Monday 26th November- The Bone Yard and then to Pheonix

A slow start and latish breakfast today and over breakfast we had a chat with the Hotel mine host, a very nice lady whose husband had at one time become addicted to gambling but seems to have got over it. There was also another guy whose mother had just arrived from Kent for about a week and so our speed of breakfast today was rather slow as we also talked about the US elections, poverty in America and a few other items.
We left the Hotel around 10.30 and drove through the side roads back to PIMA, where we were yesterday, but today we wanted to visit the Bone Yard where the US send many of its old and very old military aeroplanes to die and be cut up for scrap. This a separate bus tour and passports are required as you are going in to a military base.

The bus was full with about 40/50 people and a short drive later we arrived and there were aeroplanes everywhere. The guide was a retired Military pilot and naturally so much about all the aeroplanes there. They currently number around 4000 aircraft of everything from small fighter jet aircraft up to Hercules freighters and B 747 and even an old TWA Constellation. The aircraft they used for teaching the NASA space crews weightlessness was also there and this was a converted B 707.
After about 80 odd minutes we had seen enough as they were going to show and we went back and had a light snack in the cafe before heading off again avoiding motorways to get to Phoenix four our next stop where we plan some R & R for a few days after so much travelling.
We arrived in the rush hour and finally got to the Legacy Golf Hotel and Resort around 5.30 pm and just a little to late for us to go shopping and so we tried the on site restaurant where the food was very good.
This resort is very nice and similar to area we have stayed at a friends house in Sarasota, with various size of apartments and houses surrounded by a golf course.
So over the next three days we shall swim, rest and generally take it easy until it is time to move on to Sedona and then Monument Valley which is about six to seven hours by road.
So there will not be any Blog updates until the end of the week as we will be doing the same everyday in and around the Hotel.

Sunday 25th November- Jenson and Pima day out

JB with is well earned Champagne

We were up early to watch the Brazilian GP from Sao Paulo and needless to say it did not dissapoint and was one of the most exciting races of the season. We had rain,good and bad tyre choices and a few accidents but Jenson Button won the race in brilliant fashion which we were both delighted to see.
We had a light breakfast and then departed to the PIMA Museum which host the third largest display of historic aircraft in the USA. The have over 300 aircraft either within the various buildings and outside on rather a large site.
We opted for the trolley tour as the walking trip is 2.5 miles and as it was rather warm, around 28 degrees C, and this gave us a great tour with a very informative commentary.
For lunch we used the on site cafe and the food was very good but not cheap.

Trailer Park on outskirts of Tucson

The journey to and from the site enabled us to see how some of the poorer and also richer people live, some great big beautiful houses and lots of people living in RV's and Trailer parks.
Anyway, we will have to return to the museum on Monday as we wish to do the 'Boneyard' tour which is on a military base where they store almost 4000 aircraft of varying types.
Tonight we enjoyed the Pork Chops and then watched a film on TV called, Lost in Translation, we actually own this movie and it is all filmed in Japan.
And so to bed.

Saturday 24th November- Tombstone or bust

In yesterday blog I mentioned the extortionate price of fuel here, but let me put this in perspective  The US drivers are paying currently around $ 3.50 per US Gallon which equates after conversion to Sterling and US Gallons to Litres to a price of £ 0.63 per Litre, this is hight as it is usually around £ 0.50 per Litre.  So its not to bad compared to the around £ 1.40 we pay or almost three times as much.
The drive form Deming to Tombstone on the Interstate took about three and half hours after a fuel stop and the road was straight and with lots of mountains in the distance. The wind was quite strong at times and there were signs saying watch out for sand storms. Jennifer spotted several birds of prey but from the distance it was not clear what they were.
We arrived at Tombstone at around 13.00 and walked around for about two hours or so and had lunch in a saloon. This place is like a theme park or as Jennifer put it, a living museum. There were many people dressed the part with their guns hanging down, but this is American History,
The place was packed with holidaymakers following the Thanksgiving holidays and so we decided to leave about 14.45 as we had about a ninety minute drive to our hotel in Tucson and then we have to do some food shopping for the next two nights.
We arrived at the Hotel around 4.45 and checked in to our room which this time comes with a complete kitchen and then headed off to a local store for some food.
Perhaps we were a bit late but the fish did not look so good and so we bought some crab cakes and a bottle of wine. Tomorrow we go to the PIMA Aircraft museum  after we have watched the Brazilian GP and lets hope the Jenson wins.
The weather here is fine at around 28 degrees C and a lot of blue.

Friday 23rd November- Alpine to Deming New Mexico

A quick breakfast at the Hotel and then down the road for 30 miles to a place called Marfa which turned out to be closed as it was still rather early in the day at about 0900. We had planned to have a coffee and walk around but it was very windy and at 7 degrees Centigrade was a little on the chilly side.
We purchased some petrol at the extortionate price of US 3.49 per gallon, it was US 3.09 earlier in the week, the price must have gone up due to the Thanksgiving Holidays when everybody travels, 45 million people were expected to travel on the couple of days leading up to Thanksgiving day.
The road was quiet and flat and straight for mile after mile and we nearly knocked over a dear and her fawn, we also saw several coyote's and then an airship, so quite an interesting drive really.
We eventually had to leave the slower roads and head for the Interstate 10 which goes through El Paso and it was a short while before we reached here that we remembered that we would cross to a new time zone and gain one hour.
By one pm, or 12 really, we reached El Paso and was a little peck'ish and did not fancy the usual sandwich and then we saw a sign for a Texas BBQ and so in we went. The girl explained their process and what you can have which is largley brisket of beef, pork loin or ribs and turkey and variants on that. We chose the Turkey and Pork Ribs and both were delicious together with new potatoes, coleslaw and Jennifer had the Corn on the cob.

El Paso is a huge place and at times the interstate runs 300 yards from the Mexican Border and we did encounter two Border Patrol road blocks en route today. After leaving El Paso on the Interstate we decided to leave it after about ten miles and took the country roads which was much nicer. We also passed through a small town called Hatch which names them selves the Chile capital of the world. We also passed mile after mile and Pecan Nut trees until final we arrived in a place called Deming where we plan to break the journey for the day before heading off to Toombstone and Tucson tomorrow.
Having had a good lunch we will have only a light snack tonight and although we did think of going to the cinema we decided we were too tired after the 380 mile drive.

Big Bend National Park on US Thanksgiving Day

The alarm went off at around 06.30, too early really but needs must.

The road to Big Bend straight as far as you can see

A quick brekkie in the Hotel and after buying some very expensive, for the US, fuel we were on the road by 08.00 or perhaps earlier and we drove in to the centre of Alpine and looked for the US 118 to the park and then the signs were saying BIG BEND NATIONAL PARK 105 miles and then we were on our way. At first the road is relatively flat and as the minutes went by the road began to change with large mountains in the distance and roads stretching out for miles in front of us. We stopped a couple of times for some photos and passed a couple of small villages. There are a lot people who live in RV's in this area, actually lots in the USA all over, as its cheaper than buying a house.
So after about a 100 minute drive we arrived at the main gate and then showed our pass and we were inside. We drove three of the mail routes in the park and stopping to read the various bits of information and also for some photos. We finally visited the famous river of the Rio Grand which is the border between USA and Mexico where Jennifer went down the boat ramp and checked it out.

Jennifer in the Rio Grand River

We also went to the visitor centre and chatted to the staff and had a coffee of indistinguishable taste and a snack to keep the taste buds happy. We then went to the main visitor centre where they were serving a special Turkey Lunch to celebrate Thanksgiving Day and when we looked at the all you can eat buffet we were not impressed and decided to stick with our Brie and biscuits outside in the fresh air rather than in the rather hot and airless dining room.

The scenery in and around the park is fabulous with great mountains and canyons wide sprawling areas with mountains in to the distance. There are mountain Lions and bears, not that we saw any, although we did see several birds of prey. By 14.30 it was time to head back and we took it slower this time and eventually came to another Border Police Control Post where they checked out our passports, thank heavens we had them, and asking question about our past travels, presume they had noting better to do.
The weather was fantastic today with a solid blue sky and a final temperature of around 25 degrees Centigrade.
We arrived back in Alpine around 16.30 and drove around to see the town but most of it was closed due to the Thanksgiving Holidays but the town is not inspiring. The back to the Hotel where thank heavans the internet was working again and so Noel booked Hotels for the next few days of out journey and Jennifer plated a ham salad.
Tomorrow we again must leave early for Marfa and then on to Deming in New Mexico as a technical stop en route to our next destination Tucson , Arizona.

Wednesday 21st November- Del Rio to Alpine Texas

Following our late evening we were a little slow of the mark this morning. We had to fill up the car with gas, oops Petrol which is always a challenge as most of the pumps are automatic with self serve, just add your credit card and give us your zip code. We don't have a Zip and so by the time you have found out you need one then its back to the attendant, leave the card then fill up the car and then return to settle up.
The road to Alpine is just one long straight road called US 90 which at times passes close to the Mexican Border. There are quite a few trucks going up and down marker Border Patrol and and at one point we came to a road block where the Border guys checked us out for II's.
We came across a sign saying Judge John Dread Museum which we duly visited and it the real stuff this time (the real hanging Judge) with original buildings and lots of history  and well worth the visit. The saloon he had was very small and would only accommodate about 12 to 14 cowboys and the signs saying' no spittin on the floor' so we didn't.

We actually saw three large moving cargo trains today, usually we see only carriages or bulk carrying units and no tug but this time, boy three complete trains under way and one very long one of about one mile long being pulled by four engines.
We arrived in Alpine at the Holiday Inn, looks new from the outside and more expensive than it should be but this is due to the Thanksgiving Holidays we guess and lack of other goodish hotels. We weren't sure whether to visit the diner across the street later but the the girls at the front desk were not impressed by this place so then we decided to cater in and one hour later we had Tilapia fillets, mashed potatoes and peas and a bottle of Chardonnay ready for the evening meal, thanks to the microwave in the room.
As time is beginning to run out we held a board meeting to plan the rest of the trip so as to ensure we do everything we want to but also have a couple of days in Scottsdale taking it easy whilst a quick rush in to Phoenix to collect Noels new Amex card.
The fish tasted Ok, not like the fresh stuff but better than nothing we guess.
Tomorrow we have to be an early morning as to get to the Big Bend Park which is 90 miles each way to get there plus quite a bit of driving around the park and so it promises to be a long and perhaps tiring days but certainly interesting. Unfortunately all of the accommodation in the park is full up due to the holidays.
See you tomorrow

Tuesday 20th November- Austin to Del Rio

It was hard leaving our friends in Austin but we have places to go and things to see and in view of the Thanksgiving Holidays it was necessary to book Hotels in advance and so with three nights of Hotels booked and paid for, the offer to stay for Thanksgiving had to be rejected this time. Oh yes we shall be back to Austin as there is an awful lot to see and do.

As before we took the main roads rather than the Interstate (Motorways to you) and passed through some great looking towns called Bertram and Llano both of which need to be revisited. We also passed by the Buchanan Dam which is extremely large and very impressive. Our target was to reach Fredericksburg where we had visited once before and is a German Immigrant town like New Braunfels but much, much nicer. When we visited their last time it was wet and grey and nobody on the streets. This time it was blue and very warm and their were loads of tourists wandering around. We stopped for a coffee and a cake and took some photos and then left there about one pm and stopped one hour later for a 'leftover from yesterdays lunch' lunch by the side of the road at a picnic area overlooking a stream. Suddenly we were approached by some wasps and Jennifer thought she had been stung as it had gone up the trouser leg of her jeans and she thumped it and it fell down and then perished under the full weight of her foot.
The journey so far had been really nice with hills and trees turning to an Autumn shade and together with some rather nice ranch houses, and ranches of course, it was a very pleasant drive. 
After a while the nice bits peter'ed out and it became flat with some undulation and not to many trees but never mind we are en route to a nice place. We located our Hotel in Del Rio and decided that we would eat out and located not a bad steak house where we enjoyed a New York strip and a glass of wine and then back to the Hotel for another glass of wine provided free by the Hotel in their bar.
We then did some blogging and emailing etc and then a bit late to bed perhaps.

Monday 19th November- A quiet day at the office

A good long in was called for this morning but this only lasted until about 0830 and we were ready for breakfast.
John was having to work today and so Noel did emails and photos in the morning whilst Jennifer did the washing. We departed down town to a rather nice food store http://www.centralmarket.com/Home.aspxwe we had visited last time we were here for a few odds and ends, we could could have gone to any supermarket near the house but this place is fantastic.
We wandered around and stared at the choice of fish, shrimps and all the other goodies and then looked at the meat counter which made you think, how could we not do this in the UK. The choice of cheese and then the wine selection was excellent, although a little pricey.. We had a light lunch, well that was what we thought it would be, and but had to keep half of the salad and wrap as there was far to much and this would do us for tomorrow en route to Del Rio, close to the Mexican border.

We did some sorting in the afternoon to prepare us or our departure tomorrow and then went to a new Movie and eat in establishment where we watched the new film called Lincoln with Daniel Day Lewis where we were served meals at our cinema seats whilst watching the film and it was a truly amazing and new experiences. All details at http://themoviehouse.com/
The food was very good and the staff did and excellent quite service with customers although Jennifer found it a little disconcerting.
We are going to try a house swap with John and Denise sometime as we like Austin and the surrounds and need more time to experience the place.
As mentioned before the film is extremely good and the director was Steven Spielberg and he always does good stuff.

Sunday 18th November- Its the big day today

A very quick journey to the race track at about 50 minutes for the 40 odd miles from Georgetown. There were more cops and one way streets and the car park was not so full as yesterday, but this would not last.
We agreed with John and Denise that they should take the DHL box tickets as just sitting next to us we would not be able to communicate at all for the the noise of the formula one cars. So they went off and we and walked to took our seats and met up with a group of three very large Austin Texas Cops and had a chat to them about the day and they were pleased to be there for the fun and the extra money they were getting.
The people on the stand around us were good fun, a father(70 ish) and son (40 ish) were great to talk to and discuss the finer points of Formula 1 racing and who would win etc. The race was excellent and Hamilton trailed Vettel for about 40 laps then took him well but Vettel complained, rather silly really about the manoeuvre, which looked good to everyone else. JB dropped from 12th grid position to about 17th then pulled him self  together and finally reached 5th position which was good, clearly something wrong with the car of the driver, or both?

THE US AIR FORCE HISTORIC FLYPAST

The traffic leaving the circuit was rather bad and took quite a while to extract ourselves and then they put us on a road in completely the wrong direction which made us rather late to get back to Georgetown and also tired for the concert that John had booked with the ‘Wallflowers’ Bob Dillon’s son and his group and so after a brief discussion we decided to forgo the concert which in one way was a shame but quite frankly we were all dog tired after a day of sun and 78 degrees of heat.

So we had a light snack and watched TV and then went to bed rather exhausted. A brilliant day indeed. 

Saturday 17th November- Qualifying today

An early start for the 50 minute drive to the COTA (Circuit Of The Americas) track which looks in pretty good shape considering the time they had to prepare the place. There were plenty of cops, sheriffs and military personal to control the crowds and it looks pretty busy today with more cars than yesterday. According to news info  there was 65000 at the Friday practise and more expected today.
After watching for a while John and I made our way to the DHL box to watch the qualifying and left the girls to watch from the other seats. We both felt a little guilty but did press for if there was any empty places but none were available. The noise is amazing from these cars and you need ear plugs or noise reduction headphones a and we were lucky to have both.
We watched qualifying through a glass of Chardonnay which seemed to i, improve their performance and was disappointed the JB had not done better but  he has the race to prove himself.  The three stages of qualifying was good to watch and Vettel pulled off his usual trick and with Mark Webber second and Hamilton third, and this should be a good race as Hamilton has nothing to lose and with Vettel with everything to lose and this is now set up for a good race tomorrow.
We left the track and headed home to Georgetown and what with the fresh air and sun all were a little tired, and Denise made some excellent pizzas and then we watched TV for a while and departed to the bedroom ready for an even earlier start tomorrow.

We would mention that the track and environs are well prepared and there is ample choice of food outlets and and all very expensive as you are not allowed to take food in to the track. It would be good for another time to get parking near your seat and then walk back out of the track to the cart park for your own food. oh well perhaps another time

Friday 16th November- Lets go racing

We left home around 0800 for the track and arrived with plenty of time to spare as the cops were controlling everything and doing not bad job.
Our hosts had though connections been able to obtain four tickets for us to go to the VIP lounge which we did as apart from great views their was also free booze and food.
We spent the day watching the cars practise and the sound is quite exhilarating and you definitely need ear plugs to keep the sound away. The teams were all testing tyres and set ups and it was a really a great place to watch the action. By late afternoon the action was slowing and we were all invited to other friends of John and Denise who we had met earlier as they have one of these big American RV's about 40 feet long and this thing contains everything you possibly need. We stayed for some  while and enjoyed some chile  and beer before getting a lift back to the car park on their buggy. Dick you to have a senior role at Dell and now he is retired he spends time in his RV and also has two cars for racing.
We got back home to Georgetown and pretty much went to bed straight away after watching a little TV.

Tomorrow we have to be up a little earlier so ass to get to the track on time.

Thursday 15th November- Austin we are on our way

We planned a late'ish departure from San Antonio to miss the morning commuter traffic but soon after 1000 we left the hotel for the approx two hour drive en route. We planned a little shopping on the way to our friends who live in a very beautiful house in a lovely area called Georgetown where we arrived around 1400 pm.
Not long after we were checking out some Chardonnay and shrimp before heading down town to see a show called Esther Follies , which we have visited last time we were here, but wanted to go again. Friends of John had suggested meeting at a farm which was holding a special event but the food was not available when we arrived and so we left for a nice Italian restaurant in town. 
We had a really great evening at the Follies and boy could they do well in London and it has a real fixture of current and historic content, not really rude but near the knuckle sometimes.
Then a quick diversion to pick up some special tickets for the GP from DHL who have a box and so we did this and headed home for an early night as tomorrow would be an early one as well.
At least the weather for the next few days looks good with blue skies and temperatures around 20 degrees C, Ideal for watching sport.

Wednesday 14th November- Not a good weather day

River Walk in San Antonio

Apart from being made to jump out of bed as the rubbish men came to collect junk at around 05.30 it became clear later on that the weather had not watched last nights Weather Channel which showed grey at first and then by 11.00 sun. After waiting around for the sun to appear we gave up and went to plan B which is to go to New Braunfels but take the long way round to get there. San Antonio river walk is well worth it if the sun is shining but it looks unlikely to happen.

New Braunfels 

So we took toe long way round going first south, the east and finally north until we reached our goal at around 13.30. We did try to stop for a coffee en-route at a Cafe, it said outside, only it was a bar and they only do coffee on weekends?
We arrived in New Braunfels and found a cafe for lunch and had good sandwich and across the room there was one, eventually two, younger guys looking after very young babies. Jennifer made beeline and it would appear to be a gay couple who have come from Sweden to adopt these two kids who were born only two weeks ago and and they were hoping to get passports soon so as to be able to take the babies back to Sweden. No the ideal of arrangements as far as my views are concerned, but I guess that is life.
We walked around the town which is named after a town in Germany North of Frankfurt where many of the original residents came from but we have been to Braunfels in Germany and the one here is USA is not a patch on the one in Germany.

Yes we were here

We took a slow route back to the Hotel where we arrived around 16.30 and decided we would try the Hotel light meal which tonite would be Chefs Salad and Hamburgers and also German sausage. The food was fine , perhaps a little on the cool side but accompanied by a glass of red wine. I decided to have en extra hot dog and asked Jennifer to squirt some tomato ketchup on the roll and sausage and unfortunately she pressed it so hard it shot over the roll and down all over my trousers, oh well some washing tonight then.


Tomorrow we head back to Austin for a long weekend of Motor Racing and pop concerts and so the Blog may be delayed a little but I will see what I can do.

Tuesday 13th November- Dollar Rent a car/The Alamo & American Express

It was rather grey and overcast this morning when we awoke but never mind we said, as we had been requested by Dollar Rent a Car In Las Vegas that after approx one month we should change the car and update the contract and so first thing this morning I phoned Dollar and explained the position and she said, Yes bring the car to the San Antonio Airport facility to update the contract and change the car. In the past when visiting airports in the US there have always been large signboards saying 'rental car this way' and so we did not check on the address, big mistake. We arrived at the Airport and NO signs referring to rental cars and so we looked up Dollar on the Sat Nav and hey its no problem except when we got there is showed Advantage Rent a Car and No its not the same company but Dollar moved from here last year and if you take a left and a right it simple to find except that it wasn't but one phone call to Dollar had us sorted. we arrived and checked in and the girl on the desk said is there something wrong with the car, I said NO , then she said why are we changing it? I said because we have been requested to, Oh she said well then you see that line of Ford Crown Victoria's over there go and choose one and then we can swap over which we did. A few minutes later the guy checking in the cars said, is there something wrong with your car and we said NO, then why did you change it over he asked and we said because you told us to, Oh well but we now have the same type of car only this time its silver in colour only more miles on the clock than the other one.
After this we headed down town and parked up for $4.00 per day, a little cheaper than London, and then walked the streets of San Antonio only it was rather cool and windy and so as we had read from the information books about a film covering the history of the Alamo and so we went to find it at the Imax and and the 50 minute film was quite well made except this was a disaster just like Dunkirk  and from the jaws of defeat they found success. Thank heavens for Hollywood as they made it seem like the greatest victory ever.
During the film it had started raining quite heavily but after we did a trolley trip around town and then decided that as it had started to rain, just like it did when we visited here two years ago, that we would call it a day and return tomorrow when better weather is forecast.
En-route back to the Hotel we visited a  the HEB Supermarket and purchased some salad stuff to be used with the prime rib steaks we have  and after battling the evening traffic we arrived back at the Hotel and went to the rooms to check email only to find two emails  from AMEX saying your card has been compromised and please call urgently, which I did.It would appear that somebody has run amok with Noel's Amex card in Europe and so it had to be cancelled immediately. We need a new card and so after some lengthy discussions, where its not like the advert where a girl arrives in a skimpy dress five minutes later with your new card but are you near Dallas or Houston?.I said NO but there appears to be a an AMEX office in San Antonio, but it is not a card issuing office they said, and so after further discussions we will collect a new card for Noel in Phoenix Arizona in about ten days and in the meantime we will use Jennifer's  Amex card. 
Oh the pleasures of travel.
On the the bright side the rib eye steak from Costco and the Malbec from the same source were superb whilst the Ben & Jerry's Phish Food ice cream finished the dinner off extremely well. Oh well lets hope the weather is better tomorrow and then perhaps we can get some reasonable photos.

Monday 12th November- En Route to San Antonio Texas

A bright sunny but cold start to the day, it was about 6 degrees C at 0930 but never mind. We packed the car followed the route through the middle of Dallas on the Interstate (Motorway) and then headed initially in the direction of Waco, Texas ( you must remember the Waco Massacre) and then followed the route via Austin and finally to San Antonio some 6.5 hours later after a lunch and fuel stop. At the gas ooops mean petrol station Noel went to discuss the payment process as some petrol stations when using a card at the pump allow you to put in your credit card but some require a US Zip code which my credit card does not have and so each time you have to visit the cash desk and explain the matter. I had to wait a couple of minutes whilst two teenagers purchased their sweets etc and then they left at which time I started talking to the attendant and no problem but as I left the shop the two teenage girls were waiting for me outside  and said , Excuse me Sir , if you do not mind where do you come from?, I said London and they both said Awesome!! which seems to be an important word in this part of the world based upon the amount of times it is used.  
The traffic in San Antonio was very  slow due to a couple of minor road accidents but we arrived at our Hotel around 4.30 pm and settled in for the evening and had the lamb chops and Caesar salad for dinner with a couple of glasses of 'Fat Bastard 'French Chardonnay.
There are about 100 TV channels available and when you flick through to see what on at least 70% are showing adverts whilst the rest are showing  a load of rubbish, thanks heavens for UK TV.Tomorrow we plan to visit down town and do the river walk which we could not do last time as it poured with rain whilst we were here.

Sunday 11th November- Just messin about

Having walked about five miles yesterday we decided to have a slow day. After the full groves breakfast of home prepared bacon, fried eggs , mushrooms and tomatoes together with toast and coffee Jen did some washing whilst I did some planning for the next couple of weeks.
This morning it is grey and it started raining quite heavily and so the tourist bit was out and after sorting out some photos etc  we headed off to the  British Emporium in Grapevine to purchase some genuine English tea bags as our supply is beginning to run a little low and it might be difficult elsewhere to find.
The British Emporium has been operating for over 20 years and an area wher there appears to be quite a bit of money based upon the houses surrounding the area. We changed the Sat Nav settings to avoid motorways and this way we could travel via the quiet  and more interesting areas of Dallas.
We also did a little grocery shopping and ended up going to the cinema to see the latest Bourne film which was extremely good if not a little confusing. The cinema was not of the best quality but for £ 2.00 for two one cannot complain.
We hate the smell of the food that people seem to think is necessary to have when watching a film from hot dogs to half a ton of popcorn of which half ends up on the floor where it seems to remain for the rest of the night, ugggh.
After the cinema back to the hotel via the side-streets where we decided to have a ham salad which was most enjoyable and then an evening of listening to music on our I pods.

Saturday 10th November- Down town Dallas

The sky was a bit hazy this morning and strong winds have been promised for later today and overnight and, until midday tomorrow, and with some risk of heavy hailstones of the car damaging type, lets see. We tried the Hotel breakfast and not bad really, the Homewood Suites part of Hilton have got a good formula which seems to please many people.
Whilst returning to our room from the breakfast room we noticed a railway track and asked reception if we could get down town by train, she said she thought so and we should go down the road, turn right and take the bus to the DART station which was not to far away. We obediently followed her instruction and found the bus stop which said no buses on Saturday and Sundays and so we kept walking for what eventually turned out to be a mile and half to find the Dart station  DART stands for Dallas Area Rapid Transit and encompasses Trams and buses and all for what appeared to be good prices. As we arrived at the station the train was arriving and so we hurriedly bought two tickets, not quite the same tickets in the rush, and jumped on the Tram and just hoped it would go where we wanted and by pure luck it did.We did ask a guy about the routing but he did not have much of clue and stood studying the map for a few minutes and he then said he thought so, the opinion we had already come to, Oh well.
We arrived after about 40 minutes at the Historic (but the unsafe part of town we had been warned) to try and find the famous square where JFK was assassinated just about 50 years ago.

From the 6th Floor of the Library building JFK was shot

We found the square and took some photos and looked at the famous 'grassy knoll' where rumours still abound that JFK was shot by three gunmen, one from the 6th floor of the Library , one from the grassy knoll and the last from a storm drain which had a good spot to shoot from, but who knows?
We had discovered that there was a tram, free of charge, which runs back and forth from the old part of town up to the better part and so we rode up and back and stopped for a about half an hour for a walk around and an ice cream. Then back to the station to pick up the tram back to Las Colinas and this time we tried a different way back from the station  which was about half the distance compared to getting there.

The free tram

Tonight we are having shrimps to start followed by Lamb Chops a'la Noel and then finishing with some fresh strawberries, boy its tough on the road.


The weather is thought to be poor tomorrow so Jen will probably do some washing  and then perhaps we may go to the cinema.

Friday 9th November- Move to Dallas

A slow start was required as we did not want to leave a car full of our belongings in an unknown car park and so we left the Sheraton at around 1030 and went for a coffee down the road and checked on emails etc.
A 25 minute drive took us to Costco where we had a good look round for about an hour and then had a snack lunch before grabbing a trolley and doing the isles for the food we needed for the next few days. Tonight we have in our hotel the capability to to fully cook our own meals again and will have the same when we move down to San Antonio on Monday.
Our walk around Costco was interesting to compare what they sell in USA compared to what we get in the UK, there is certainly a difference  between their wine bottle prices and other places we have been to a significant degree. So we purchased some of their excellent rib eye steaks and some other goodies and departed for our Hotel in Dallas. Gosh the traffic and Interstates were flying and it was a challenge to keep up with everybody who new where they were going and with cars over and under taking it could have been a disaster but as I had drunk half a bottle of scotch and half a bottle of Gin I took it my stride, Liar!!!
We arrived at the Homewood Suites and checked in with our goodies but then needed the essentials and back on to the Interstates looking for Albertsons which we eventually found hampered by road works and new road which the Sat Nav did not recognise. With our latest purchases we headed back to the Hotel after re programming it to avoid anything with a car on it we got back after two diversions, three sets of roadworks and Fire engine blasting past us.
Dinner tonight was however spectacular with shrimp to start with a chilled Chardonnay followed by a Rib Eye steak to make your mouth water and salad, magnificent. In the meantime we have checked out the Pink Floyd and they sound pretty awful and so we will give this a miss and perhaps do something else.
The TV news is till a lot about the serious problems in New Jersey and elsewhere with still so many people without electricity  After having a serious storm ten days ago they have now been hit with very cold weather and snow, it really is not fair.

Thursday 8th November- The names Bond, James Bond, Day

I forgot to mention that last night on TV there was an hour long documentary about the global supermarket chain called COSTCO of which we have been members for quite some while. This company now has a 90 Billion turnover each year and with two very important philosophies and they are. One to serve only the best products with the lowest mark-up (15% only) of any supermarket, and to keep stock lines reduced so as to avoid waste. The latter works on the basis that most of their stores only sell about 4000 lines whilst their competitors have as many as 100000. The 15% mark-up means they have to have tight ship whilst most other global supermarkets work on 25/30% and sometimes more in which they have to allow for significant waste. A really fascinating programme and one important fact is that Costco sell more wine in USA than any other organisation and are pretty much responsible for the introduction of good foreign wines to the US.

Anyway, today we had a very slow start and then departed down to Whole Foods for a coffee and check our email, as mentioned the Hotel want $ 17.00 for wireless internet, and whilst checking the usual Bank Accounts and other bits and pieces I used my IMDB (International Movie Data Base) to see what movies were on locally and it turned out to be the first day of the new 007 James Bond movie called ‘Skyfall’ and it is being shown at an IMAX Cinema about 8 miles away and so off we toddled listening to the strict instructions from the Sat Nav and we arrived at this massive area, the size of Weybridge, where ‘The Parks at Arlington’ Super size Mall was. It’s so large that you drive for at least mile around the outside looking for the major store, Sears, JC Penney, Macy’s etc so that you can park and enter the complex.

We found the cinema and purchased our tickets and had a chat to the cashier who recognising the foreign accents said where you guys from?, we replied London and he said ‘Awesome’   

In the food hall there was the usual selection of food outlets and we chose the Sarku Japanese style food and we had an excellent chicken and shrimp teriyaki with fried rice and steamed vegetables and enough food that quite possibly one serving could have been enough, but then, this is America.

The film ‘Skyfall’ was excellent and it had more of a story than previous films and perhaps less action and travelled between Turkey, Shanghai, Macau and of course London and finally a wet and damp Scotland which featured quite a bit and ended with James taking on about 50 insurgents and killing the lot. It was then end of M, played by our good friend Lin, and enjoyable afternoon. After the film we then walked the Mall for about an hour or so and had a long chat with the salesman in Radio Shack who tried to sell us mobile phones and was disappointed to discover that we One , did not them and Two we come from the UK, Awesome he said.  So we talked to him for about ten minutes about various living conditions and then moved on to a very nice ice cream shop.

Back to the Hotel at around 7.30 pm and we spent the rest of the evening watching a Public Broadcasting Station which was showing UK productions and WITHOUT ADVERTISEMENTS  wow this was great however the programmes were at least 15/20 years old and one programme was perhaps the first series of Helen Mirren in Prime Suspect. However it is much better than watching advertisements which are occasionally interrupted by programming.

Tomorrow we move Hotels from Fort Worth over to Dallas and this time we have a room with full kitchen so that we can properly cook.

Just noticed in the local free rag that there is a Pink Floyd tribute band show on in Dallas on Saturday night, so may try to get tickets if it’s not too late.

  

Wednesday 7th November- Down town Fort Worth

The sun was shining and the sky was blue and the temperature was due to get to around 25 degrees, just a perfect day to go down town and explore the town.

From our Hotel in Arlington we are about fifteen miles away from the main areas according our Sat Nav and this was, as always, quite accurate. So down the Interstate we went dodging the cars and trucks and we arrived just down the road from Sundance square which is the hub of this area.

Noel visited this place about eight years ago on business and thought it was a nice place to visit and it certainly is. There are streets of interesting shops and bars and restaurants but as usual the centre of town was very quiet with traffic as most people were parked up for the day. We found a handy car park and then walked in to a Barnes and Noble Bookshop to look at Texas Maps as we shall spending a little while in this state and it really helps to have a topical and large scale map. Naturally after all this hard effort we needed a coffee and of course Barnes and Noble always have a coffee shop and free Wi-Fi.

Shortly after we left the bookshop we saw in the distance a tourist tram, we thought, and dashed to catch it. It was called the ‘Molly Trolley’ and it was free and it travels around down town for anybody to use, great idea. So we did the complete tour just to see where it went and from there we could the areas we thought most interesting which quite frankly most of it, except the railways station. It was getting too close to lunchtime and we found a Texas BBQ place and had an excellent meal, Noel had the ‘pulled pork’ sandwich with home fries and Jennifer the beef sandwich with baked potato and with unlimited drinks, not booze I may add, of iced tea.

There was an shop where you can purchase your own hand made cowboy hat and this shop has been going for many years and started by a guy with 25 cents after being released from prison in the 1800’s. Lovely old shop but the cost of the handmade hats were about £ 175.00 each, not for me.

We continued walking and came across the John F Kennedy memorial which looked new, but perhaps was not, and also met some ladies from British Colombia who were dressed in a tartan. They were part of a large group of perhaps 3000 people attending a conference by the General Grand Chapter/Order of the Eastern Star, and they likened it to the ‘Masons’.

We then visited the old courthouse which still works today and it is a really a beautiful building located on the highest point in Fort Worth. There is a plaque saying that the guy who approved the project had let the costs overrun quite badly and was subsequently removed. Where have we heard that before and this was in the 1800’s

By now it was getting near 4pm and time to leave after having walked for quite some while and en-route to the car park we noticed some TV trucks and Radio station trucks and decided to ask what was happening and apparently it was the opening night of the ‘Sundance Film Festival’ and the TV crew were waiting to fil the arrival of a well know actor called Billy Bob Thornton. He was not so well known to us so we decided not to wait but chatting to the TV anchor lady and her cameraman was interesting until they suddenly had to cut off to go live on air. 

The car park design was interesting, to say the least, and we could not find the car at first but in the end we did and then did a little shopping and headed home.

When previously reading up about ‘Big Bend National Park’ we suddenly discovered that the busiest time of year is right now and around Thanksgiving and Christmas and the places to stay nearby get full. Whoops. So when we got back we spent half an hour route planning and Hotel Booking and we were lucky but we do not usual book so far ahead to take advantage of room rate price drops.

In the evening we watched the news programmes reviewing the election results after Mr Obama not only won more seats than needed he also won what they call the popular vote. Two days earlier the republicans and some of the TV New channels were singing the glory of Mitt Romney and his side kick Ryan but now they were castigating them for total failure to understand the world as it is. Romney election team raised and spent over TWO BILLION DOLLARS in the run up to the election and after spending all this money they are actually in a worse state than before. Boy I bet the night of the long knives will arrive very quickly.

One TV channel we watched showed quite a few ‘politicians’ sharing their views on Pro-Life in the case of a women that has been raped and left pregnant. Their views were appalling and it was interesting that not one of the these Statesmen? Retained their seat and that includes the potential VP Ryan, that is had the republican won. The TV stations called the Republicans loss a shellacking, whichj no doubt it was. In the UK nobody has and could get hold of this amount of money unless you fiddle your expenses a bit and the amount of money spent is beyond a joke. Many people’s lives could be saved if this cash was put to good use. Governments and Politicians are a joke in my book and are still a total waste of space and money. For a donor to spend multi million pounds there must be something in it for them?

Finally, the result of the Tornado in the North East and now the amazing arrival of early snow and with low temperatures for the million or so people without electricity it is the most awful situation you can imagine. We have now donated twice to the US RED CROSS to help those suffering.

Tomorrow I think will be a quieter and slower day.

Tuesday 5th November To Fort Worth on US Voting day

We left the Hotel around 0900 for our 325 miles drive to a place called Arlington which is snuggled in between Dallas and Fort Worth. The Sat Nav said stay on the US 287 for 220 miles which seemed easy enough and the roads were pretty boring. Miles and Miles of wide open flat space with few trees and the occasional town to pass through. Some of the towns were pretty small and we stopped in one for a cup of coffee and some really excellent doughnuts and perhaps the best we have had for quite some while.
We were getting close to lunchtime at around 1300 and we came across our first road accidents since being which is perhaps not bad really as we have covered over 3000 miles in all sorts of conditions.
Unfortunately there was a horse being towed in an open frame trailer and the car had gone off the road somehow. There was another car facing the wrong way and it must have just happened as there were no police anywhere. We both felt sorry for the horse who was kneeling down in his trailer! and we hope it was not hurt to much. The roads here were quite empty so how two cars on on an almost empty road can hit each is is quite amazing.
We stopped for a picnic lunch in a rest area which was complete with concrete tables and benches covered by roofs and complete with a BBQ. Now who would drive in to the middle of nowhere and stop by the side of the road for a BBQ, oh well this is Texas.
In the last 80 or so miles in to Fort Worth the scenery improved immensely what with rolling green hills and many trees changing their leaves to a golden colour, really beautiful. The last 25 miles were a slight challenge as there were really major road works everywhere with new flyovers, road closures and bollards absolutely everywhere and density of traffic that we had not experienced so far on our trip.Perhaps a little M25'ish at 5.30 on a wet Friday night but all knowing the road and travelling well above the 50 miles per hour speed limit.
We arrived at our Hotel, this time the Sheraton Arlington which is right by the Convention Centre and was another Hotwire special at roughly £ 39.00 plus tax for a Four Star Hotel, that is amazing. However having checked in we noticed that the place is devoid of guests which is no doubt due to lack of any conventions taking place.

We did not fancy eating the Hotel  there was a cafe of sorts which sells Burgers and Pizzas, but not cheap whist the main restaurant you would be lucky to get any change from 125 dollars. So we elected to drive down the road to Whole Foods and ended up by buying a freshly cooked Pizza, had to wait twenty minutes, and then we could eat in their cafeteria area but this was a large 16" pizza for £ 10.00 not bad and there is enough for lunch for two with it tomorrow.
Not sure tomorrow we shall go down town or sit by the pool which amazingly is only 24 inches deep???

Monday 5th November- An interesting day

We awoke at around 0815 and made some tea and sat around until about 08.55 and started thinking that we had better hurry down to the breakfast room before they clear up at 0930. Sitting in the breakfast room Jennifer espied a clock showing the time of 07.55 Wot is dis we asked, is zee clock wrong? but no it would appear that the clocks changed here on Sat night by one hour and we did not know oh well. So after breakfast we returned to the room to consider our options for the next week and do some planning for our visit to Fort Worth and Dallas. This completed we left the Hotel and in the car park was a large van marked 'Mallet Corvette' and as there were people around we went to see what it was. It turned out to be the owners of Mallet Cars in North Charlotte who had just returned form a meeting in Las Vegas and on their way home. They let me in to the trailer so that I could take a photo.
This Chevy Corvette had been somewhat modified and now sports a mere 900 BHP (brake horse power for the uninitiated) and could be considered to be  an extremely fast set of wheels. We chatted to the two brothers who owned the company and also one of their wives for about ten minutes and it was quite interesting. Its a long way from Las Vegas to Charlotte of around 2200 miles, not a bad round trip of around 3.5 to 4 days in each direction.  This company will take a standard car and modify it beyond your expectations.
We then left to visit a RV (recreational Vehicle) store where they have a selection of  historic RVs and it really is great to see such interest in old vehicles which have been immaculately returned to their original state and so well presented. They also sell the new versions as well and although size wise they have no chance in the UK whilst the internal colour is not to the European taste being very dark materials and internal wood which is also to dark, not for us although for the size they are very cheap compared to UK caravan prices.

From there we drove to the famous Amarillo steak house where if you have the appetite you can have Free of Charge, a 72 ounce steak with all the trimming for no charge proving you can eat it within one hour. No chance for us but we each had a small 8 ounce steak and then left taking a few photos of their restaurant and also the Motel/Hotel next door. From here we tried to find what is called the old historic part of town which route 66 still goes though but quite frankly apart from a couple of old shops and various signs mentioning Route 66 (Historic Route) there was nothing to see.
Time to visit the famous Cadillac Ranch where for arts sake the owner had buried the noses of ten Cadillacs in the ground and allows anybody to pay their respects by bringing spray paint to show they had been there. The only other couple there turned out to be from Chichester and were on a Route 66 revival route having started in Los Angeles and were now leaving the route to head South to stay with friends in Austin for three weeks.
Our sightseeing done we did some shopping for food for tonight and tomorrow, filled up the car with fuel and so as to be ready for the off for the long drive to Fort Worth of about 325 miles which hopefully should not take more than seven hours with two of us sharing the driving.

We plan to spend quite a few night in Dallas/Fort Worth enjoying the sights and also putting our feet up by the pool before heading off to San Antonio before returning to Austin for the Formala One GP-Cant wait for this!!!

All Amarillo photos on Phanfare at following link

http://noelgroves.phanfare.com/5797242_6641786

Sunday 4th November- No good reason to stay

Our half a day walk around Dodge City yesterday easily persuaded us to reconsider the third night and the decision was instant, lets go.
So a rather early morning and watched part of the Abu Dhabi F1 Stock car race, it seemed like, and it was jolly exiting but in the end we had to leave but at least I new which channel it would on later as a repeat.
We left Dodge and headed mostly South and went through miles of farming and cattle raising areas, again their were many animals in stockade's so we presume they were being sent off somewhere soon.
We started seeing lots of loose white stuff everywhere which initially we thought it was rubbish blowing of trucks or something but it turned out to be the cotton being grown for miles. We did not know that they grow cotton in Texas but you always learn something.
We looked for somewhere to stop for lunch but the rest stops were pretty horrible and it would not be comfortable to stop and so we pulled in to a small town and found a supermarket and parked in their car park and ate lunch in the car.
There is a lot of poverty in the Southern Kansas states and also in Northern Texas areas with countless people living in RV's and trailer parks often surrounded by discarded vehicles and rubbish. Its such a shame when you think how much money this country used to have and now wasted on pointless wars. It was easy driving and we arrived at our Hotel around pm and by the time we had settled in and discovered that the rerun of the F1 GP was being shown at 4.30 pm, that was it and so now we could watch it from start to finish, minus the bits they cut out and also the bits we missed because of the adverts every ten minutes. On the previous evening we flicked through the 60 odd channels to see what was showing and at least 45 of them were showing adverts and more b adverts. How the American can stand this I don't know.
Following the race we headed of to Alberstons for some food and purchased some chicken and microwavable potatoes and veggies. I asked the till lady whwre the nearest Liquor Stores was and she said down the road on the left and its called United something.So we followed here instructions and eventually found what we though was the correct place only to discover it was another grocery store but when asking again about purchasing wine was told that the state of Texas does not allow the sale of Liquor on a Sunday. At least the Brits have on over them there and also you can wine etc in any supermarket or corner store.
The food was excellent and we started planning tomorrow and what we would see and do.