Viva Las Vegas!!!

If you haven’t been to Las Vegas before, it really is what you imagine: tacky, tacky, tacky! Flashing neon coloured lights, ringing of slot machines and massive billboards showing near naked men and women, but that is what it’s famous for and I enjoyed our time there.

Staying in a posh hotel (not a tent!) for five glorious days in Vegas, we were in luxury! The swimming pool and hot tub provided us with total relaxation.

My favourite spot was right outside the Bellagio fountains after 6pm, watching the 1,000 musical fountains dance along the water. It sent shivers up my spine it was so magical.



The casinos were so busy. Every once in a while you’d hear screams and turn around to see what the commotion was and of course people were jumping up and down delighted with their winnings. Unfortunately there was no jumping up or down for us as we did not win a cent!

On our last day in Vegas we were relaxing by the pool when two employees from the hotel came over to Tom and I and asked if we would be interested in going to see the Phantom of the Opera – free of charge! Of course we leapt at the chance and enjoyed our view from the eight row from the front. A guest who had already purchased the tickets had to leave unexpectedly and we were the lucky two who got the tickets – the luck of the Irish?

Hoover Dam

Think of your worst fear and then knowing you are about to experience it – how does it make you feel? Scared? Yes….!

I am terrified of driving over bridges. You might think that it's not really a fear, or that your deepest fear is worse than mine, but knowing that I had to drive over the Hoover Dam gave me a very deep gnawing knot in my stomach. I was afraid it would collapse and that I would drown!

After leaving Grand Canyon we drove 147 miles to Hoover Dam. The traffic queue went for miles, but when we turned the last corner the waiting was forgiven as we saw the massive dam before us - it was so beautiful.

The sun was blazing; it was about 35 degrees Celsius. After we’d gotten out of the car and taken some photos, I was very glad to get back into it and back to my air con!



Then the knots in my stomach started up again, moving upwards towards my throat as I approached the dam. Tom decided to get some closer photos and jumped out of the car leaving me all by myself to cross the dam with my fear bubbling up!!

I started thinking… what’s the big deal with bridges and dams? What are the chances of them actually collapsing while you are on them? How many accidents have you ever heard of where bridges collapse?

This got me through it - I did it! - I crossed it all by myself! It was a big personal achievement for me and one that I know I will have to look back to when I cross even bigger bridges on our journey in the future.

The Grand Canyon

Normally when someone tells me that something I have yet to see is impressive it will turn out to be a bit of an anti-climax. This is not the case with the Grand Canyon.

Before we set up camp we decided to check it out at Mather Point on the South Rim. I did my best to avoid looking at it as we parked our car and walked up to the viewing point. Only when we reached the edge did I look up to see if it lived up to the hype.

I wasn’t prepared for the breathtaking view before my eyes. No amount of words could describe the vastness of the canyon or the sense of awe you feel when you first see it.




In all we spent three nights camping in Mather Campground at the top of the South Rim, where we were kept company by huge moose munching on the trees!



Over the three days we did two hikes down into the canyon, the first was the South Kaibab trail and was only 1.5 miles down. When hiking down the canyon you have to allow twice as much time to go down as you do to come back up.

On the way back up we probably went faster than we should have, which resulted in me being buckled by the time we got back up. After a few hours of recovery in the tent, a tasty cheeseburger each set us up for our next hike.

The next day we got up at 5am to take the Blue Angel trail. This time we went all the way down to the 3 mile resthouse. Even though we hiked twice as far as the day before and had to dodge mule rides coming down as we made our way back up, we paced ourselves a lot better and both felt fairly fresh when we got back to the rim.

We left the Grand Canyon wanting to go back, with dreams of doing a four day hike down to the bottom and back!

Between Memphis and the Grand Canyon there is...

Imagine being in Egypt around the time of Moses, around the time he had a plague of locusts attack the Pharaoh and his kingdom. That was pretty much what our stay at Willow Beach campground near Little Rock was like!

Never before have I been attacked by such a swarm of insects. No amount of 100% DEET or swatting would keep the pesky buggers from pestering us. Simply walking across the grass would awaken hundreds of midges and mosquitoes, which would then rise up like a cloud of dust following you around!

The only thing that kept us from going insane were our friendly campsite neighbours, Joyce and Rich Williams. Both Joyce and Rich were in their mid seventies, yet neither looked a day over 50! They plied us with Margaritas, baked us chocolate chip cookies and provided a welcome distraction from the swarm they lay in wait near our tent.

The next day we gladly moved on to our next location, windy Oklahoma City. This would mark the start of our driving half-week of hell, where would be travelling three hundred miles each day for 4 days or so.

We decided that this part of the trip required something to ease the pain, so we took the Williams’s advice and got ourselves a cooler. This has proved to be a valuable investment allowing us to store a variety of condiments, cooked meats, vegetables and beer for our consumption!

Oklahoma itself turned out to be not that windy and thankfully tornado free. We stayed at another KOA campground that was well laid out and had clean showers. It did however have wireless internet speeds not seen since the time of Moses! But any day that you can have any sort of wireless internet in a tent can’t be too bad.

The next day we questioned whether we were on our way to Amarillo (or Armadillo as Mar would say) or on our way into another one of the 10 plagues of Egypt!

A monstrous black cloud rose from the horizon before us. As we drove closer, God threw down bolt after bolt of fork lightning. Coming from a country where you really only ever see sheet lightning, this was a wonderful sight.

Not so wonderful were the expressions on our faces when we arrived at the thunderstorm Mecca that was Amarillo. Running dangerously low on fuel and caught in rain that looked like only Noah’s Ark could provide escape from, we somehow managed to navigate an interstate highway that resembled a canal more than a road to find a petrol station.

These were the worst road conditions I've seen in daylight hours, where you could only see 20 feet in front of you and it was impossible to see where the road markings where.

Luckily for us we were staying at another KOA and when we arrived like a pair of drowned rats we wisely chose to forego tenting pitching and upgrade to a cabin.


Comforted by this respite from tent camping and once the rain had stopped we chose to watch the distant thunderstorm light up the sky. There’s something satisfying about watching flashes of lightning in the distance and knowing you’re not going to get wet.



The next day brought Cochiti Lake, 50 miles north of Albuquerque. A dammed lake in the New Mexico desert, Cochiti Lake gave us our first real idea of what the wild west was like. It was a quiet and spacious campground with only the very basic of facilities but it also provided some amazing desert views.


Our next 300 miles stint would bring us to Flagstaff, the last stop off before we journeyed to the Grand Canyon.


First we had a stop off at Petrified Forest National Park, famous for its petrified trees. I’m not sure what made these trees so scared but we didn’t stay around long enough to find out!


Flagstaff has mountain town feel and looks like it would be more comfortable placed in the Canadian Rockies. We stayed in Pineflat campground south of Flagstaff, which is positioned in a well sheltered valley with shear cliff sides. This was also the site of our first camp fire, constructed with some dead wood found nearby.


After Flagstaff we made our way to a big hole in the ground known as the Grand Canyon…

Walking in Memphis

What a place! I would gladly come back here for a few days. We visited Graceland, Elvis Presley’s mansion. I think we were the youngest couple there. It was decorated with typical 1970’s furniture, splashes of blue and green and carpet everywhere, even on the ceiling! He was the ‘King’.




Then we went to the home of another king, to Beale Street where BB King has his club and where big stars like Elvis and Johnny Cash got their big breaks. There were live bands on every corner, beers flowing and the street was pedestrianised for three blocks. Who could ask for more?



We could! Because after our little adventure there we left and went to our first baseball game. It was a minor league game between the Memphis Redbirds and the Iowa Cubs. It was not what I had imagined let me tell you. It was sooooo slow – after each half inning there was a pause where the other team would warm up or something. Definitely not the game for me! I realised I’m more of a rugby girl where there is more action. Having said that I couldn’t stop checking out the Cubs right outfielder’s firm arse - I was mesmerised! Tom on the other hand was mesmerised by the actually sporting element of the game!


Check this out and listen to the lyrics, I never noticed it included Graceland :)

Navigating New York to Nashville

Let’s start with a personal safety tip. If you’re going to travel from a hotel to an airport car rental site using public transport all while carrying a 25kg rucksack on your back you need to do three things. They are:

1. Prepare with at least 6 months of high intensity weight training, focussing on the legs and lower back and combine that with thorough a cardiovascular workout programme.
2. Treat escalators with the same contempt you would a rabid dog or a rattle snake and avoid.
3. DO NOT take the bag off your back for any reason until you reach your destination.

Unfortunately while waiting for a New York subway transfer to JFK airport, Mar chose to throw caution to the wind, took off her rucksack, and then promptly tore a muscle in her neck while trying to lift the bag back onto her back.

What did this mean for me…? Three days of providing massage therapy and taking on board all of the driving.

One thing that jumps out at you when you drive in America is that absolutely no one keeps to the speed limit! The only thing to keep us company below 65mph on the interstate highway was an overweight truck and a couple of other driving tourists.



Our first stop after New York was our KOA (Kamping Organization of America) campsite in West Chester Pennsylvania, west of Philadelphia.

This was a good introduction to our camping experience – good facilities, a spacious campsite and free wifi internet in our tent! Adjacent to our campsite we discovered a little used railroad. For the two days we were there, the local diesel engine only drove up the tracks once.



After West Chester, we spent two night in Greenbelt National Park, a small park surrounded by suburbia ten miles north of Washington DC. We used this as our base to visit the capitol, driving only a couple of miles to get a metro train into the Smithsonian station, halfway between the Washington Monument and Capitol Hill.



This was the first day we experienced real heat, well real heat for someone Irish at least. The temperature was in the high 20s Celsius/low 80s Fahrenheit.

In DC we met my friend Jen and went for a few drinks in the Capitol City Brewing Company, which is a micro-brewery restaurant and bar. It was an alcohol free night for me as I was designated driver for the night, but Mar gave Jen a good run for her money in the drinking stakes and we all had a great time.

The next day we journeyed to Shenandoah National Park in Virginia where we camped for one night. Although we didn’t really get a chance to fully appreciate the park, I did get my first brief glimpse of a black bear. Sadly I was driving and we had no time to stop and take photos.



However Mar told me the next morning that she awoke in the middle of the night to the vicious growl of a snarling bear. This was however followed by what she believed was a ranger telling people to be quiet, so it was more likely to be the midnight groans of some camping college students nearby.

The next stop on our trip was Horseshoe Point campground near Henry, Virginia, halfway between Shenandoah and Knoxville. This was the first US Army Corps of Engineers campground we stayed in. Compared to the National Park campsites we had stayed in up to this point, the facilities available were a significant improvement.

As with most Army Corps of Engineer campgrounds Horseshoe Point is located beside a lake. This means you get to hear the sound of speedboats rushing up and down the lake and children playing in the man-made beach at the lakeshore.



The next day, on our way to Cades Cove campground in the Great Smoky Mountains we passed through the town of Sevier. It was like a mini Las Vegas without the casinos, with plenty of themed hotels including one built to appear as if it were upside down.



After a night in Cades Cove we bypassed Knoxville and headed straight to Nashville. With neither of us having much interest in country music however the highlight of our two days there was the campsite situated right on the J Percy Priest lakeshore.

The lake was shallow enough that you could in the first few yards and there was a conveniently placed three stump to sit on where you could admire the view.



Surprisingly, the campsite was relatively insect free, possibly thanks to the family of ducklings that would come into to the campsite each morning with their mother to rummage for insects on the ground.

Next up was Memphis….

New York, New York

The journey begins!!!

We started off at Heathrow airport – flight to JFK was fine. We changed trains/metros three times to get to the hotel – it seemed to take us forever as we were carrying so much weight – why did we pack so much? It was like walking from the Bakerloo line to the Jubilee line at Waterloo each time we changed on the metro – carrying over 24kg each – yes I am looking for sympathy here – but it was worth it in the end when we got to the hotel – I was never so happy to see a bed and what a bed! – it’s massive and very hard to get out of in the mornings :)

On our first day in New York we strolled around Midtown – checked out the Chrysler building and Fifth Avenue - then went up the Rockefeller building – what a view and we were so lucky with the weather, we could see for miles around. We went to a fancy looking Italian restaurant for pizza – I have never in my life seen such a miserable waiter – totally obnoxious, ignorant – not a smile to be seen at all, felt sorry for him, something must have happened to him because no one on this earth could really be that miserable on a daily basis.

On our second day we went to Central Park – it’s beautiful and so peaceful – really excited about going to the national parks now. After all our walking around we found this really nice seating area – where Tom asked me to close my eyes while he pulled something out of his jacket pocket – what was he doing I was thinking? Then guess what lay before my eyes – only Mr Penguin – yes my penguin toy from home that Tom bought me ages ago.– the stowaway – Tom smuggled him all the way over, he had asked me before we left if I was going to bring him, I said no – cause we didn’t have space to pack him in – I know your probably thinking how sad but it was so sweet – brownie points for Tom hence we are going to see Star Trek in Imax at the cinema tonight :)

Star Trek is brilliant! Not normally my cup of tea but I really enjoyed it.

We went to Battery Park - the Statue of Liberty and Ellis island, they were so busy, queues everywhere, but that’s part and parcel of being a tourist in the states – expected :) When we were at Ellis Island, we were looking at the names of all the immigrants who passed through there – guess what – we found a ‘James McGing’ :) We also went to our first ‘American Diner’, it’s true the portions are massive – and of course I managed to eat my burger and three quarters of my chips – Tom on the other hand let the side down :)

The Route!

Here's the route we've got planned. It starts in New York and goes clockwise:

The route in red

And you can find a more detailed version here.

Easter Sunday. 30 days to go!

In thirty days we invade the United States of America.

New York will be our first port of call with a nice Midtown hotel as our base of operations for the first week.

After that we're homeless. No fixed abode. A pair of tinkers on tour.

So we'll need a home. That home will be a tent. And that tent will be:

A Vango Equinox 350 three man tent.

We hope to order it this week and have it by next weekend. Then the tent pitching initiation begins.....