A New Day A New Car

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.

Kansas City

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 It’s very new and doesn’t seem to appear on any tourist information and the only bit I did find was very out of date.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.

Cruise Control

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.

Des Moines

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.

Iowa Corn 250

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 !!

St. Louis

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.

So Why Alan’s Coach Driver

Well back in 1995 Steve Gritt had just left Charlton as joint manager leaving Alan Curbishley solely in charge. Charlton placed several adverts in the press for the position of First Team Coach.

On the 13th July I received a message from an old work colleague, Terry Hughes to check the fax machine. I did and then sat down in shock as to what I had just read.

Dear Sir,

I wish to apply for the job recently advertised in the press for ‘an experienced first team coach driver’.

I am widely experienced in the area of coach driving, having held my PSV licence for over twelve years. My licence is clean, though I did receive an endorsement for taking a Croydon Council double-decker bus under a low bridge at Purley. Luckily no-one was hurt. You probably saw me on the news. August 1992.

Driving is my second love, after supporting Charlton, and I can claim to know the country’s motorways like the ‘back of my head’. I have driven extensively across the country for company’s such as Group 4 and BR (obviously the BR job did not involve much road driving, well none actually). Other driving jobs have included Despatch rider (mountain bike), taxi driver and forklift truck operator (I have excellent reversing skills).

I can also guarantee my services will be available at atny time of day or night, suffering from acute insomnia as I do, and have for the past ten years, ever since the Falklands Crisis (which I was not a part of incidentally). In fact, I have slept only eight times since 1982. The last time being on the approach to a low bridge at Purley.

I’m sure you will agree I have excellent pedigree for the post and I look forward to hearing from you in the not too distant future.

Yours (with crossed fingers)

Mr Timothy (nice but dimothy ) Martin

Two weeks later I received a standard reply from the club but signed by Alan Curbishley.

Dear Mr Martin,

Thank you for applying for the vacant First Team Coach’s position at Charlton Athletic Football Club.

Firstly, I must apologise for the delay in replying to your application. This is due to the fact that when I was appointed Manager on 15 June, I immediately went on holiday for three weeks and I did not return to England until 9 July to start pre-season training on the 10th.

I am sorry to inform you that you have not made the short list for this position. However, I hope this does not deter you from applying for a coaching or a managing post with other clubs, and I hope it is not too long before an opportunity presents itself.

Once again, thank you for your interest in our Club, and I wish you all the best for the future.

Yours sincerely,

Alan Curbishley
Team Manager

I seem to remeber that only about 10 people had applied for the job and I was one of them. But now you know the reason behind the legend !

Louisville

So after Indy I have driven about 120 miles south to Louisville. Now this is where Muhammad Ali was born and also the home of the Kentucky Derby, and where they make the Louisville Slugger Baseball bats. It’s also where the Ryder Cup will be held next year.

Quite a nice neat little city and have enjoyed going round the Ali Centre, the Slugger Factory and a history museum which was really good and a handy place to be when a thunderstorm hit.

Not much else to do though so will leave in the morning for St Louis but I might stop at the Kentucky Derby Museum on the way.

Race Day

So Sunday has come and gone and another victory for Lewis Hamilton. The race wasn’t that exciting unfortunately but still enjoyed it a lot. Quite privileged to have seen both of his victories so far.

The clip here is of the cars leaving the grid for the parade lap. Check out the American in front of me trying to make himself heard with 2 air horns over 22 F1 cars… You make your own mind up…..

Stayed for a while after the race and got away quite a lot easier than for the Indy 500 last year. But even with TomTom telling me the way I still managed to miss the turnings twice and ended up in downtown Indy just like last year. Perhaps it’s because I have a woman’s voice on there and I just will not listen.

Indianapolis

Well, I’m here for the next F1 race.

Been to 2 practice days and some support races. It’s the race tomorrow and our new star Lewis Hamilton is once again on pole. So hoping for another win. The clip here is the start of the Indy Pro series support race. This is tame compared to the F1 cars.

It’s just about 100 degs all the time here and no hint of it changing. Got a very under powered Chevy Cobalt as my car for 10 days. Good job the speed limit is about 55 on most of the freeways….

Seems very quiet compared to Montreal and the Indy 500 last year when I was here with Steve and Ian. Just read that the F1 contract with Indy is up for renegotiation and it maybe at Vegas or New York in the future. Sounds like it could be a good idea but probably Bernie just trying to get even more money…