Plus Chiang Mai is
incredibly beautiful. Mountains and lakes and waterfalls
and you can go rafting and loads of fun stuff like that.
Plus the city is much cleaner, and calmer and safer than
Bangkok. It's probably our best option if we end up teaching.

But really, who knows...

Shipshewana

Yesterday we left Michigan, driving through Ohio and into
Indiana. We took the small roads; the interstate, although
useful for getting somewhere in a hurry, was beginning to give
me a headache. It ended up being one of my favourite drives.

The kind where you realise that, actually, the journey really
can be as good, if not better, than the destination.

We drove through Mennonite and Amish communities, old
fashioned looking towns where we had to slow down for
horse and carriages. We stopped a couple of times, wandering
around in the sunshine. The towns were like nothing I'd seen
before.

Stopping in Shipshewana and LaGrange, small agricultural
towns, we got excited everytime a horse and cart clattered
past, catching a glimpse of an Amish family in their traditional
clothing. Schoolgirls with headscarfs peddled past us on bicycles
and we saw Amish families playing volleyball in their gardens!

I dunno, it was just kinda cool. Interesting, something different.

I hear they like bowling.

Escape from Canada

Our paperwork finally came through yesterday!! Massive relief.
We collected it from Dave and, within an hour, were back on the
road headed south out of Toronto.

We drove to a little Canadian town called Rockport or Rockwell
or something, eating out at a restaurant because the chef used
to be a military chef and had apparently cooked for a bunch of
royalty. We figured we hadn't eaten any decent food for a while,
and this was bound to be good.

It was mediocre at best, but the restaurant was kinda cute and
there was an old lady with a goose jumper almost the same as
mine. I suppose I shouldn't boast about that.

We were desperate for an electricity hook up and a dump station,
so we headed for a campsite called Nor-Halton Park, which was
allegedly open all year round.

This ended up being the scariest experience of my life; I'm fairly
sure we'd walked right into some kind of post-annihilation
situation. Either that or a very localised holocaust.

We circled the entire park, looking for signs of life, of which
there were none. Most of the campsites were taken. There
were campervans and RV's, all plugged into the electricity,
but their residents were nowhere to be found. Children's bikes
lay abandoned by the side of the road. The swings sat solitary,
the seesaw broken. The toilet block was open but the lights did
not work.

We considered leaving. Finding another place. But our gypsy-like
ways took over; here was a free nights stay, free electricity!
Murder was a risk we were prepared to take.

We parked up and decided to explore on foot; walking around
that campsite was like stepping into a low budget horror film.
We saw smoke through the trees and heard snapping wood. A
mans shadow appeared in the woods, tending a campfire. No
doubt cooking the previous night's holiday makers.

He was the single only person we saw. I don't think he saw us,
and it's fairly likely we would have been his next victims if he had.

We drove out of creepsville and decided to cross the border back
into the USA. After a thorough search of our van, and after Will
got told off for putting his hands in his pockets (the cops take things
"very seriously" over here), we were allowed back into the country.
Phew.

We bypassed Detroit and found another Michigan town to spend
tonight. Now we're back in the USA, we can start attempting to
sell the RV!

Toronto

So we are still stuck in Toronto, doing a fat bunch of not a lot.
After Will got better on Friday, I started to come down with
the same thing. So it wasn't the Vietnamese food, it was a bug.
I wasn't as bad as him, although I still felt majorly dodgy up
until yesterday.

Friday and today have been bank holidays. Thus no post.
Thus no paperwork. We're hoping it'll come tomorrow. If
it doesn't come soon, we'll be in big trouble.

We're well and truly sick of waiting.

We met up with Dave for lunch today, he took us out
for Chinese food. After, Will and I wandered around
some wicked little shops, although it was all a bit hippy.

Other things we did. Umm. Oh, on Saturday we found a
public baths to have showers. Which turned out to be free.
So Will and I said, right, see you in half an hour, and went
into our respective rooms. Only, when I got into mine, it was
literally PUBLIC BATHS. Now I'm not exactly a prude. But
everyone was, obviously, in bikinis and swimming costumes
and there were CHILDREN. I wasn't about to get naked!

It might even be illegal! I needed by bikini. So, 25 seconds
after walking in, I walked back out again. I figured Will would
do the same once he realised there were no cubicles. So I went
and waited outside in the COLD for him to come back out.
Which he finally did, 40 minutes later, clean and showered.

Needless to say, he was not at all happy with my new found
prudish nature. We had to walk all the way back to the RV
for my bikini. I will not be forgetting that next time we use
public baths for showers.

Yesterday we did our laundry and got talking to a bunch of
different people, all interested in our story after seeing our
Californian registration plate.

One man thought his dog was a dingo. A bunch of trendy
art-gallery boys invited us in for showers. Then they invited
us to a party next weekend. Hopefully we won't be in this city
by then!

Initially, we though Toronto was full of crazys. We've never
attracted so much attention from people just walking past us.
But it turns out everyone is just real friendly.

I like Toronto a lot, and it's a real shame we can't be here
under different circumstances. ie. wanting to be here.

Everyone rides around on bikes, and the parks are full of
people playing football. I could live here, if it wasn't so damned
cold.

Into Canada

Yesterday afternoon we crossed the border into Canada!
We spent another night in the Walmart, assisstant manager
Ed hooked us back up to their electricity when the manager
left at 11pm. Amazing.

The border crossing was simple, they didn't even search the
RV and they gave us 6 months, which I guess kind of made us
wonder why the hell we were planning on heading back into
America after a week.

We parked up just across the border to take some pictures of
Niagara Falls minus a snow blizzard. The sky was a bit bluer
and the view was tonnes better from this side. I bet America
is kinda peeved about that.

I figured the Canada side would be generally nicer and less
commercial. It isn't at all, the whole area is dedicated to tourism.
We decided to push on for Toronto, figuring the quicker we got
there the better.

We pulled into a Walmart pretty much right in the center of
Toronto off Bloor St West. I didn't enjoy driving through Toronto
at all, and by the time we pulled into Walmart I was adamant I
wasn't doing another mile in that beast til morning.

Of course, there were big fat signs warning us overnight parking
was not allowed and violators would be towed. Urgh. So I drove
another mile in the beast and we parked up on a busy street, and
headed across the road for Vietnamese food. We got a pretty crap
nights sleep, punctuated by alcohol fueled knock-a-motorhome-door
run and the vibrations of the streetcars rattling by.

Our plan for today was to meet up with Dave, perhaps collect
our paperwork and explore Toronto. However, Will is super
poorly today. We're blaming the Vietnamese food, although I
feel okay. We haven't been able to do much of anything today
other than charge our laptops up in a cafe, and make Will watch
me eat yummy Thai food. Stupid Toronto.

Niagara Falls

Right now we're in the town of Niagara Falls, New York.
It's a weird little place. Not at all the kind of town you'd
expect to find one of America's most famous tourist
attractions, not to be mention an international border
crossing. It's a bit of a ghost town; everything seems
closed down and boarded up. Maybe it's a seasonal thing,
and everyone comes out of hibernation in the summer. I
dunno.

Driving in yesterday, we found ourselves in the middle
of a snow blizzard at about the same time I realised my
windscreen wipers are a bit shit. I followed the headlights
in front of me whilst Will gave directions. It was like a game.
A pretty bad one, admittedly, after the accident we narrowly
avoided on the way here.

A lorry infront of us dropped a chunk of metal onto the
interstate; the car directly in front and the car beside us
hit it, shredding their tyres. One span across the road in
front of us, ending up facing the wrong way; the other I
narrowly missed as it skidded onto the hardshoulder, feet
in front of us.

We pulled up and checked everyone was okay, and then
chuffed off on our merry way.

So anyway, Niagara Falls. We slept in a Walmart last night.
The nice assistant manager, Ed, let us plug the RV in to
their electricity overnight, to save us from waking up
dead in our icicled metal tomb.

Needless to say, we both slept terribly on account we
were too hot, and ended up sleeping in until midday;
one 7am peek outside assured us we were going nowhere
for a while. By about 1, the roads had been cleared and
we decided to head for the falls, hoping to get some pictures
of Niagara Falls in the snow, which I guess isn't what the
usual tourists get to see. There is a reason for that.

The 7 mile drive from Walmart to Niagara Falls was a bit
confusing. It was like, okay I know they're close, but there
must be something between this dirty little town and those
beautiful falls. Some trees, a park, even a nice field would
separate them from the Indian restaurants, the Holiday
Inn and the plastic bagged trees.

It's just such a contrast. And the contrast is so great that
it just made it all a bit crap. The Falls that you see on
postcards and in films looked nothing like the ones I saw.
It all looked a bit industrial. The view over into Canada
wasn't pretty either. The grey sky can't have helped,
but the whole thing made me feel a bit sad.

I'm a fan of waterfalls. I mean not in a weird way, I
just think they're pretty. And I've seen a bunch of pretty
waterfalls, in Thailand and Malaysia and even England.
And for waterfalls, these guys were pretty damn impressive.
But what's to admire when a country capitalises them to
destrustion.

Mainly though, I was bothered by the cold and wanted a
cup of tea. I did get a nice new pair of gloves though, and
tried to coax a black squirrel to be my new pet with a bit
of tree. No such luck.


So all our photos of today are a bit rubbish. Hopefully
we'll get some better snaps from the Canada side tomorrow!

In other news, I had a horrific dream that I invited Will over
for Christmas at my house. He presented each member of
my family with a 'love fern' and proceded to make a speech
about how, despite our 'ups and downs', him and I were
worth more to each other. He thought this would go down a
storm, but my dad simply asked him to leave and I had to
chase him barefoot down the road.

I've warned Will that, should he ever be invited over for
Christmas, to please leave the love ferns at home and give
the speech a miss.

Northampton

On Thursday, after sleeping off our hangovers, Will
and I spent a couple more hours in downtown Boston.
I bought more clothes I don't need and which I
definitely won't be able to fit back in my bag when it's
time to pack up the van, which is becoming closer, and
more welcome, by the day.

Will wanted to visit some tacky replica of the Boston Tea
Party ship, but there had been a fire in the gift shop and
they'd closed the whole thing down. Shucks.

In the afternoon, we drove west to Northampton to meet
up with Will Morgan, Will's friend from LA, who was in MA
for work. We parked up in a Walmart and then Will came
over to take us out for burritos and pink lemonade.

On Friday, desperate for showers but lacking means, Will and
I got $10 haircuts, which at least solved 30% of my cleanliness
issues.

The three of us spent the rest of the afternoon playing pool,
eating chicken and drinking beer in a bunch of bars. Northampton
was a wicked little place, even if it is 'Lesbianville USA'.

Not my words; The National Enquirer's.

Anyway, we had a real good night with Will Morgan, maybe
because was our first outside stimulus for several weeks!
I even trusted him with my garlic plant I started growing.
Although I fear his heart may not be in it!

This morning Will M picked us up and took us back to his
house, or his ex Sarah's house, for showers. Sarah's
bathroom was the nicest smelling place I've ever had
the pleasure of being naked in. She had one of those
fragrance candles, and the excitement I felt at this smell
made me realise how much of a tramp I have become.

Smelling nice, we went for bagels before saying bye to Will
and leaving Massachusetts for New York state once again.

Driving through snow and battling the wind, we drove through
the capital, Albany, and pulled up at a truck stop off the interstate.

We're currently sat in the cafe using the free wireless that all
New York rest stops appear to have; I imagine this is somehow
meant to justify the endless tolls in this state.

Sleepy Hollow to Boston

We spent roughly 3 hours in Sleepy Hollow,
looking for tourist sites which apparently do
not exist. Nevertheless, we saw the Old Dutch
Church from which, legend has it, the Headless
Horseman begins his nightly ride. We didn't get
to meet him, but we did visit Washington Irving's
headstone and wandered round the extensive and,
oddly, beautiful graveyard.

Sleepy Hollow is a cute little town; if a too sleepy.
It also seemed to be weirdly populated by Mexicans.
We soaked up the last of the days sunshine before
driving out of New York state, through Rhode Island
and on into Connecticut.

We stayed at an RV camp called Strawberry Park last
night. We needed showers and the RV's battery needed
a recharge, so we thought the $30 nights fee was worth it.
Arriving long after sunset, we saw no sign of life as we
drove around the huge complex; not even another RVer.
Strange, for what was supposedly one of America's top
RV parks.

It was a total ghost town, save for Simply Red's Mick
Hucknall, who Will bizzarrely tried to convince me he'd
just met in the toilets. April fools day for mentalists.

This morning came without anyone approaching us for
any money. Well, if they weren't going to ask, we weren't
going to give.

We risked it by using the showers and the RV dump, and
I half expected to be chased down the road as we drove
away. That $30 is much better off in our pockets. Or
more specifically in our petrol tank, with the rest of
our money.

We made our escape, crossing the border into
Massachusetts without being caught by the camping police.

And so to Boston. We found somewhere to park in
Charlestown, on the 'good end' of a dodgy looking road,
and caught a bus into town. Hopping off next to a cobbled
square decorated with fairy lights, we wandered round
an indoor market, resisting the urge to buy tiny Boston
Red Sox clothes for my niece or nephew to be.

Finding a bar, we ordered clam chowder and regressed
back to the good old days, laughing and joking like we
were back on Koh Samui without a care in the world.
Will and I decided to have a drink or two, which turned
into eight and five, respectively.

$1.50 beers is something Will apparently cannot resist.

Karaoke night began, and we sipped, sniggered and
cheered our way through. Missing the last bus home,
we took a taxi back, ignoring the driver as he warned
us that we were parked in a bad area. We assured him
we'd be fine, we had pepper spray after all!

'Good... in a salad', he retorted.