"I've decided that I'm going to stay here and become a cock... I mean cop!" - Chris Christodoulou

What was intended to be a 4 hour drive from Chicago to St Louis, turned out to be so much more. It turns out we're not that great with directions and managed to get ourselves lost on several occasions. Heading out at 10:30am, we didn't start the journey from its original starting point for nearly two hours. We eventually cracked on and Route 66 had begun...

James took control early on having gained 15 minutes of experience the day before and we were on our way. The drive contained nothing worth stopping for other than a Taco Bell. It was delicious!
Just up the road, Nick took over and he nearly followed through after progressing onto the main road having had a 2 minute practise in a car park. Stopping off at a number of locations including Dwight, Atlanta, Springfield and Carlinville, we were able to see some historic attractions including an old gas station, giants holding hotdogs and American flags and Abraham Lincoln's tomb.

We learnt two lessons while driving that we feel should be shared with the world:

1. Don't drive on the left-hand lane; you are in the wrong and likely to get yourself killed.
2. If you kill a road worker, you'll likely be fined $10,000 and get sentenced to 14 years in prison - better avoid that then!

Marc was on form today, having spotted a motel which included a children's playground... and he even took a piss next to a child's urinal; thankfully no children were touched or hurt during his prowl. Marc, what are you like...?

After a long day of driving, we checked into the Carlin Villa Motel. The motel fulfilled the stereotypical description of a horror film setting; so we took advantage of having access to a car and headed up the road for dinner. We pulled up and headed to see what was on offer; instead we got dragged into a bar by a drunk individual who claimed the food she served was superb - that was enough and we were sold! We met a guy called 'Boston', (an ex-cop who currently works in mental health); he kick started the shot taking, which lead to us discovering a new drink called the 'chocolate cake' and an even better name for Marc - Tor Paedo!
Chris was dragged up to dance by the drunk individual and realising he had to put his money where his balls were, responded to her request of "Hey London , lets dance!" With a quick pull-down of his 'club tropicana' shorts and tried to have a laugh. It was a laugh... for us anyway.
To sum up our evening, what started as some dinner and a drink, ended in shots, some dancing and a lot of Keith Urban*.

* Chris has finally learnt that country music is an ecstasy in the USA.

Chris has also learnt that Karl Urban is an actor and not in fact a country singer - who he got confused with Keith Urban; who is actually quite popular over here, even with s*** songs like "Long Hot Summer"... I know... s***!!! The USA has country music; we have The Streets ! Well, so Chris says anyway.

Tomorrow is a new day and possibly our last, as it's time for Marc and Chris to take the wheel; lord help us. Chris is taking the afternoon shift and he has promised he will not get road rage or kill us, but even in the USA we're sure his car OCD rules still apply!

FYI, honey badgers do exist and they taste good.

Boom!