Are We There Yet?

   
South Of The Border - a place that manages to exceed its reputation for tackiness! Liz and I stopped at this well known tourist attraction just south of the North/South Carolina border for about an hour, and sampled some "real" mexican food, took an elevator to the top of the sombrero, where we had a wonderful birds eye view of... the freeway and toured through a souvenir shop where unwanted souvenirs go to die...! We were a little disappointed with this stop - we were fully expecting it to be tacky, however we still thought it was going to be fun. Sadly, this wasn't the case. The signs along I-95 advertising the place were a lot more fun than the place itself. Our advice - if you feel so inclined to visit South Of The Border, limit yourself to a quick drive through the legs of Pedro (pictured here) and drive straight back onto the freeway. That's all you need to experience this place.

Stuck in Traffic I-20

We've sat in this traffic for over half an hour :(

We have no idea what's caused the delay, however it must be pretty serious to cause traffic to bank up so much...

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Sent from my Treo

State Number X

We just passed over the border into South Carolina - our 10th State in just 8 days!

This time last week we were still getting ready to leave on our big adventure. It's been fantastic first week!

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Sent from my Treo

Thomas The Tank Engine in Chattanooga!

Special guest at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum was Thomas The Tank Engine. We didn't get to ride him, however we DID get to ride another steam engine down to South Chattanooga. We met a really cool train engineer (hi Mike) who was very happy to pose for photos & even let us ride up front in the engine for small part of the journey. It was lots of fun!

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Sent from my Treo

Pardon me boys...

...is that the Chattanooga Choo Choo? Liz posing with the famed train.

The train station in Chattanooga, where the Choo Choo now resides, has been turned into a Holiday Inn - they even have train carriages that have been converted into hotel rooms.

We enjoyed a delicious lunch at the hotel & some GIGANTIC homemade icecreams for dessert.

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Sent from my Treo

Small Trouble In Big Nashville

Well, we had a little car trouble when we reached Nashville, TN (dodgy belts and broken cigarette lighter - critical for charging all our gadgets).

Lucky for us we had some help from our buddy Travis at Hays Mitsubishi (gratuitous plug!).

Travis - that's Travis of Hays Mitsubishi, Madison TN :D - took EXCELLENT care of us, arranged for a rental car to use from Enterprise Car Rentals (yet another gratuitous plug!) whilst we were waiting for ours to be fixed and got us back on the road very quickly.

Jerry from Enterprise (you get the idea by now...) also took great care of us. Jerry, good luck on your move to Atlanta.

Travis, thanks so much for your kindness and help. Great to meet you, and glad you are now a part of our Road Trip!!!

And Liz wins by a nose...

Mind you, she has an advantage - she's alive and not made of metal... ;) Horseracing at Thoroughbred Park in Lexington, KY.

It was pouring rain during most of our visit to this state - yes, I saw more Kentucky Rain than Elvis!

Memories of Soup Tureen Trauma Fade...

     

We wish to thank everyone who expressed their concerns and sympathies for the distress we experienced in Camden, NJ, when we were unsucessful in our search for the elusive Soup Tureen museum. Rob, your research will not go to waste - we will just have to travel there on our next adventure...

But stress no more! The Colonel & Dolly have allowed us to move on, as shown in these two photos. The memories & the hurt are still there, but we can now get on with our lives thanks to a healthy dose of finger lickin' good chicken (at the ORIGINAL Sanders Cafe in Corbin, KY) & the sweet sounds of country music - Dolly style (well at least a statue of Dolly Parton, in Sevierville, KY).

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Sent from my Treo

Back on the air...

Hi all

Sorry there hasn't been any postings for a little while - both Liz & I
have been out of range. It seems Virginia & West Virginia operate a
completely different network to the rest of the East Coast and doesn't
like to talk to Verizon or T-Mobile...

We are currently in Lenoir City, TN, about to head out to Nashville. I
am using my laptop with a "borrowed" wireless connection to post this
:P

More postings of our adventures the last few days to follow...

Mark's been a bad boy!

So I sent him to the stockade. Yes, I know. It's the cliche stockade picture, but c'mon, it made you smile, didn't it? This was just a part of our historical adveture in Colonial Williamsburg.

(Sent by Liz from Mark's Treo)

Five States In Just One Day (and only 43 to go)!

Just made it to Springfield, Virginia - the fifth state today since leaving this morning. Today we've driven through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland & now Virginia.

Mind you, we didn't stop at any of the other states (apart from Delaware). And we've already broken our first rule - we haven't bought ANY postcards since leaving.

Took an accidental detour down Backlick Road - and yes it was as disturbing as it sounds...

Got caught in a tremendous storm on the way - it was bucketing down & we could barely see a thing! We also passed a car on fire, & another with giant trophies that were so large they were hanging out the passenger window. Bizarre sights indeed & we've barely made it out of New York - who knows what tomorrow will hold?

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Sent from my Treo

An afternoon In Sunny Deleware

We've been on the road for over 3 hours now & have had a much needed toilet break (and coffee) at the "downtown" Starbucks in ??? , Deleware. It is raining.

We've already had our first disappointment - we were very sad to discover our first destination for the day - The Soup Tureen Museum of Camden, NJ has, quite literally, vanished. No amount of Googling could unearth this lost gem. Oh well...

and now, on to Washington DC :)

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Sent from my Treo

6am in NYC

Well, the day has finally arrived!!!

The alarm clock woke us this morning at the early time of 6 o'clock. We were greeted with grey skies & a slight chill in the air. Good job we're heading south - we need to see the sun!!!

Some hasty last minute packing & organising, along with a quick emptying of the fridge, very quickly brought us to 8am - the time Liz's parents were coming to pick us up.

A short drive later we were in New Jersey & packing all our stuff in the car. And there is a LOT of stuff. Andy, I hope when we see u in LA you're travelling LIGHT :P

For now though, we're all done & ready to go. More from us when we're on the road...

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Sent from my Treo

Meet the Donkey!

Dear readers, I would like to introduce you all to the Donkey.

The Donkey will be your guide to:

Mark & Liz's Great American Roadtrip: Around The U.S. in 48 States... (imagine this being said with a big, booming echoing voice).

The full dougaldonkey story will be revealed in a later post - keep an eye on this spot...!

Only 7 more days to go!!!

USA 2005 - a bigger version of the map!

A bigger version of our USA road trip map - the other one was just a little too small...


20 days to go and counting!!!