A blog post written by Dan

A blog post from Dan...

Well it’s about time I wrote a little piece on this fantastic blog that my wonderful wife is writing.

This morning I woke early and went for a walk, a short distance away is Mexico Beach. At 7.30am this morning the sky was bright blue, the sea was in and the white sands are almost too white to look at without sunglasses. It does not get much better than this. Today we are just relaxing and enjoying the sun. We have no traveling to do for 4 days and even then we have allowed a further 11 days to see the gulf coast before we make a start on Texas.

Well there is no much point me writing about what we have been up to as Bree is doing such a wonderful job so I will just tell you what I have learnt so far on my trip and what’s been really good.

Luke was perfect on our 10 and a half hour plane trip, anyone that knows him will tell you he can be a real handful.

Everyone we have spoken to so far has been really nice and friendly, kind, and generous. Pat and Jim who met us at the RV rental place gave us the perfect start with help, hospitably and support. Others have invited us for dinner after talking for just a few minutes.

America is a beautiful place. We are in no hurry so we are taking the small roads and soaking in the countryside.

Our Sat Nav is the best buy I have ever made, without it we would have our heads in maps half of our journey. Now we type in the exact campsite and drive. Her name is Louise. She has only stopped talking to us once so far and we still did not get lost.

Food is really BIG over here. They advertise on the motorways all the fast food places just as you are turning off. In the UK they advertise the great things to see!

Also they have drive through mini supermarkets and even drive through ATMs.

We went to an all you can eat restaurant for just over a fiver including steaks! Luke paid 90p for as much food as he could eat. (And he did) the price includes deserts.

Driving an RV on a different side of the road for the first time was hard, Bree must have said a hundred times “ get over, get over” now it’s a lot better, we have done 1200 miles already.

You don’t need to keep any cupboards tidy in an RV because 15 seconds into your trip everything goes where its wants to anyway (even more so if I am driving)

The RV has cruise control, I have never used this before but it’s so cool. Just set the speed and the RV does the rest. You still have to steer though!

Emptying the poo (yes it has to be done and seems to be my job) is easy and nothing like on the Robin Williams movie”RV.”

I don’t want to come home.

I am trying to drink less fizzy drinks but Dr Pepper is as low 9p a tin.

When a shuttle takes off it burns half a ton of fuel a second.

The space shuttle flies at four miles a second once its picked up speed!

Going to a maxim security prison in America and visiting someone on death row is an experience I will never forget. My first memory is seeing the miles and miles of razor wire sparking in the sun.

All the parks and expensive things to do are waste of money, the best things, and the things that the kids will remember are all the free stuff we will do. There are so many state parks over here with outstanding views and educational things to learn about.