Well I can report that neither of those events are going to occur because the flights back to the UK over the next few days are totally chokker - is it the end of half term I ask myself? - but after a little bit of research and some help from Sarah, a solution to get us home and hopefully benefit from another comfy seat has been found. We are flying back from Austin on Tuesday, thereby having to prolong our holiday by an extra day! Oh the trials and tribulations and the penalty of having to spend an extra day in the sunshine - I can feel the collective wave of sympathy coming through when you read this post.
The only real complication is that I have to return our current Alamo hire car to Houston Airport on Monday evening, hire another car from Hertz at the same location and then drive the 160 miles up to Austin on Tuesday morning.
Why swap hire companies? Because Alamo charge $100 for dropping off the car at a different airport whereas Hertz charge nothing. Am I feeling even more sympathy coming through?? No, probably not!
Anyway the title of today's post is nothing to do with the above tale but more a comment about this amazing country. As many of you know, Linda and I have crossed the pond to America on very many occasions. We truly love the place and the people we have come into contact with over those years but every time we do visit, we find ourselves reflecting on the positives and the negatives of the place and so on this low news day, I thought I would provide a little food for thought.
Food?? The biggest problem confronting this nation and the horrendous obesity crisis that appears to be overwhelming it! Everywhere you look, the evidence is clear to see and it isn't just adults. This is a fast food society. Gigantic proportions containing who knows what, creating gigantic people. We have a similar problem in the UK but in no way do we compare to the propensity of fast food establishments here.
Did you know the average American consumes 3,770 calories per day? They drink 600 sodas per year ( that's what endless free refills does for you). They eat some of the 100 acres of pizza that is made every day and tuck away some of the 161 million chickens killed every week. Oh and whilst they are consuming gargantuan takeaways, on average they watch 28 hours of tv weekly! Climate change? This is the least of the worries they have here.
And yet, we love being here. It's an amazing nation with the most stunning things to see and to discover around every corner. I'll never forget on one trip rolling into a town called Paducah. It's in Kentucky. It was there, completely by accident, that we came across The National Quilt Museum. It was fascinating, amazing and I would recommend anyone to visit if ever in Kentucky. America is just full of surprises like this.
The one thing that this trip has reaffirmed is the genuine warmth and friendliness of the American people. The Texans with whom we have come into contact over the past two weeks have been a joy and have contributed to a wonderful road trip.
It isn't over yet but we are on the slippery slope to coming home.
The only photos tonight are of the view out of our hotel window showing the 8 lanes - 16 if you take in both sides - of the Katy Freeway. It looks a lot worse from here than when you are in the middle of those 8 lanes!
One final thing to leave you with is the price of fuel here, something the Americans are bleating about big style. Their gallon is smaller but I have done the maths and they are in comparison paying just £1.50 to our £4.99!! No wonder they scream with shock when every time I fill up, I tell them we are paying nearly $8! It's become a bit of a party trick.
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