Aug 6
Well, we are now 3218 miles from where we started in San Francisco. We left Amarillo yesterday morning at 10:30 am and checked into our hotel just outside St Louis at 02:00 am! What a journey!! About 600 miles were really simple, pleasant and easy; top down, sun shining, wonderful. Good for the soul with the wind in our hair, mine anyway. Sadly missed the Cadillac Ranch because it was about 20 miles west of where we stayed and we weren't going backwards. The upside was we took a short detour through part of Kansas and it was wonderful. So peaceful and beautiful, how you always imagine rural America to be. Our biggest surprise, I think, was Oklahoma. We should have done our homework more thoroughly because we both expected rolling plains of grain and we found the country to be gently rolling hills, lush grass and lots of trees. Stunning. So different from the desert lands further west. Beautifully kept homes and, so unlike the UK, the verges of the highways so well maintained. Tractors out mowing the grass, the smell was incredible. Mmmm, I love that smell....
Anyway around 7:30 pm the sky started to darken, the clouds began to turn orange - looking somewhat like a fantastic sunset. We decided to stop and put the top up and it was the best decision of the day........
Directly in front of us the clouds began to flash with the odd streak of very bright forked lightning. Lit the whole sky, then the odd drop of rain splashing on the windscreen. What's the problem I hear you all ask. At that point none. 20 minutes later however it was a completely different story. The heavens opened and rain like I have seldom experienced came down in torrents. The wipers could not cope and we pulled off the road and thoughts of the Bates Motel come to mind. The road turned into a dirt track, trees everywhere and no lights from the houses. We stopped briefly but then pulled back onto the slip road and waited there for the rain to ease with 3 other cars. Rain duly eases, thunder still crashing and lightning flashing so frequently it looked like a light show for some video or stage show. A mile further down the road the rain became so hard we were doing just 10 miles an hour on the freeway. Fortunately, a rest stop was indicated and along with about 30 trucks and cars we pulled in whilst the biggest storm we have ever witnessed took place and lasted for about an hour!! David took some great time delayed shots of the lightning, but we couldn't video it because the camera shutter has broken.
Once the rain stopped we pressed on for St Louis.
With apologies to all our American friends we did not stop in St Louis. It is the scariest place I have ever been. We pulled off the freeway following the signs for a hotel and they completely disappeared. The whole area was derelict and whilst it was by now 01:00 am there was not a single normal car or person around. There were lots of police cars and, something I have never before seen over here, a police van! We eventually found the hotels after driving round in circles, the poor sat nav was going berserk. If she had been a real woman she would have been screaming like a banshee by now! We decided to programme it for Glastonbury and head out of the city. We did find a hotel in Highland, Illinois and fell into bed at 03:00 am. Dinner was a sandwich and coffee courtesy of your local, friendly garage. We did see the Gateway Arch lit up as some sort of compensation though.
Today has been much better. We stopped at an enormous Wal-Mart and bought a new video camera, so I'm off for a swim in the pool of the nice hotel we found whilst David plays with his new toy. B&Q in our Glastonbury would fit into it about 10 times! Tomorrow the journey continues and we are having great fun here. This experience is worth the odd fright or two, oops David I really didn't mean you.
Well, we are now 3218 miles from where we started in San Francisco. We left Amarillo yesterday morning at 10:30 am and checked into our hotel just outside St Louis at 02:00 am! What a journey!! About 600 miles were really simple, pleasant and easy; top down, sun shining, wonderful. Good for the soul with the wind in our hair, mine anyway. Sadly missed the Cadillac Ranch because it was about 20 miles west of where we stayed and we weren't going backwards. The upside was we took a short detour through part of Kansas and it was wonderful. So peaceful and beautiful, how you always imagine rural America to be. Our biggest surprise, I think, was Oklahoma. We should have done our homework more thoroughly because we both expected rolling plains of grain and we found the country to be gently rolling hills, lush grass and lots of trees. Stunning. So different from the desert lands further west. Beautifully kept homes and, so unlike the UK, the verges of the highways so well maintained. Tractors out mowing the grass, the smell was incredible. Mmmm, I love that smell....
Anyway around 7:30 pm the sky started to darken, the clouds began to turn orange - looking somewhat like a fantastic sunset. We decided to stop and put the top up and it was the best decision of the day........
Directly in front of us the clouds began to flash with the odd streak of very bright forked lightning. Lit the whole sky, then the odd drop of rain splashing on the windscreen. What's the problem I hear you all ask. At that point none. 20 minutes later however it was a completely different story. The heavens opened and rain like I have seldom experienced came down in torrents. The wipers could not cope and we pulled off the road and thoughts of the Bates Motel come to mind. The road turned into a dirt track, trees everywhere and no lights from the houses. We stopped briefly but then pulled back onto the slip road and waited there for the rain to ease with 3 other cars. Rain duly eases, thunder still crashing and lightning flashing so frequently it looked like a light show for some video or stage show. A mile further down the road the rain became so hard we were doing just 10 miles an hour on the freeway. Fortunately, a rest stop was indicated and along with about 30 trucks and cars we pulled in whilst the biggest storm we have ever witnessed took place and lasted for about an hour!! David took some great time delayed shots of the lightning, but we couldn't video it because the camera shutter has broken.
Once the rain stopped we pressed on for St Louis.
With apologies to all our American friends we did not stop in St Louis. It is the scariest place I have ever been. We pulled off the freeway following the signs for a hotel and they completely disappeared. The whole area was derelict and whilst it was by now 01:00 am there was not a single normal car or person around. There were lots of police cars and, something I have never before seen over here, a police van! We eventually found the hotels after driving round in circles, the poor sat nav was going berserk. If she had been a real woman she would have been screaming like a banshee by now! We decided to programme it for Glastonbury and head out of the city. We did find a hotel in Highland, Illinois and fell into bed at 03:00 am. Dinner was a sandwich and coffee courtesy of your local, friendly garage. We did see the Gateway Arch lit up as some sort of compensation though.
Today has been much better. We stopped at an enormous Wal-Mart and bought a new video camera, so I'm off for a swim in the pool of the nice hotel we found whilst David plays with his new toy. B&Q in our Glastonbury would fit into it about 10 times! Tomorrow the journey continues and we are having great fun here. This experience is worth the odd fright or two, oops David I really didn't mean you.
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