My penultimate journey was to Washington DC, home of the President and my old school friend Adam and his wife Lindsay, who I was staying with for 3 nights. To continue with my tales of transport woe (I'll never curse a late Leeds-Skipton train again!) I had probably the second worst experience of my entire trip. As if it wasn't stressful enough nearly missing the bus in the first place, the journey was meant to last 15 hours, of which I'd booked a night bus so I could get some sleep on the way (also saving myself a night in a hostel, I'm definitely from Yorkshire!). Around halfway through the trip there was a stop off at a little truck stop in the middle of nowhere (Wytheville, Virginia I think). We had to wait for 30 minutes whilst the driver had a break (I assume they can only drive a certain length of time without one) and then we were back on the road. Now bear in mind this was about half past 3 at night and I'd been rudely awakened from a nap to get off the bus in the first place, I was just glad to be back on the road and on time to meet Adam at the subway stop near his home at half 12.

Well, talk about counting your chickens...within ten minutes the bus was making a very disturbing noise, revving all over the shop and generally moving very slowly along the side of the freeway. Before we knew it there was a big bang and the back of the bus started belching smoke. The driver got out and came back, looking slightly pale, and told all the passengers to get off the bus. The engine had only exploded, highly exciting! Well, it was until we had to huddle at the side of the freeway freezing our fingers off - I'd brought my woolly hat but others weren't so lucky - plus it was pitch black and cars were flying past at high speeds. Anyway after maybe 20 minutes the fire fighters turned up, shortly followed by the local Sheriff department. A few passengers were being shuttled back to the truck stop we'd just left and I was standing with a group of people who were smoking. As the only non smoker I must stood out as the Deputy Sheriff shone his torch in my eyes and asked me if I wanted to come with him. I was slightly perturbed at being the only one chosen but on a positive note I got to sit in the front of a Sheriff's car and get a private drive back to the truck stop. Who needs to be arrested - just travel on a bus that blows up!

Anyway, once we'd all got back to the truck stop I toddled off to the McDonald's to poach the free wifi so I could let Adam know what was going on. We had to wait for a new bus to be brought up from Charlottesville, which was a good 2 or 3 hours away, so basically settled into the 24 hour McDonald's for the night. I'll be honest, it was between the hours of 4 and 7 in the morning so it's all a little hazy, but I had a nice chat with a guy I'd been sat close to, he was a proper Southern boy with the accent and everything, and when I revealed I'd never had biscuits he immediately went off to buy a sausage and biscuits thing, which was OK but a little salty so after politely trying it I gave it back. Share and share alike!

Once the new bus arrived (hooray!) the rest of the journey was uneventful and I managed to navigate the metro and meet Adam, only 8 hours late! After a delicious salmon meal (hats off to the chef) Me, Adam, and Lindsay chilled out in the pool (yes there was a pool) before I dragged my weary eyes up to bed, where a wondrous sight availed me. A glorious double bed all to myself, replete with ensuite, to be honest I'd have been happy with the futon Adam told me I'd be sleeping on (cheeky beggar) but I wasn't complaining about a big bed all to myself after months of bunk beds.

After a bit of a sleep in Adam took me to visit central Washington and all the traditional tourist sights. To be honest he's probably played guide there many time so I appreciated him taking the time to go again, and it was nice not to have to wander around a city by myself. In no particular order, because I'm writing this 2 years later and my memory isn't that good, we visited all the main monuments, chief among them the Lincoln Memorial and the reflecting pool, where Martin Luther King gave his 'I have a dream' speech. I half expected to see Forrest and Jenny splashing across the water and reuniting. It was an impressive space, capped off by the Washington Monument at the opposing end of the pool, however I couldn't help but feel that it was a city without much soul, much like Canberra, a city of politicians and tourists rather than locals. Despite that the other places we walked past (wear comfy shoes if you visit!); Vietnam veterans memorial, Korean war veterans memorial, and actually visited; Franklin D Roosevelt memorial, Thomas Jefferson memorial (they love a memorial), the national WW2 memorial (a beautiful, haunting space, much more so than our memorials in England) and the Dr Martin Luther King Jr national memorial, all beautiful and impressive monuments.

I did the obligatory trip up to the White House, sadly I didn't get to meet President O though! I was vaguely surprised at how small it actually was, even though people had told me it was smaller than expected, films must film it at a funny angle to make it look larger. Despite that that gardens were beautiful and you could almost forget the most powerful man in the world lives there.

The US Bureau of Engraving and Printing is where all American paper currency is made. I think for the first and only time in my life I got to see a million dollars in cash (who am I kidding I'll never see it electronically either!) as well as view the printing of the new $100 bill. It was a lot more interesting than anticipated and I can recommend a visit if you're down that way!

For those who aren't aware (haven't you seen Night at the Museum 2?!) DC is also home to the Smithsonian, the largest complex of museums and research institutes in the world, between them holding 137 million artefacts. Obviously something of that size can't be visited in one day so we had to choose from the variety of museums available - finally deciding on the Air and Space museum, where I got to see, amongst others, space suits, rockets (I didn't need to go to NASA!) and the Spirit of St Louis, the Lindbergh plane. Next was the Freer Gallery of Art and lastly the National Museum of Natural History. I think my favourite part was the dinosaurs although the hope diamond (everyone secretly loves some bling) was a close second. The only downer to my day was not seeing Bones and Booth at work!

After a full day wandering around DC we went out for some tea with Lindsay, who'd been at work. A nice glass of rose went down a treat, as did the relaxation in the pool afterwards!

On the Saturday Lindsay was off work so we all went to Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson, third president of the US, based in Charlottesville, Virginia. The drive over was gorgeous, at home we just don't seem to get the autumnal colours of the trees like they do over there, it was almost fake looking with the variety of reds, russets, golds, yellows, oranges, I could go on (but my colours vocabulary isn't that extensive). Monticello itself was an impressive building, designed by Jefferson himself, with a large botanical garden at the back which Grandma Fuller would have loved! Jefferson also had a plantation and slavery, which seems contradictory to his anti-slavery stance, but what do I know. Interestingly Monticello is also on the back on the US nickel, and adds to my list of visited UNESCO world heritage sites. Only a few more hundred to go! At this point I think it timely to mention that I was in the States just a couple of months before Obama's re-election and I found everyone to be so much more engaged with politics than here in the UK. However that's not to say I preferred it - I found some of the more over-zealous supporters to be, quite frankly, delusional on many points and downright racist on others.

After Monticello there was a baseball game on the TV which we watched downstairs in the cinema room (all very impressive). For someone who doesn't particularly care for sport I did find myself getting caught up in the game and enjoyed it, despite a loss for Washington.

My final morning was taken up watching Adam and Lindsay play football (or soccer, when in Rome) followed by a gorgeous brunch of eggs benedict and a bucks fizz. I was dropped off at the station for a late bus to Philadelphia - only one more trip to go before the Big Apple! I'll be happy if I don't have to do any long (or even short) bus journeys for a while.

Becca x