SATURDAY 27th DECEMBER 2003

MIAMI ROADTRIP PART 1: PENN TO SC

We left rather late. Later than the 7am we had planned a few days earlier. The Lady wanted to hang with her father – so we agreed to leave at 1pm.

We left just before 2pm and rushed towards Chesapeake Bridge and Tunnel along Interstate 13. Along the road we found rolling irrigation devices 100ft wide towering above mile wide farm fields. Silos formed mountain ranges in the distance.

We travelled from Pennsylvania through Delaware and Maryland. I felt quite at home as I passed Kent, Sussex, Somerset counties but got confused when I noticed signs for Glasgow & Dover.

The sun came down and shone through the woods beside the road. We weren't going to make the bridge in time for sunset. Mile long flotillas of black birds flew across our path as the sky changed to orange. High above passenger jets scratched the sky.

We made the bridge close to 6pm: 19 miles of bridge and tunnel. We looked out at the horizon as we drove alone on the bridge. It was beautiful: Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain - a narrow band of all the colours of the rainbow stretched up into the sky above the far away land.

The rest stop on the Bridge closed at 6pm - we pulled into a BP gas station on the other side in Virginia Beach and were recommended by a local to try out Chicks Oyster Shack - great seafood, local style - she-crab stew a speciality. We drank a beer at the bar and had a sneaky fag (as we legally could) and immediately felt sleepy.

No matter, from Virginia Beach we took the I58 to the I95 junction at Emporia. We drove on through the dark night -“ keeping up with the 80mph traffic. When we hit North Carolina we took a judgement call - we weren't going to reach Charleston until 3am so we decided to stop the other side of the South Carolina border.

At the border we hit South of the Border. A large trashy service stop / shopping mall / fairground / neon monster. You get signs of South of the Border about 160 miles either side of the stop and Americans told me that you see so many signs that you expect an amazing place - but find it's a shit hole. Well, they never saw it when it was closed - with all the bright lights, it looked fantastic!

PART 2