MONDAY 16 MARCH
- Taxi to airport at 12:20 pm
- Terminal 5 – first time.
- Check-in immediate at Fast Bag Drop – maybe 2 minutes to process.
- Security quite thorough – about 7 minutes, including queue.
- Sit in shopping mall on air-side, join WiFi hotspot network which (it says) operates in McDonalds and Starbucks. Should be good for US
- Board BA 299 painlessly. Plenty of luggage storage space. I have attaché case and very small laptop bag.
- Service, seat, food – all lovely.
- Staff all wonderful – friendly and dignified.
- Make notes for my speaking events.
- Nap.
- Arrive Chicago
- Immigration queue well-managed and very short.
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- Luggage comes quickly. Waved through by Customs.
- Hertz shuttle to their compound. She confirms that they are giving me a hybrid car, Toyota Prius, as requested. Please God, let it be a nice colour.
- It’s metallic black – perfect.
- This is a Star Fleet shuttle craft. Spend 30 minutes trying to figure out how it starts. It’s incredible.
- Drive to Chicago O’Hare Garden Hotel, using the MapQuest directions I had printed.
- They have my boxes from Amazon.com – all the equipment for this adventure:
US cell phone
Digital camera
Digital voice recorder (to make book notes in car)
Car charger for phone
New high tech rechargeable batteries for camera (I brought own US
Ab roller – for hotel room exercise. (Will return with six-pack abs)
Audio book – ‘Eat, Pray, Love’
Five copies of my book to give away
- Shirts are really creased – ugh, will I have to iron them?
- Spend time working out how all this new stuff works.
- Go to bed at 1 am
TUESDAY 17 MARCH
- Did I sleep? Not sure.
- Arise at 5:30 am
- Complimentary hotel continental breakfast will be served in lobby. I’m looking forward to croissants and fresh rolls.
- I can see why it’s free. It’s little refined sugar doughnuts and white bread.
- Walk two blocks to archetypal American diner.
- Have omelette, toast and giant hash brown, decaff coffee, orange juice.
- I will be eating a lot of eggs in diners on my road trip. It’s okay, the British Egg Council just announced that they’ve discovered that eggs don’t really raise your cholesterol much – and they should know.
- Install satnav in car.
- Mill around hotel room.
- Go for drive to my first venue, to check it out.
- Return to hotel.
- Relax in armchair.
- Sleep.
- Feel a wave of exhaustion.
- Hurriedly shower and dress in smart clothes.
- Drive to venue.
- Meet Rev Alan Taylor and his delightful family. They take me to dinner.
- There’s a problem – due to an illness, there was no publicity. Due to a death, everyone’s gone to a wake.
- The Rev promises me that if I return to
- Freelance local cameraman arrives and films session (see below re documentary).
- Run through a practice session with the Rev and a limited audience, and discuss content afterwards. This is very helpful – as this tour is the first time that I’m addressing an American audience. How different will it be from British and Australian audiences?
- Sleep.
WEDNESDAY 18 MARCH
- Awake early, skip hotel breakfast, go straight to Mac’s Diner.
- In hotel room, rationalise my luggage, so that I need carry only one bag into a hotel, when stay just one night.
- In hotel, internet can only be reached through two cables in lobby.
- Try to add credit to my T-mobile US cell phone, on-line. It accepts that I live in country UK
- Phone T-mobile on my grey Motorola Razr US cell phone to discuss, reach call centre (possibly in Mexico
- My black Motorola Razr UK
- India
- I cancel both transactions, and hang up both phones. I need to think about this. T-Mobile want to charge me $1-60 per minute for INCOMING calls from the UK
- Slightly cross, pack, shower and depart for Kalamazoo
- I don’t like to make sweeping generalizations, but Chicago
- Glad to leave the city and hit the highway. My road trip has begun.
- Stop at a Starbucks and, using that hotspot membership I bought in Heathrow, successfully have Skype video call with film maker who wants to make documentary about my road trip. He commissioned the Chicago
- Arrive in Kalamazoo
- Nice to relax – no hurry.
- Amy says: “Shouldn’t you be getting ready?”
- “S--t!” I forgot the time change.
- Hurriedly shower and dress in smart clothes.
- Rev Jill McAllister is wonderful and so welcoming.
- Turnout is excellent and American audience all laugh at appropriate points. (Thank God!)
- Dinner in restaurant – nachos.
- Fall asleep instantly.
THURSDAY 19 MARCH
- Drive to Bloomington, Indiana
- Check-in to Travelodge. Nice view of someone’s front porch a few yards from my window. Keep curtains closed.
- Shower and change.
- Rev Bill Breedon is so welcoming.
- Nice turnout, wonderful discussion afterwards, including about Afghanistan
- Three of them take me to a bar to eat.
- Return to Travelodge – fall asleep instantly.
FRIDAY 20 MARCH
- ‘Deluxe’ free breakfast at Travelodge is somewhat disappointing.
- Only a short drive today – 66 miles to
- Spend two hours in Starbucks en-route, doing e-mail and using the Internet.
- Not using hotel in Indianapolis
- Go to Chinese restaurant. Forget about American portion sizes and over-order. Place in takeaway box.
- Go to Walgreens (for bad throat) and Target for a few toiletries.
- Arrive at All Souls Unitarian Church
- My talk is in the main hall. I am too intimidated to stand at the pulpit, so stand at floor level.
- Excellent turnout. Discussion over coffee and cookies in dining hall. Very nice people.
- Leave at 9 pm
- Three hour drive to Columbus, Ohio
- Travelodge car park is full of huge, intimidating pick-up trucks. Park hybrid car in-between two of them.
- Check-in to Travelodge and go to room.
- My throat hurts and I feel run down.
- Lift toilet seat. Ugh – someone has left a deposit.
- Inspect room – looks like the room’s been cleaned, but cleaner forgot to clean toilet. It is 1 am
- Eat remains of pad thai and fried fish and crawl into bed.
SATURDAY 21 MARCH
- Throat hurts.
- Breakfast is marginally better, but no decaff coffee.
- Try to make decaff in room. Ugh – the coffee has not been emptied from last use.
- It doesn’t work properly anyway.
- Update blog.
- I need to get out of here.
- Drive to Cleveland – Red Roof Inn.
- Eat a brief meal in Red Lobster.
- Sleep, with terrible throat.
SUNDAY 22 MARCH
- Awake with bad throat and aching body.
- Go to Walgreens pharmacy and buy all sorts of stuff.
- Vente latte from Starbucks.
- Go to UU Church of Rocky River.
- My event is at 9:15 am, before the Sunday service at 10:30.
- The venue is packed – they are overflowing out the doors.
- I recover enough to deliver my talk – the audience is wonderful.
- Return to hotel, pack, and set-off for Bethlehem, PA.
- My next event is on Monday evening, so it feels like I have two days off.
- Get as far as Milesburg PA (more than half way), see a sign for Ramada Inn and decide to call it a day.
- The Ramada Inn is a huge two storey hotel, but the car park has about three cars in it.
- Check-in.
- After Travelodge, this place has an air of dignity and class, but eerily quiet – it’s deserted. The corridor is the longest I’ve ever seen in a hotel.
- The room is comfortable and elegant.
- I want a proper meal – GPS takes me to Twin Kisses restaurant. It’s a modest structure, with many pick-up trucks outside. Inside, many heads in baseball caps turn to look at Middle Eastern man in hybrid car with Illinois plates, sitting in car park.
- I don’t see any credit card signs. I know that many of these independent places don’t take credit cards. I have only $13 in my wallet. I don’t want to go in there and, in full earshot of everyone, ask:’Do you take Visa?’
- They are all watching me, wondering what I am doing.
- I re-progamme the GPS and drive 20 miles to a Red Lobster.
- Eat a proper meal of salad and grilled fish, with vegetables.
- Return to Ramada Inn, write article for BBC News website.
- Sleep contentedly.
saw you on BBC site and wondered if you'd be coming to NH. You're not. It is sad that you are taking a driving tour of the US and all you will see of New England is CT and Boston, both of which hardly count. I hope you consider a repeat trip with some time in NH.
I see you are looking for a spot in MN. Yours is exactly the sort of event that the Friends School hosts a lot of. You might see if they were interested or knew some one who might be.
Thank you for doing this tour. I hope you have fun and are treated to all the best of America while you are here.
Posted by: a commenter | March 26, 2009 at 02:28 AM
I hope your throat is feeling better. What a downer! You're a real trooper, though! Hang in there. God bless you.
Posted by: Yanitan | March 26, 2009 at 05:15 AM
Looking forward to when you're down in New Orleans. Drive safe, stay well, and have fun! Not many of us get the opportunity in life to act as catalysts for meaningful change.
Posted by: Daniel Brown | March 26, 2009 at 09:59 PM
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
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