Alan’s Coach Driver

Well went out for a first ride on my bike for over a month is morning. Met up with Ian and a very easy 20 mile ride through some Kent villages ending up at a pub in Sissinghurst. Spent a few hours here waiting for the tour to come through and then it was all over in a matter of seconds when the first 4 came through and then 5 minutes later the main peloton flew past.

Nice day though and lots and lots of people out there to watch the race. Pressed the wrong button on this little clip so it’s a bit quick !!

A little bit late for this update but I had so much to see and no Internet access so am now writing this having arrived back home.

Well, I had 4 nights here and saw a lot of things but there was still a lot I didn’t get to see. Being the capital there is obviously a lot of tourist places here and also lots and lots of people.

Went to look at the major places such as The State Capitol, White House, Washington Monument and the Lincoln memorial.

You can’t go round all of these because of security and the others always have very long queues. So lots and lots of walking and also visited some of the museums there. The Air and Space museum was especially good.

On the 4th July I started out by visiting Arlington Cemetery where there are 300,00 graves of US Servicemen and also where JFK is buried. Having seen this and also the memorials for WW2, Korea and Vietnam is really brings home the enormity of all the terrible wars.

Later in the day I ended up getting Shepperd into the Holocaust museum to shelter from a potential tornado heading our way and the police cleared everybody. Eventually got out and then watched the 20 minute firework display although I think the one in London on News Year Eve was much better.

It was a really enjoyable visit here and I would recommend it to anybody but maybe either late Spring or late Summer when it’s a little cooler and maybe a few less people about. And be prepaid to walk miles and miles and miles

Well, watched the last of my 4 motor races last night at Richmond International Speedway. Had a pit pass this time and also a paddock zone pass so got to see more of the cars and also some interviews with some of the drivers.

This race took place in the evening under the lights and as won again by Dario Francitti.

So just packing my bags for the drive up to Washington DC and then dropping the car off. Then I have a final few days in the capital before I head home.

Well, I didn’t know anything about this place before arriving here but I do now. It’s was right at the centre of The American Civil War and was the Capital City of The Confederate United States. There are many things to see here and I’m now fully aware of all things related to The Civil War.

Plenty to visit downtown and also on small drives as well as there are many battlegrounds around the state.

The picture is of The Virginia Capitol and apparently the Queen was here earlier in the year to mark some celebrations nearby at Jamestown the first permanent English settlement 400 years ago.

So, after arriving at Richmond airport I headed for the AVIS counter and picked up my new hire car. Surely it was going to be better than the Chevy Cobalt !

But no, I was given a Chrysler PT Cruiser. It looks like a Hearse, has the speed of a hearse, weighs about 5 tonnes, turns like the Queen Mary 2 and looks embarrassing.

People actually buy these things ??

Thankfully I only have it until Sunday afternoon.

Apparently this city is known as the City of Fountains and has more fountains than any other city apart form Rome. There is one area known as the Plaza which is very close to where I am staying that has a lot of them. This is a shopping and eating area which has many exclusive shops and good restaurants. It certainly is one of the nicer places I’ve come across during the last few weeks.

Downtown there isn’t that much to see, much like many of the other cities I’ve found myself in. However, I did visit an old steamboat museum which was interesting and also looked around another rail station. Then I came across the Liberty Memorial. I wish I had known about this earlier as it contained a new museum all about World War One. It’s very new and doesn’t seem to appear on any tourist information and the only bit I did find was very out of date. So I only got just over an hour here before it shut but could have spent half a day in there. Real shame I didn’t get more time there.

So up in the morning for a flight to Richmond, Virginia via Atlanta for the last motor race that I’ll be watching.

Having had a few cars with cruise control I’ve always wondered why. You just don’t get to use it in the UK. Well now I know. I’ve driven about 1,300 miles in the last 10 days or so and most of them have been on very straight roads at the same speed all the time.

Some of the most boring driving I’ve ever done. These roads are made for cruise control. The only ¨interesting¨ time was driving through the thunderstorm a few days ago and being overtaken by trucks doing 70 leaving so much spray that you couldn’t see.

So after the race rather than spend another night in Newton I drove about 35 miles West to Des Moines. This is a city which they aren’t really sure why it’s called Des Moines and to be honest after being here I wonder why it’s here at all !

OK, so it was a Sunday late afternoon but the place was deserted. Went for a walk to have a look round and every building seemed to a government, police, sheriff, jail of some sorts ! The only interesting building was the Iowa State Capitol.

Eventually found some people and had dinner in a micro brewery which was quite nice. Not quite sure about the raspberry beer that I had a pint of though !

Still couldn’t find much the next morning either and even on a Monday morning it was still deserted so jumped in the car and drove 200 miles South to Kansas City, Missouri. Now this is almost the very center of the US and it’s where I have given the car back after about 1,300 miles. So a day and a bit here now and the weather is back to normal with temperatures back up to 95.

So I had come along to the middle of Iowa to watch an Indy Car Race. This is the 1st time the Indy Cars had come to Iowa and I heard millions of times for three days that this was the biggest thing ever to hit Iowa and how proud they were that there corn was used to power these ethanol fuelled cars. Talk about milking it.

Drove through a major thunderstorm to get here which wasn’t much fun and then on the second day the racing was cut short as it started to rain again. This time there was a tornado about 25 miles away which thankfully kept that distance. Still some impressive lightning though !

So the race came and went and there were about 40,000 or so there to see it. Quite a few crashes on this tight oval track but unfortunately it was the English driver Dan Wheldon who crashed on the 2nd corner of the 1st lap. As each lap takes about 17 seconds his race wasn’t that long ! He did get out again later but over 100 laps down !

It was won by the Scot Dario Francitti who also won the Indy 500 this year.

Not much else to say about Newton and Iowa. Just lots of farmland and lots of farmland !!

So after leaving Louisville I popped into the home of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs. Horse Racing isn’t really my thing but as I was here I thought I would go along. It was quite a good little tour and it looks like it is quite some event each May.

So then into my little Chevy and a 250 mile drive West to St. Louis

Got there late afternoon but got an hour back as I’m heading further West now. So straight off to the city’s famous landmark of the Gateway Arch. Went to the top in the strangest ‘tram’ I’ve been in. You get in a little pod which they squeeze 5 people in which then takes 3 minutes to rise up the 650 feet to the top. Feels like being on a ferris wheel and defintely not for you if you are at all claustrophobic. When they built this in the mid sixties then defintely did not think too much about tourism. When you get to the top there are just a bout 12 tiny windows about 6 inches high to look out of and about 80 people in a space that can probably hold about 40 all trying to so ar the same time !

The city was really busy and I had a tough time getting a hotel room. Mainly due to a Christian convention being held but there was also a St Louis Cardinals baseball game that night as well. It was sold out but if you’d been there Steve I would have gone and bought some tickets from the ‘Scalpers’. So got something to eat and drink and watched some of the game in some bars near by. Was so glad I did as it was a marathon lasting 5 1/2 hours and finishing in the 14th innnings at nearly 1am !!! Even better was that I had a couple of beers in a Hooters bar. Can’t beleive I’ve never been in one of these before despite having been to the US 7 or 8 times now.

Anyway, up early after a bad nights sleep in a bad hotel and looked around the city some more.

Walked up to the The Union Station which was once a major terminus for travelling across America. Trains stopped running in 1978 and it’s been chnaged into a hotel and shopping complex and small museum now.

Anyway, onwards as I’ve now got a near 400 mile drive North West to Newton, Iowa.