buckleyjenkins family on tour

Road Trip America

The Facts:

We started out on 1st July 2010. We flew from Cardiff to Dublin, cleared customs there and flew on to JFK Airport, New York, where we picked up 'The Beast', a black 7 seater Kia Barranga and off we went.
We drove through 24 States:

New York; Pennsylvania; Maryland; West Virginia; Kentucky; Ohio; Indiana; Missouri; Illinois; Oklahoma; Kansas; Colorado; Arizona; Utah; Nevada; California; Idaho; Montana; Wyoming; South Dakota; Minnesota; Iowa; Michigan and Ontario, Canada and back to New York.

We visited at least 17 National and State Parks
Swam in countless lakes, rivers and reservoirs as well as loads of hotel swimming pools
We stayed in 38 hotels
Ate loads of burgers and pizzas
Altogether we drove 10,257.1 miles
We got home on Saturday 28th August 2010 - 8 weeks later, elated.
The song of the trip was, "Hey there Delilah' by the Plane White T's

White Water Rafting on the Middle Fork of the American River, California.
Finding the Slot Canyons in Dry Fork Canyon Gulch, Utah - Peekaboo and Spooky Canyons
Walking on Dinosaurs 167,000,000 year old footprints near Shell in Wyoming.
Getting stopped by Assistant Chief of police C Farrel who gave Mike a verbal warning for doing 50 in a 30mph zone
Celebrating Chris' 18th birthday in Niagra
Getting Chris' A level results
Chris and Mike walking up Half Dome in Yosemite National Park.
Visiting Universal Studios, LA
Seeing Bears in Yosemite and Yellowstone
Being able to visit the friends we made in the Galapagos.

Clarkessville - The Sushi Woman - "Do ya think I'm a hick?...... They sell sushi in the Chinese Restaurants, if you like it!"
Pennsylvania - Ffion asked in a very excited voice, "Is this where Dracular came from?"
Chris thought the hotel in Carmel by the Sea was called, 'The Elcome Inn' ............the W had dropped off the greeting sign.
Car Park Santa Barbara - Mike parked erratically by the pay machine, little Asian woman came out to help, Mike said, "Oh, my arms are too short to reach." she replied, "No, you park too far away!" He was very relieved.
At the Giant Redwood forest, Yosemite, Mike shouted, "Wow, there's a lion!" As you can imagine it turned out to be the back end of a deer hiding behind a bush!
On the White Water raft we were sharing a water bottle, Ffion casually said she wanted the water to swill some sick out of her mouth! Shocked faces but she was having a little joke.........
Ffion called that famous Geyser in Yellowstone Park, 'Old Reliable' instead of 'Old Faithful'.
Chris the potential University student turned to Ffion and said, "I'm an illegitimate English student!" woops??? news to me

We all got to know each other much better. Ffi wasn't impressed though. She told us she didn't chat to us, just watched telly!