At Fort Lauderdale airport I got my bag and bike checked in with no problems and I settled in to wait for my flight to Madrid. It was delayed about an hour but I wasn’t bothered as I had a long layover in Copenhagen, sitting in the departures lounge in Florida as opposed to Denmark…
In Vero Beach I was fortunate enough to be staying with the parents of an old friend who were kind enough to take me in for a couple of nights. Jackie and Pat were very welcoming and I felt very spoilt. The first night I arrived Jackie invited some friends over for a delicious dinner…
I originally only planned to stay one night in Gainesville but when my hosts Nicole and Jack said it was ok to stop longer I jumped at the chance. I’d done seven days straight from New Orleans and was happy to give my muscles a chance to rest. I spent a nice day in Gainesville,…
In Mobile I was very glad I’d been lucky enough to be hosted by Ken, not least because it was the coldest night I’d traveled through since last winter. The temperature got down to around minus 6 Celsius, which is no fun in the tent. Riding the next morning it felt even colder with the…
For my first night in Lafayette I was hosted by Becky and John, who were unfailingly kind. They and their son, who was also visiting with his own family, gave me a lot of good advice for the city. They also assured me I shouldn’t be worried about alligators as it was winter. This was…
Given the choice, I probably wouldn’t select the America’s Best Value Inn in Seguin to spend my Christmas day again, or indeed any other day. It wasn’t the worst hotel I’ve stayed in by any stretch but it was certainly the worst value. If I’m paying over $40 a night for a room I expect…
Riding through Sanderson, it seemed that, like most other small rural American towns in this area without a tourist industry, it was slowly dying. A lot of the businesses had closed down or were for sale and there was no market, super or otherwise, outside of the petrol stations. I was a little worried I’d…
In Safford I was fortunate enough to be staying with the Larson family. They were kind enough to put me up for a couple of nights so I could rest my legs while a storm blew through. The Larsons were Mormons which was quite interesting for me as I’d never knowingly met a Mormon before.…
Riding off the canal paths in Phoenix was a fairly worrying affair. Huge pickup trucks would whizz by very close and drivers didn’t seem too courteous. Luckily the day before I’d covered most of the city and quite soon I was out of the really urban areas. I was merrily riding along following Googlemaps’ recommended…
All of a sudden I rounded a corner and I was in the suburbs of Las Vegas, disappointingly I could have been anywhere; the neon doesn’t start so far out. That said it didn’t take long for me to pass a casino, I resisted the temptation. My first task was to find where I was…
