Visitors Arriving

Another big day. My legs and feet are wearing out.

Left motel and went back down town to sample some moonshine! Wasn't open yesterday cause it was Sunday and Simon wasn't leaving till we tried it. Phew, it has a boot! Bought a jar of the strong stuff to drink on Si's 50th.

Hit the road for Nashville. Si pulled over on the freeway and I had my first turn at driving. Holy moly. Full concentration I tell ya. It's all just so fast. I cruised at an average of 75 mph.

Pulled into a rest stop and happily handed the keys over. Will do a little more each day to build the confidence.

Arrived Nashville and found motel. Went for a drive to book Grand Ole Opry tickets for tomorrow night. Found an amazing resort and got lost in it. Happened to find a Jack Daniels restaurant in the resort. We really are in the right state.

Went downtown, found a boot store so had a bit of a shop. Buy 1 pair get 2 pair free. How could you not? So I now have my official boot scooting digs going on.

Now sitting at airport waiting on friends who are arriving to celebrate Si's 50th with us. How awesome is that. They from Sydney and have been in California a couple of weeks.

My guess is the next few days will be BIG.

Gatlinburg - TN

Since arriving in Tennessee all I can say is - AWESOME.

This place is truly amazing. After a very relaxing drive we arrived at the Tennessee welcome centre. Off the freeways they have these rest stops everywhere and welcome centers. They have every brochure you could imagine, rest rooms and a vending machine for anything you could want.

I tell you us Kiwis could learn a lot from these guys.

We headed to a car museum then made our way to Gatlinburg. It's a prime ski resort so Queenstown but bigger. Being summer 35 degrees, it's just a full on tourist resort.

We spent the afternoon wandering the shops. Went to another car museum which has about 8 million bucks worth of original movie cars in it. My favorite was the bat mobile and ghost busters. Even KIT was there.

Had a customary Bud at the local. I made the mistake of asking a guy where he was from. Once he started talking I couldn't understand a word. Funny.

Came back to motel for a swim then went Mexican for dinner. Had a margarita with dinner and yes you guessed it - HUGE. One lasted all night.

Walked thru town again being entertained by locals playing in bands singing and dancing. ( local hillbillies).

I even have my own hillbilly. Pic below!

Looking forward to a bit of a sleep in tmrw.

Breaking My Rule

I'm going to break my rule of 1 blog a day. We have reached Tennessee I feel I could stay here for weeks already.

This is what we have planned, worked hard and saved for - Tennessee! First stop Gatlinburg and going to a muscle car museum.

Accents got stronger, weather got warmer Our smiles got larger ( if possible!).

Just had a wonderful kiwi lunch. Now we have a car fridge can make our own fresh rolls washed down with a cold Bud. Life pretty much couldn't get better.

What I've Learnt So Far

- America is freakin awesome
- don't upsize anything, it's already huge enough
- Americans are very friendly and polite
- respect, they live by it
- GPS , can't live without it
- cell phones are an extension of everyone's arm
- you sleep better after you buy your own pillow (luxury last night I tell ya)
- most food tastes sweet, yep even the bread!
- they love their trucks (Simon wants to bring 1 home, actually he wants to bring lots home)
- haven't seen a dirty vehicle yet
- you get a sore neck looking all around all the time as there is so much to see
- couldn't live without air con

Intercourse PA

Do I have your attention?

Interesting morning I must say - we went to Intercourse and back again.

Yep, there really is a place called Intercourse and it's in Amish Country. What a really beautiful place. We back tracked to visit but I said to Si I couldn't come all this way without Intercourse I mean visiting Intercourse.

Spent a few hours there. Went on a buggy ride with our driver EJ and horse called - Sally. Sorry Sally I found this extremely funny! Poor Sally had to take 4 of us healthy specimens in her buggy so she worked for her tip.

Carried on down the road towards Knoxville and decided to spend night at Roanoke Virginia. Been out and had ribs for tea and a pitcher of Bud ( my fav drink, it's almost as good as water).

Visited a Walmart. Think The Warehouse and times it by at least 10. And this isn't a big store according to the girl that served us! Stocked up on some necessities like a car fridge! Gotta keep the Bud, I mean water cold.

Julie - please tell Kyle that Peggy Sue is the best thing since peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. We would be (I'd like to swear but this is a family friendly blog) up the creek without a paddle if we didn't have her telling us where to go. She's wonderful. However did buy a map today for back up just in case.

There's a Waffle House restaurant I can see out our window so I feel a dessert coming on.

Over and out for another adventurous day.

Super 8

After a few hours driving south west we decided to pull off the freeway and find some accommodation. So here we are at our first Super 8 of many I would say. It's in Carlisle, PA for those that are following us on maps.

So cheap and includes free continental breakfast and free wifi! Great service and a huge Diner across the road. So visited there for dinner. The food kept coming and coming! Gave away my first of many NZ souvenirs to our waitress. She was awesome.

Catching up on washing and watching a bit of the Olympic opening ceremony.

Heading to our first Walmart tomorrow. I'm a big excited about this experience - wonder what sights we will see! Will have the camera ready.

Night everyone.

We have wheels.

Last morn in New York and we went for a bike ride round Central Park. Very nice but very hot.

Collected our rental car which we have for the next 51 days.

Our new best friend is PeggySue our GPS. We didn't utilize her to get out of Manhatton like we should have. Ended up visiting Queens then programmed Peggy Sue and what do you know we took wrong bridge out of Manhatton so had to turn round and go back and start again. Gotta laugh.

Now on the right road heading to Nashville. Probably take us 3 days to get there.

Simon driving extremely well in traffic! Think he used to car already. I might give it a whirl tomorrow.

McDonalds Experience

Forgot to mention in my earlier blog - we had Maccas for breakfast. I took serious time browsing the menu and after lots of deliberation chose a bacon , egg and cheese griddle. Is like a very thick piklet instead of muffin.

Can you imagine my face when I took my first bite and the griddle is soaked in maple syrup! Those that know me well know that you can't mix main meals with dessert. Thankfully my - more American husband than me - kindly swapped and I had his sausage and egg biscuit. Which was scone instead of muffin.

Right out for dinner now. I'll be choosing wisely.

Sore Feet

What a day. Walked for miles and every step is so worth it.

Got the subway to 'downtown', caught free ferry to Straton Island. Passed the great Statue of Liberty. Having maintenance done so couldn't get up close and personal but you didn't need too. It was amazing from the ferry. Got off at Straton Island and was entertained by 4 gospel singers and one bass player. I hadn't heard singing like it. I even tipped them and bought their CD.

Back on the ferry and got our 1st taste of USA rain. Bucketed down. But didn't last for long and just made it muggier.

Walked all around the financial district. New York Stock Exchange etc. I really spent most of my time looking up. Never seen buildings like it in Wall Street.

Next stop was the 9/11 Memorial. I was moved to tears. It is just hard to imagine the terror that was on the site we were standing. A very emotional moment.

Went to a huge store called Century 21. Again so overwhelming I didn't do a lot of shopping. Bargains galore but too many choices and too many people. Had to see it to believe it. Si got a few bargains and is now supporting a new "lid", cap for us Kiwis with the Yankees on it.

Walked thru Chinatown, Little Italy and caught subway back to hotel. Had a well deserved nana nap. News reports are of a bad storm coming due to arrive in about 15 mins. May stay indoors until that passes then head for dinner.

That's it for today people. Thanks for emails from home. Sorry I'm having trouble replying but it's great to receive them. Xxx

New York

Good morning New York. 5.20am here and can't sleep. Too excited and simon got a call from NZ at 4.30 am which happened to wake us!

Had a big day yesterday. Started with a much needed sleep in then headed for the Empire State Building. Big queues but so worth it. The views from the 86 th floor are incredible. Didn't see king kong tho?

Walked to Central Park. Managed to find a little bit of grass to stand on that wasn't fenced off. Hopefully will get te to go back and rent push bikes and ride around.

Went to a broadway show last night - The Jersery Boys. Fantastic. Had pre show snacks and the customary Bud Light at a all American Diner. Walked back to hotel thru Times Square again.

Huge day planned today as its our last full day here in New York. Tomorrow we pick up our rental car which will be ours for the next 50 days. Getting out of here will test the marriage but I'll save that for another blog. Haha.

The Big Apple

Well what a adventure. Left LA yesterday on a flight from one coast to the other. Flying time about 5.5 hours. Plus another time zone. I can't keep up with what the day or time is in NZ. Is it today, tmrw or yesterday?

Simon got very dareing and we got a air train from John F Kennedy airport to the New York Subway. Then got subway to Penn Station Manhatton. Was I anxious - YES. Subway in New York at 9pm at night. All those movies I've watched came flooding into my head. What made it more interesting was 2 amazon trannies coming on dressed to kill singing Proud Mary. Where do you look? However made it to hotel safely.

Went for a walk and ended up at Times Square. Took so many pictures. Simply AMAZING. Ate at HArd Rock bout midnight.

Today is all about getting Internet and phones working. Currently in burger king using free wifi. Got regular coffees they bigger than our biggest at home!

Lots to do and see.

We Have Landed

4pm Monday 23rd and we have arrived Air New Zealand was awesome. Great flight, excellent service and awesome seats (thanks Carle!). Plenty of leg room.

At our hotel in L.A bout to freshen up and head exploring. Won't be a late night, not much sleep had on plane. Then off tomorrow to New York.

Thanks AirNZ for getting us here safe.

1st Airport

USA here we come. Can you tell we are excited. Mum and Dad made sure we got to the airport in plenty of time. See our bags now in LA.

One Sleep

It's official one sleep to go and yep - I will be drinking Budweiser! Not sure about the headache today but now I've taste tested, it will do for the next 70 days.

Time to find the suitcases and start packing.

7 days to go

A week today and our adventure begins. Both getting extremely excited and to be honest a little anxious. Have a fair bit to do this week but feeling pretty organised. Weather has cooled down a little over there. Temperatures now under 40 degrees in Vegas. Think I'll be able to cope with that. Si still working but I'm officially retired. Oh what a feeling! Bring on Monday 23rd - until then, have a great week!

Tour of Duty

Back from a great weekend cruising to Teanau in the old car. Getting in practice driving left hand vehicles. Also attempting to upload a pic on this site. Let's see if I've got it.

2 weeks tomorrow until the big flight. 4 days to go at work. Not sure which one I'm excited about more.

The Countdown

It's 20 days until we fly out on our American Adventure.  Decided to try and create a Blog so those that are interested can sign in and see what we are up to.  Maybe even some pictures to look at if I can work out how to post them.  Look forward to keep you all updated.