El Paso and bust (tyre that is)

Evening of Wednesday 27th April and we are in El Paso.

Against all expectation we were able to collect Footloose Lucy from the customs warehouse late on Friday afternoon. Howard very kindly gave us a lift there and stayed whilst we checked all was well and we could drive her away.

Sue, Alan and Howard at the moment of reunion with Lucy in Houston

We set off on Saturday in high hopes of driving the 750 miles to El Paso, where we will cross into Mexico, in two or three days. However, the journey has not been uneventful and a number of little mishaps have conspired to slow us down.

We were required to leave Lucy's gas bottle in England due to maritime safety regulations. In the event it took us most of Saturday to find the right sized gas bottle and regulator. By the time we left Houston it was time to set up camp for the night so we headed for a campsite in nearby San Felipe national park only to find it was closed due to the flooding. We ended up parked in a truckers repair depot at the kind invitation of its owner, Dave, who in spite of having been under 3ft of water only days before was very happy to let us camp for the night.

Lucy parked next to the big rigs by kind permission of Dave

On Sunday we set off on Interstate 10, survived the Russian roulette of driving round San Antonio and stopped at Kerville RV park for the night. Campsites seem to be quite hard to find in Texas as most travellers appear to drive round in huge winnebagos. There was a lovely river walk which allowed us to stretch our legs and enjoy the wild flowers and birds.

We set off on Monday in high hopes of covering a similar distance but it was not to be. We had a little heart stopping moment when one of the tyres had a complete blow out, shredding the steel ply and taking the mud flap with it (Jim, can you fix that next time we see you?). We both suffered a very sweaty hour whilst the tyre was changed (Alan from the exertion whilst trapped under the vehicle, Sue whilst standing under the sun giving words of encouragement). We then went in search of a tyre depot. Two towns and five depots later big Mike obliged and assured us a new tyre would be delivered at 11 am on Tuesday. We ended up spending the night at a Travel Lodge in Ozona, having completely failed to find a campsite close to the tyre depot. However, the proprietor very kindly let us set up our establishment on the verandah where we duly cooked supper on the Cobb

Tuesday morning the new tyre was fitted and we were on our way again. Interstate 10 is very long and very boring, particularly as you move into Mesquite country where there is little to see other than scrub with a few cacti dotted about and mesas to break up the flat countryside. You sort of half expect to see a cowboy appearing over the ridge on his horse.

We made our way to Balmorhea state park, a little oasis of green and relative calm, to spend the night. There was a glorious spring fed swimming hole that had been converted into a fairly civilised swimming pool during the depression in the 1930's. We shared it with lots of little fish who bit, a snake which didn't and also a duck, but the swim was very refreshing. There were American coots, quails, road runners and the ubiquitous turkey buzzards circling overhead.

Supper would have been good. Unfortunately, we discovered that supper wouldn't cook because one of us, who shall remain nameless, managed to throw away the fire basket, an essential part of the Cobb assembly, when emptying the ashes from the previous night.

Having been told by the ranger that there was no one in Balmorhea who could work in metal, we came upon Martine, a local mechanic who didn't speak much English but knew all about metal. He spent about an hour fabricating a fire basket for us out of a piece or weld mesh. In the well worn family phrase 'it ain't pretty but it works' and we proved that by cooking a delicious steak for supper this evening.

So, here we are in El Paso, just a few miles from the Rio Grande and tomorrow we shall be going across it into Mexico.

A few thoughts about Texas and Texans. Everyone we have met has been unfailingly helpful, polite and friendly. The beautiful wild flowers which adorned the roadside and central reservation for much of the way were particularly memorable.

Houston we have a problem ...... but only a little one

So here we are, 4 days after arriving in Houston, but still waiting for Foot Loose Lucy's ship to come in.

 We have had a hard 3 months of it, completely decorating the house from top to bottom and removing all our goods and chattels into storage, this alongside all the travel and shipping arrangements, not forgetting insurances for every possible eventuality. Three days before departure we had the pleasure of meeting our new tenants, who are moving down from Scotland with their 3 delightful children and Labrador. The main selling point was undoubtedly the zip wire, tree house and secret hidey holes!

 The flight was uneventful but there were questions asked at a very senior level as to why we were flying to Houston via Istanbul. Alan justified it on the grounds of price, it was a couple of hundred pounds a ticket cheaper, but had to admit that, as we were looking at the map monitor on the Turkish airline flight about 7 hours after we set off from Heathrow and it showed we were passing over Bath, he had probably dropped a bit of a brick. Sue was uncharacteristically restrained and didn’t go on about it for more than about 10 minutes.

 We managed to time our arrival just ahead of a massive electrical storm which went on all night. We woke up to a complete power cut which meant that the shower didn’t work, the flush on the toilet didn’t work, the water in the sink didn’t work and when we went down to breakfast there were only cold hard boiled eggs and some unidentifiable cereal and, of course, no tea or coffee. So, far from our night in a hotel being a bit of luxury it turned out to be a little bit like being in the third world. The rain continued to fall in stair rods and we realised from later news reports that Houston was experiencing a major flood event, 17 inches of rain falling in less than 24 hours

 We did think that probably our adventures would start once we get across the Rio Grande in Mexico but it appears that fate has decided otherwise.  The bad weather has resulted in the ship docking late and a massive backlog at the port. Regular updates from our import agent have indicated that we are unlikely to get Footloose Lucy back before next Monday, leaving us with several days to kick our heels in Houston.

 Meanwhile, we have spent time with some genuinely nice and friendly people who have gone out of their way to help us. Howard was our taxi driver on Monday and we all immediately got on. When he picked us up at 7 pm to take us to a restaurant, he wasn’t in his taxi, he was in his Lexus with his wife, Argo, and they had decided to take us out for supper. They took us to a delightful Italian restaurant where we had a very good meal and two excellent bottles of wine and before we knew what was happening he’d picked up the tab and that was that!

 The first half of Tuesday was a catalogue of exasperation and frustration whilst Alan phoned about 14 different insurance companies and brokers in the quest to try and get some vehicle insurance for the few days that Lucy and we are going to be in the USA. Towards the middle of the afternoon we finally came across an insurance broker called Tim who said he could help. So we jumped into a cab and went off to his office to go through all the procedures and then he announced that he was going to pick up a couple of steaks and he was going to take us home to have a barbeque with his wife! Tim's wife, Anne, whilst being slightly bemused as to why he should bring two complete strangers home for supper, rose to the occasion and we sat and chatted until about 10 o'clock at night and then they drove us back to the hotel.

 So, that was the second day running that a complete stranger has stood us dinner. This is something that one would not expect in UK. Now that is what we call a hospitable country!

 Yesterday, Wednesday, we took a long taxi ride to spend some time looking round Galveston. One of the main features of the Galveston sea wall area was the pelicans, American brown pelicans we think. Anyway, they are the ones that fold their wings and dive bomb like a gannet onto fish in the sea. You’d think that they were going to break every bone in their bodies, being great huge cumbersome things as they move and dive headlong into the water. The day finished with another supper out with Howard and Argo at a great Mexican restaurant, providing us with the opportunity to return their hospitality.

 We end this post with our moral of the day which is that it isn't just in the remote third world that you can rely on the kindness of strangers, but also in downtown Houston!

One week to go: The "Omigod" phase.

Several years ago when I had been persuaded to do a parachute jump, a friend remarked "But why should you want to jump out of a perfectly sound aeroplane?

It feels a bit like that now. Why, after all would we want to leave a perfectly comfortable house in Wiltshire to go and live in a Land Rover for a year travelling down through The Americas?

Setting aside the collywobbles, and the hassle both behind and in front of us I guess it's to do with seeing what's on the further side of the hill.

Now we all know what the bear saw when he went over the mountain, but maybe it'll be different for us. (Or maybe not). In any event we'll have some new traveller's tales to bore our friends with for many a dinner party to come'

Anyway, ready or not, here we come. If folk would like to come along via the blog, we will be mighty glad of the company. Si Senor!!

Nearly ready for our big adventure

Alan & Sue Brook have waited a long time for their Gap year!  Our dream about travelling part of the world in an overland vehicle started some years ago and now it looks like it really is going to happen. This blog has been created to help us keep a record of our travels and for family and friends to follow our progress through Mexico, central and South America.

Test run to Tuscany Sept 2015

Following months of preparation our Land Rover Discovery, affectionately called ‘Footloose Lucy’, departed on a container ship from Southampton on 26 March and, all being well, should arrive in Galveston on 19 April. We fly out on 17 April and, with any luck, the import agent in Houston will arrange for us to be re-united with Lucy soon after that so that our adventure can begin.

Our plan is to reach Mexico as soon as possible then travel down through Central America, trans ship from Panama to Columbia and, from there, who knows which direction we will take or how far we will get in a year? Watch this space!