Hello everyone, We've finally arrived on the first leg of our trip. Its not been totally plain sailing so far, some predictable problems (josh breaking his mobile phone and Louise forgetting the address of George's appartment where we were spending the first night) and some technical hitches (extremely laid back van hire company who kept saying it would be ready in a couple of hours, but in fact it took two days!, oh and we forgot our plug converter for the laptop, so no photos till we find a new one here -tall order as most people we've asked so far don't understand what a plug is) But we're on the road now and heading down the east coast of the USA. We've taken a detour down the winding roads of the West of New York state through some quaint little towns, and we spent last night in a state forest in New Jersey - all sand and pine trees (but no bears yet). Unfortunately the good weather that greeted us in New York has not held out and we're currently sheltering from the rain in Philadelphia's free library - everything is 'free' here in the capital of liberty and independence. God bless America, Josh n Lou x