We drove for most of the day today. First, we went back down into Mississippi and drove through Tupelo (the humble birthplace of Elvis). Next, we crossed into Alabama where we stopped for ribs at "Dreamland" near Tuscaloosa and then travelled on through Birmingham. Finally, we crossed into Georgia where we put our watches forward to join Eastern Time and arrived late in Atlanta. Everyone was tired so we agreed to put our explorations off until the next morning... On Thursday morning, we went for a tour of the CNN headquarters building and saw live broadcasts taking place. Afterwards we explored the "underground' part of the city, briefly popped in to the world of Coke (who are based in Atlanta), saw the actor Blair Underwood (from LA Law and Sex in the City) in a mall ... read more

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUSTIN! On Saturday morning we set off at 7am for the long drive via Houston to Baton Rouge in Louisiana. This part of the trip was a bonus. We were supposed to go to New Orleans but instead Fitz arranged for us to camp at his dad's place for two nights just outside Baton Rouge. On Saturday night, Fitz took us to the 'homecoming' football game at his old college, Louisana State University and we had a fine time "tailgating" (eating Jamabalaya and drinking beer from the back of a pick-up before the game), buying t-shirts, hats and pom-poms, supporting LSU and trying to enjoy what has to be the most boring game in the world but wrapped up in the most amazing spectacle and enthusiasm complete with cheerleaders and huge marching band. LSU ... read more

We crossed into Texas and spent the morning exploring the old historic area of El Paso, before driving on through places such as Valentine and Mafra in order to arrive late and set up camp in the awesome Big Bend National Park. Here we had to deal with black bears (all food and toiletries had to be locked in the van or in the large bear boxes provided), ate curry and had one of our spoons stolen by a skunk! The next morning we were up early and hiked up Emory Peak (7832ft) before driving to a lookout point on the Rio Grande where we could see Mexico across the river. Someone claimed we were a "stone's throw" away but all five blokes in the group failed to actually get a stone to land on the ... read more

This morning we drove up to Muley Point in Utah before returning to Arizona to visit the site where Forrest Gump stops running. We stopped just outside Flagstaff in order to buy Hallowe'en costumes and visited another ancient site (the misnamed "Montezuma's Castle") of the Sinagua people. That night we set up camp at a real cowboy camp run by the real cowboys Rusty and Betty (and I mean REAL). As it was Hallowe'en we all dressed up, had a big party night and Tim entertained everyone on Rusty's guitar until the small hours of the morning. The next morning we were up early (to the cacophony of banging cowbells) in order to ride horses across a two-hour stretch of the Arizona desert.... read more

After leaving Las Vegas we drove into Arizona for our first views of the Grand Canyon. We stayed at the "Squire Inn" in Tusayan, just outside the national park. On the first night, after dinner, we made group t-shirts and availed ourselves of the hot tub in the hotel spa. The next morning, we were up and out at 5am in order to climb down into the canyon for sunrise. We spent the day hiking the 8-mile route accessible to the shuttle buses, along the south rim, while some of the more mental members of the group actually hiked down deeper into the canyon (condemning themselves to a severe and very hot climb back out!).... read more