Driving in the USA -

I will let you know in a week how many miles we have covered in part one of our trip. We limit driving to a maximum of 5-6 hours a day and sometimes if we are stationed in a place we do none. We were fortunate that early on our first rental car got a cracked windscreen so we were able to swap to our current Chevy Impala which has a larger boot (trunk for our North American readers) and in the front you can put the arm rest up between the driver and passenger to create a 'mini' seat (with belt) suitable for a child. This has meant that the kids take turns and one sits up front with us thus giving the kids in the back more room.

Our car radio displays not only the name of the radio station but the artist playing and name of the song which was novel for us but maybe nothing new here. Air conditioning is an absolute neccesity as our temperature gauge often shows over 100F (about 35-40 C). Gas is dearer than we had anticipated at about $1.25 NZ a litre. We average 80-90 miles or 129 to 145 kms per hour on the freeway (well Elspeth does but Tim keeps to the limit which is 75 miles or 121 kms)! There are some unusual road signs we have noted like:

'Yield' = Give Way
'No Outlet' = No exit
'Hitchhiking prohibited next 10 miles as prison area'
'Dust storms likely next 30 miles. If one occurs do not pull over' - This one had me puzzled as I thought it would be more logical to pull over to the shoulder and wait rather than drive blindly on unable to see properly!
'Lost Springs - Population 1' - Hardly worth the cost of the road sign I would have thought!

The Americans appear to have an aversion to roundabouts unlike the British who adore them a bit too much and so instead you have multiple crossroads/intersections with traffic lights. They do however have a peculiar rule where you can turn on a red light if nothing is coming. Goes against the grain but you get used to it.

I must say part of the reason for doing this trip was to drive the extensive open roads and just go where the road takes us and this has certainly come true. There is nothing quite like driving along just taking in the scenery and watching the town signs fly by listening to songs like 'American Pie' by Don McLean and a good dash of the Beach Boys, ZZ Top, Elton John and the Rolling Stones thrown in. The musical taste here (major generalisation of course) is refreshingly 'old school' from the 1960's and 1970's and all the classic artists rather than the one hit wonders. I haven't heard any rap or grunge anywhere. There are however a large amount of religious stations which we quickly bypass.