So Evan left you in Graceland where we had a wicked time... and from then we ventured south through Mississippi. The guide bookwarned us that this states is very poor and sure enough we drove through towns where the shops were boarded up and there was no one about. We drove parallel to the river and in fact had our lunch by the river where we watched huge boats haul cargo at snails pace. We cut the corner off Arkansas and entered Louisiana. Our first stop was Lake Providence where we visited the visitors centre and were greeted by a lady straight from the pages of the divine secrets of the ya ya sisterhood, if you have read it. She advised us in her brilliant southern drawl (basically talking like penelope pitstop) to sample the local donuts which we duly did before heading to Monroe to stay the night. another cheap motel later and we were out treating ourselves to NO not another Taco Bell but a proper meal in a diner! It was not very promising from the outside, or the inside to be honest, but the food was brilliant and I have never had such an attentive waiter- evan was given his 3rd root beer before he had even finished the first one! I ate catfish and Evan had meat loaf (with onion rings the size of your face!)and both were lovely, even though a waitress did spill an entire order on her way to the next table and we were hit by a flying burger half way through the meal!

The next day we started the long drive across Texas. We did not stop long, anywhere, but did stop off at a local oil fair, which is basically a local fete, like an english one except the puppet show was full of puppets singing songs praising the lord, not something you normally get at the Chatsworth fete! We viewed a few vintage cars then headed back to the air con in the car - phew! I'ts hot down south. Stayed the night in eastland where I confess we had another taco bell.

We have done a lot of listening to local radio on this trip. Down south it is quite hard to find a station which is neither country based or overtly religious, basicaly phone in shows about finding god. but we have discovered public radio. This has various local versions but they all buy the same national shows like Wait Wait don't tell me, a news quiz and some cool interviews. We've been keeping up with the democrats nominations race quite well! The bad news is that all the stations are in fundraising mode a the moment so much of the show is dedicated to getting people to pledge cash - doh! However, it reminds us that the radio abroad is so very different to in the UK. Not least in what people can get away with saying. In New Zealand for example we witnessed the following exchange:

DJ: Where are you from ?

Caller:India

DJ: you don't sound Indian . I know Indians and you sound lke you've just had dinner with the queen ( does impression of posh english accent)

Caller: no no I am indian

DJ: Are you sure?

I mean really? woudl you get away with that in the UK? I fancy not!

so we are enjoying the local radio. From Texas into New Mexico and a night in El Paso then onto Tucson where we delivered the car to amazingly chilled girl who told us in the best southern accent that she loved our accents and wished she had an accent. We stayed in a youth hostel for a change, so cooked our own food and went to a supermarket that was not Walmart for a change

The next day , we don't hang around you know! , we went to pick up a hideously expensive hire car and set off up the californian coast, destination San Franciscio. Yes we missed the fires by about a day or two, although we did wave to Jennifer Aniston's house in the vague direction of Malibu as we drove though LA, but we'll save that story for next time.