Stop 12: Portland Well, not the most exciting of cities to be brutally honest, hence this uneventful post, sorry fans! We spent a night in a very glamorous basement apartment (yes, really) with ultra-chic decor, and at the prompting of our host stayed up until 12:45am to view the Blood Moon eclipse - apparently only visible from North and South America - but were disappointed to find the clouds eclipsed the eclipse, and our beauty sleep had been disturbed for ...

Stop 11: Seattle We were rewarded for leaving the Miami sunshine by arriving into an equally sunny Seattle, an unexpected treat! After a hilly morning run by Lake Washington, we decided it was too nice a day to trawl around the city ticking off tourist attractions, and instead packed a picnic and headed to the lake again to eat, read and soak up the rays amid the quacking of ducks and clouds of weed from the local younguns gathered nearby. A rare leisurely day. ...

Stop 10: Miami (again!) We arrived into Miami and were pleasantly surprised to find our shared shuttle transfer was actually a luxurious Lincoln for 2 - result! Not for long.... Our taxi driver saw an opportunity to triple his fare and we were soon squashed in like sardines - the final passenger, a rather ample Spanish old lady, chose to quibble with the driver about his choice of route - cue non-stop diatribe of abuse from driver, more than a little awkward... ...

Stop 9: Chicago We arrived into Chicago and were pleasantly surprised by the above and beyond service we received from our new host Leo, who not only collected us from the subway station to drive us to our new home, but also proceeded to take us to the grocery store nearby, patiently waiting while we stocked up on supplies before chauffeuring us home again. We soon worked out the reasoning behind his unexpectedly protective behaviour when we stepped outside our ...

Stop 8: New England Coast Itching to get back behind the wheel for a few days, we hired a car and set off on the open road, heading north along the New England coastline. First stop - Salem, to visit the Salem Witch Museum. The tour consisted of being abandoned in a darkened auditorium while the story of Salem's witch hysteria was told via the use of immobile wax figures.... CREEPY! We were glad to be back in the sunshine and on the road, before they mistook ou...