ROAD TRIP

Howdy partners,


For today I'm not going to write about New York, although there is definitely more to be told about that city, watch this space! The second week of August I joined a fella I met this summer on part of his road trip, we drove through the South West, from Texas to Vegas watched countryside develop, met some crazy folk and got a feel for the real America.
Jack, the guy who drove, I met in my local in New York. He's a Country singer, bar man, real American guy, and he’s driven me a hell of a long way, tantrums and all. He's given me a new found love for hip hop and country music and also for America in general, this place is incredible. Starting in Austin we drove up through New Mexico, Arizona and finally reached our last stop Vegas.

Austin is possibly the coolest city I've ever been to. Think college town with amazing weather and gorgeous people, honestly everybody is stunning. Within an hour of getting off my plane I was chilling in Barton Springs, a river side heaven, we had a guy playing guitar to our right and up the hill a group of what can only be described as hippies owning a steel drum and dancing in barley anything. The water, people and weather were perfect, you ever get up to Austin check this place out. Also you gotta' get Texas BBQ, so I’m veggie but even I gave into chicken and mash, make sure you get pie as well, f*!k me, sweet potato pie is unreal! 
Once leaving Austin we headed to Roswell, where the aliens landed, oooooooooo. We arrived late evening after a 10 hour drive; it was so long I was allowed to drive the last couple of hours, automatics suck as does trying to turn right when you’re on the wrong side of the road! Roswell was a typical southern town, everyone knew everyone and I was a total novelty, only difference being there were aliens everywhere. I was told by one woman she didn’t think “people spoke like you miss, apart from on the television” she then preceded to ask if we had potatoes in England. My only other long lasting memory of Roswell will be looking like the Elephant man and then a beaten house wife. Nobody warns you if you sleep in a truck the midges will get you, and my gosh they did, three times on the eye lid, once above and once below, I looked a mess for a day to say the least.


From Roswell we took the scenic route to El Malpais, New Mexico, finally some mountains to look at. The park is stunning; the area was initially protected to conserve the significant geological, scientific, archaeological, and scenic resources surrounding the Grants lava flow (the vegetation literally grows through the cooled lava, its quite fascinating). However I personally preferred the massive sandstone’s and the free standing arc which has formed over thousands of years, rather impressive. That night we spent in a Walmart car park, I’m not 100% but I’m pretty sure we heard somebody get murdered, if not that then hospitalized. Also discovered we could feed ourselves for the next three days of about $10 including two bottles of wine, I heart Walmart!

The Grand Canyon deserves a post on its own, everything you’ve heard is true, and it’s ten times better! The vastness, the awesomeness, this place is like nothing you will ever experience and I definitely recommend if you get a chance you have to go. Be warned though, even the easiest of hiking routes are difficult, make sure you take enough water and as silly as this sounds the hardest part is coming back up so don’t go too far down. One of the best things, to me anyway, to see here were the starts at night, you can literally see the milky way, also if you believe in making a wish on a falling star you’ll see enough that at least one should come true. Make sure you get up to watch a sunrise and take the time in the evening to watch a sunset, they are both magnificent!
On route from Arizona we stopped at the Hoover Dam, bloody hell it was massive, it is also extremely picturesque, the way it was built was to encourage people to visit it. You only need a half hour or so to see it and don’t worry about paying to get in the museum they give you enough information as you walk around it.

Finally…..Vegas! Bright lights, constantly busy, grand buildings, fountains, overpriced drinks, prostitutes for your every need, pool side bars, slot machines everywhere, this place has it all, and what’s more impressive is it’s in the middle of a desert! We had a very short visit here but I will be back. See the Bellagio fountains, and walk through Paris; Caesars Palace, the Mirage and Bellagio are all next to each other and definitely worth a look. I drank stupid amounts of gin before doing this and now remember very little of what was in each resort but am sure it was all pretty impressive. Unless you’re going with tons of cash don’t eat out its ridiculous, there are some pretty cheap places you just have to do some research on where happy hours are. We went to an Italian just off the strip called “Hole in the wall” do not be put off by the name, it’s a ridiculous amount of food and unlimited wine throughout your meal, it was delicious. My only other piece of advice would be to not book an early flight out, to end this story I left the boy in the hotel room whilst I just made my flight (literally checked in at 6.25 and flight was at 7am), hair a mess, probably still drunk, not wanting to leave.


Go to America, do a road trip, be warned though they are quite charming despite their rep, you'll leave wishing you were still in that truck having the time of your life.