Made it to Atlanta ...

Well I'm technically in Marietta but its basically part of Atlanta or something like that. But moving on, the drive was actually really fun. There was a ton of traffic all the way but with highways ranging from 2 -6 lanes it never felt busy well until I got to the edge of Atlanta itself and took a wrong turn and had Gertrude yelling at me re-calculating and then she crashed and left me to my own devices. But I got to my motel safe and in time to see a cop and a prostitute go into a room near me, yay cheap motels.

I was going to take a picture of the sign that said 'Welcome to Georgia' but I missed it . Well I did see it but it was that small I only clicked what it was about a mile down the road. I guess the Americas aren't that big on the state lines crossing as I am.

Georgia have got to be the billboard capital of the world I mean oh my giddy aunt there is hundreds down the sides of the motorway. From the afar they almost look like high rise building sitting above the tree line but no its just advertising. It has the same effect as when you open on of those special websites and about 4000 pop ups cover your screen. You know amongst them there is somewhere info you can use but f**ked if you know where.

I also still haven't really figured out what the guidelines are on when you will get a ticket for speeding. As I was going 75mph in a 70m zone and a cop over took me, a few cops also over took people going faster then me at different stages of my journey. The cops also tailgated people that was going to slow for their liking. It seems that if I go the speed limit I get tailgated if i go 5m over the limit they over take me and if I go 10m over the limit they tailgate me again. The worst tailgater I have had was after the sun had set and I couldn't see his lights. So if anyone every complain about my driving again they should come to America.

Tomorrows Journey

Well tomorrow I will be heading to Nashville to see if I can find Miley failing that I will go to the Parthenon. For those playing at home the Parthenon in Nashville is a life size replica of the Parthenon in Athens (Athena's Temple) which I have had the privilege of visiting. It however is a pile of rock as most ancient Greek things are. I will finish the day with staying in another top notch establishment in St Louis.


So two states can now be ticked of ...

* Florida
* Georgia


Till later peeps

Atlanta here I come...

So my time on Dulcinea is almost at a end I'm just sitting in the cockpit (because its to bloody hot downstairs with all the portholes shut) writing this while she pees her little tanks dry and my god do I need a loo now too.

But yes my time in Florida is almost up and by tonight I will be in Atlanta city. Which will mean I can mark 2 states of my list of about 14 states. To be honest I'm kinda scared to do this massive drive all by myself, I cant call my dad if the car breaks down. But hey what doesnt kill you only makes you stronger or weaker so the next thing can kill you. So the car is packed, Gary is in the front seat and Gertrude is poltting the route.

Oh yay the water tanks are empty so I guess till later peeps

Pre-Road Trip Road Trip ...

So I thought to myself what better way to kill time before my road trip then with another road trip a 'Pre-Road Trip Road Trip' if you like. Since Bradenton and our beloved Twin Dolphin Marina was only about 4 hours drive away I thought it would be a good idea to drive there via the Everglades and come back the same day. It was all good in theory until Debbie started feeding me Adult Soda’s, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

So in the early hours of the morning at some ungodly time that I believe was 4:30am on Saturday the 28^th of May I got up. Not willingly nor happy about it but I did it as I had to take the Leddie-Crumps to the airport. Once I sat in the airport car park for 5 min having an argument with myself for getting up that early. I finally punched in the address of Twin Dolphin Marina into Gertrude and off we went, me, Gertrude yelling at me and Gary face diving of the seat every chance he got.

We finally made it to the Everglades it was pretty and kinda freaky. Because of the fact when you are driving down a road and you can see Alligators in the watering channels for the farmers. I tried taking a photo of the big once but they kept running away so I snapped tons of the little buggers instead. I also rescued two turtles of the road one was spinning on the spot thanks to some over-sized American tank speeding pass the poor creature.

I also saw my first road kill Everglade style it was a gator about 3m long (I guess that’s about 9 feet in backwards land) and was lying on its back on the side of the road with a squashed head. I was going to take a photo but didn’t think it would be safe to stop besides I don’t know if it was just playing dead. Since I don’t have a picture of it I thought I would just put up the picture Sam drew me of a Alligator. Isn't it just the cutest I love how it has teeth on its tail.

So I finally made it to Bradenton the hip little place it is. I loved the look on everyone’s face when they saw me. Ed’s was the best thou he walked pass me said hello and then a few feet down the path stopped and turned around and was like umm what you doing here. But once I did all the hey how are you and no we aren’t sailing anymore we like land more than water talk I went off to lunch with Debbie. This was followed with a visit to the family then dinner with Debbie and Ray and Breakfast with the family. It was sad leaving Bradenton again it really did feel like home and I will miss my adopted family a lot. Its sad to think I might not see them again for a very long time. But hey upwards and onwards tomorrow I start my trek across the US of Aye.

Party in the US of Aye

So for those playing at home you will be excused if you are confused with what is happening in regards to my travel/holiday plans. I am no longer doing the suicide mission of trying to sail a boat from Florida to New Zealand. For one reason or another we made the decision that it would be safer to fly home instead of rocking back and forwards all the way back too little old New Zealand (can read all about it here).

Saying all that I wouldn’t change anything about this adventure to date. I have had the opportunity to come visit a country that I never planned nor had the interest in visiting and in the process I have met some truly amazing people and see some truly amazing things (mmmm keylime pie).

So not wanting to head home without some sort of adventure I made the decision to take matters into my own hands. So I will be heading to Vancouver Canada to go play with the Orca’s. Any sane person would fly there and just go on a whale watching boat however I’m not any sane person. Instead I will be driving from North Palm Beach, Florida all the way across the United States of America to Seattle where I will catch a ferry to Victoria on Vancouver Island before I head to Vancouver and catch my plane home to New Zealand.

So I will pretty much cross 14 States in 6 days, leaving home base here in North Beach on the 31^st May.

The rough schedule for the trip is as follows …

31^st May – North Palm Beach to Atlanta
1^st June – Nashville to St Louis
2^nd June – St Louis to Kansas City (both*) to Lincoln (* yup they have two cities called the same thing next to each other just in different states)
3^rd June - Lincoln to Cheyenne
4^th June – Cheyenne to Salt Lake City
5^th June – Salt Lake City to Seattle
6^th June – Seattle to Victoria BC
7^th June – Victoria BC – Vancouver BC
10^th June – Vancouver to San Francisco to Auckland to Christchurch

Well as Miley Cyrus once said "...there is a party in the USA". So I think it’s only right for me and Gary to find this party, partake in it and then find Miley and tell her off for being a dirty hoe bag.