I've been "on the road" now for 4 days and things are going well.

The car is a Ford Escape (no - I've never heard of it before either). It is a red, smallish SUV that makes a lot of noise, but isn't particularly sporty. However, it does have a high driving position and a comfy ride, so I'm not complaining.

The Interstates are great roads for getting you to places. They are fast, but nothing like the strain that british motorways are. I think this is for several reasons: there is less traffic, there are less road works; together leading to less congestion. Also, there is less tailgating with other drivers. This makes it far easier to travel 100's of miles without crawling out of the car a jittering wreck at your destination. In my 4 days I've done ~1,200 miles and feel fine.

Mind you, I didn't use the Interstate all the way here. In particular, I drove through the Shenandoah National Park along the Skyline Drive and on to the Blue Ridge Parkway. These roads twist around the peaks of the beautifull Appalachians. When I turned one corner, a black bear and her cubs where crossing the road. She got half way across, realised that she'd forgotten something, and turned around and went back. I tried to grab a photo, but the iPhone can't really do this kind of thing justice (not that I'm blaming the tools:-).

On Wednesday, I meet up with Janice (my ex-boss) at CareFusion's Creedmoor facility. I got a tour, but we couldn't go into the clean room because of my sandals. I was disappointed not to get to chance to wear a baggie on my head. Janice was also kind enough to put me up for the night and I had chance to meet all her family (Denis, David, Mum and Dad ... and Stan the dog). I just want to say a Big Thank You to all of them for being so kind and friendly to me. It was great to get a chance to really talk with some local folk. In the morning we went for a proper southern breakfast. I had biscuits (or for you English folk something like scones) smoothered with sausage flavoured gravy - delicious, I also got to try some grits, but maybe they are more of an aquired taste.

But now I need to start getting a move on. There is so much to see and no way I can see everything. Because I want to spend some time at the Grand Canyon and in San Francisco and elsewhere, I need to put in a few longer days of driving down the I-40 West to "buy" myself some time. In any case, I am now driving through Tennessee, whose major claim to fame is surely music, and I can get all the Country and Western I could want on the local radio. I suppose Tennessee's other major contribution to the world is Tennessee Whiskey. Damn - the things I have to put myself through for this trip.