We arrived in Kentucky and our Sat Nav got us a bit lost trying to find Mikes sister Ro.

As we were looking for the correct house, we stopped to let a green pickup go past. But he just sat behind us. Weird we thought as he continued to follow us in our search for Ro.

We stopped again and this time Mike drove off the road for the guy in the green pickup to go past. He went past, then pulled into a driveway just ahead of us. We figured he must live there. So we continued on. He then pulled out of the driveway and continued to follow us. What a nutcase.

As we approached the crossroads, Mike pulled off the road completely and parked. And so did the green pickup. We didnt know what his problem was but it was a bit scary.

It was getting very weird by this stage so we crossed the road and pulled into the service station with plans to confront him if he followed us there.

As we pulled into the service station, Brother-in-law Larry spotted us and got out of the car to greet us. It was then that the green pickup finally pulled away and left us alone.

It was like being in one of those scary road trip movies where they pick on tourists.

We took a detour to Memphis to go and visit Elvis. We did a tour of Graceland, which was where Elvis used to live and it was really cool. Elvis had the place re-decorated in 1974 he has shagpile carpet on the ceiling and cool stuff like that.

Here are some piccys:

This is the jungle room with a waterfall and carpet on the ceiling

funky room which mirrors for the walls and ceiling, looks like a good design for Matts cellar I reckon.

We also had a look on his private planes.

dodgy people in the mirror

Today we drove through most of Arkansas (pronounced Arkansaw). I had my first encounter with a dry county. Dry means that they don’t sell any alcohol.

We kept on driving, keen to get this county behind us, and we somehow stumbled into another dry county. And this time it was too late as we had already booked accommodation!

I also had insisted on camping tonight and cooking our dinner and we somehow ended up in a suite with a Jacuzzi!

In America there is loads of choice and breakfast is a scary time for me. It goes something like this:

Me: I’ll have fried eggs and bacon please
Them: How would you like your eggs?
Me: well done please
Them: Sorry we don’t do well done
Me: um, not runny.
Them: blank stare
Me: cooked, not runny in the middle
Them: still staring blankly
Me: I dont want that yellow bit in the middle to be runny. Mike help me out here.
Mike: What is the choice?
Them: sunny side up, over easy, easy under, over well, over medium, over hard
Me: Its all too hard
Them: do you mean over hard?
Me: yep, sounds good
Them: What sort of toast?
Me: (oh dear, here we go again) what’s the choice?
Them: rye, sourdough, sweetdough, wholegrain, halfgrain, quartergrain, white, Brown, Red, Green, or Blue
Me: um, white please
Them: Drink?
Me: flat white please
Them: The choice is coffee or tea.
Me: hmmmm

Its all good fun.

Today we traversed some more of Kansas. We stopped in Hutchinson and went to the Cosmophere where they have some rockets, spy planes, spacesuits and Apollo 13 on display.

This history of the space race is interesting. The Russians were the first to launch fido into space. They had the first man in space. They had the first woman in space. During this time the US had a 39% success rate of firing their rockets into space (unmanned), and the next thing they are landing on the moon. Kinda makes the conspiracy theory seem quite feasible. That and the fact that JFK had to make his mark after failing to invade Cuba.

This, of course, is just the facts as we read them today.

We also did a detour to Wichita – “As Wichita falls… so falls Wichita Falls” but we couldnt find John, Billy Bob or the Falls.

Here are some piccys at the Cosmophere.

Rocket:

Spy Plane:

Cosmonaut gear:

Apollo 13 capsule:

We departed rainy Denver and headed east in search of some fine weather, with no plans of stopping until we found it. We were halfway across Kansas before the rain stopped!

We stopped at a visitor centre in Kansas that was offering free coffee and wireless internet. I asked if the internet was working and the guy just gave me a blank stare like I was speaking another language. So I asked again, slower this time. He still gave me the same blank stare. Not an “I beg your pardon” or anything. So I got Mike to translate. Somehow they understood him first time. Maybe I need to drawl it out a bit and roll my rrrr’s more.

We had decided to spend a couple fo days in the Rocky Mountain NP, but when we got up the top the road was closed due to snow. Snow in the middle of summer! So we turned around to fo back down and it started snowing. Well it was more like giant chunks of ice falling out of the sky. The outside temperature dropped to 39 F (4 C).

So we fast tracked it to Denver where it is also raining, cold and miserable. We shall continue driving now until we find nicer weather.

We left Moab and did a quick tour through the Arches NP. Then we did a diversion to National Monument. This was a windy scenic drive with sheer drops down to the valley below. It was a very impressive detour. We just couldnt capture the grandeur of this scenery on camera.

We camped the night just outside a small town called Cedaredge, Colorado. We were the only ones there and this seemed odd. Anyway, we set up camp, cooked a yummy pasta and drank a few coronas then stumbled into the tent. I awoke at 2am to the sound of animals sniffing around the tent. My immediate thought was bear. Mike said there were no bears here. Anyway I couldnt sleep so I got up and surfed the internet, scaring myself with all the bear attacks that had recently happened in Colorado.

Apparently the black bears are becoming agressive as they know humans have food. People are stupid by leaving their food out when camping and there have been a number of cases where bears have dragged people from their tents. They also like to scavenge in trash cans. Anyway, these stories were enough to scare me so I slept in the car. Not sure I will be able to camp again.

The scenery in America never fails to impress. They say Americans do things bigger and better than everyone else, and this seems to apply to the scenery also.

Here are some photos from the Canyonlands NP. The photos dont do the place justice.

And a sweet little chipmonk sheltering from the relentless sun:

We did a diversion to National Monument where the Navajo Indians live. This is where a lot of the westerns are filmed, John Wayne films and that. As I’ve never seen a John Wayne film in my life, it didnt mean much to me. The scenery was not stunning and wasnt really worth the diversion.

Here is a rock doing the finger as if to say, “Up yours paleface!”