Catch Up

We lugged our bags across the New York subway system again to get to South Amboy where we were picked up from the station and taken to the rental office. After dumping our stuff in the back and having a good look around, I took the wheel for the first go. I had a bit of a play in the car park before hitting the big road. Being an automatic took a bit of getting used to and I still drive to the right hand side of the lane when I’m not concentrating because it’s so massive. I’ve driven tiny cars my whole life and then I’m in something double the size and to top it off I’m in America where they drive all wrong.

It’s actually fairly easy to get used to driving over here. I’ve only driven on the right side wrong but Andy soon reminded me and I pulled back onto the wrong side. I’ve also run a red light, but this was on purpose as you can turn right on red at junctions here. We also have cruise control which is good fun as well as really useful. It means you don’t have to have to constantly check your speed and your leg gets a rest from pushing the gas pedal for mile after mile.
When we finally stopped we spent the night in a Walmart car park. The first two we’ve been to were fantastic; they had no fresh fruit or veg at all. We parked up on the far side of the car park, pulled the curtains and climbed into our sleeping bags. The double mattress is fairly comfortable and I’d bought myself a pillow in Walmart. I’m slightly longer than the van is though so I touch both sides or have to curl up.

In Washington DC you are never more than three meters from bacon. We crashed the area when they were setting up for the Earth Day Rally but there was still a stage with some stuff going on and some groups had tents set up. We went to the NASA one and got a free bag along with a holographic bookmark, earth stress balls, gel hand wash and cookie cutters. They also sent us into space which was nice of them. When on our way to the Capitol Building we spied a line of Segways riding about and were hoping they ran tours on them but we didn’t see any stand or advertising for it so we did the whole thing on foot. Not surprisingly there weren’t any physical Geocaches anywhere but we did do a couple of victuals.

Another stint on the road in the dark brought us to another Walmart where we dropped off into a deep sleep. Most of the next day was spent driving through corridors of tall lush green trees of all vivid shades and varieties. I saw lots of trucks carrying logs and had to fight the urge to drive into them at full speed. On the subject of speed, the big roads vary in limit. Quite often it will be 55 or 60 mph but we did hit a couple of 70 mph stretches which seem really fast after going 60 for ages. We haven’t really hit any traffic yet so we’ve been quite lucky and we’re on schedule.

In the early evening we pulled over a huge bridge which we’ve seen many of and into Savannah. We stopped at the closed tourist information centre which was on the outskirts and crossed the road to a shop which windows boasted “Tourist Information, Souvenirs and T-Shirt Printing”. On walking in we were met with an odd look from a guy sitting on a chair painting a pair of trainers in a fairly empty shop. There were a couple of rails of t-shirts and a counter which had open stacks of blank cds on. We had a look at each other and made a swift exit. We were met by a similar look next door which turned out to be an off licence of some sort and again in the newsagents next to that. At that point I wasn’t holding out much hope for Savannah. We regrouped, drove into the centre and found somewhere to park. I even parallel parked the van. A walk around the area revealed that Savannah is actually unlike anything we’re likely see in the rest of America with it’s beautiful streets, riverfront and trees that look like they’ve been pulled from a fairy tale.

On returning to the car I spotted we were near some free wifi. We thought we could get a cache in before our next slog in the car but failed on two occasions. We decided to call it a day and hit the road again. Another drive through the dark and we were at another Walmart for the night.

J.