We talked about it all year. Something me Kerry and Anna have always wanted to do, and the time finally came at the end of their programs to hire a car and just drive around America. See how far we get. Anna, the walking map, did all the planning and worked out we could hit 7 states in 5 days, 2000 miles! So this is where our adventure took us....
Friday 14th June 2013
Anna & Kerry moved all their stuff to my apartment at 9am after packing up their lives all night. I carried their suitcases up the stairs in exchange for their wifi boxes as mine is dying. Handed back their keys and ID to the clubhouse at The Commons, checked their mail boxes one last time and said goodbye to living experience of their program that was in The Commons.
We then met Claire and krysia and went to get the car, it was a massive silver SUV! Drove to panera bread for food and ran into the gorgeous Jereme on his way to his road trip to Miami, Bon voyage and goodbye beautiful French merchie! He arrived and finished his program on the same dates as Kerry and Anna.
Drove to Walmart for bananas, crackers and nail varnish, the essentials for any good road trip!
100 miles down the road we have past several cows, horses and bill boards aimed at Anna, "pregnant and alone? Call us for your options".
Haha! only joking! The tomtom just told us we need to just drive straight for 300miles, on our way to Alabama!!
We reached the Georgia state line, a very exciting time and the furthest north I have ever been in America! There was a rest stop straight away so we went for a look and it was adorable with an information desk and picnic tables and leaflets for a Gone with the Wind museum! My favourite film of all time! It was 15 miles from Atlanta so we were too far away to get there in time before it closed. We stopped at a Cracker Barrel for dinner which was yummy. Then we just kept driving and ended up crossing into Alabama, again stopped at the rest area for photos and a drink and then drove to find a Quality Inn to stay the night. We tried several other places first in Irondale near Birmingham, Alabama but the Quality Inn was the right price, free wifi and free hot breakfast!
Saturday 15th June 2013
The free breakfast was amazing and of course as merchies we took apples, muffins and Philadelphia for the road! After getting gas we were on our way to Graceland! I drove us just past the Mississipi state line to the rest area, and now Anna is driving us to Graceland as we listen to Elivs songs in the car to get us ready for the King himself!
Graceland was awesome! We went for a tour around Elvis' home, planes, car collection, gift shops galore!
Drove to Nashville to find somewhere to stay for the night. It ended up being a super 8, not so super! The room was dirty, broken, scary, the five of us didn't enjoy the the experience at all. When we asked for more pillows and towels. They arrived at 1am with a loud bang on the door from the scary man on reception. We stopped telling scary ghost stories after that because Kerry said she couldn't sleep if we continued!
Sunday 16th June 2013
Happy to get up and out of the Demon hotel, we drove into Nashville city centre and explored the country/cowboy land. It was brilliant. Everyone had cowboy boots on. The zebra crossing played country music when you walked across the road. We went to a "cowboy tequila" bar for lunch which had live music and singers inside who were hilarious. One even got me up on stage because I was from England and took the mick out of his accent but only because he had done it to me two minutes earlier. And he liked me for it! After meeting a dog called Chloe in the store next door, It was time to move on and drive to South Carolina via North Carolina and thankfully we found a Quality Inn for the night. Phew!
Monday 17th June 2013
We drove to Charleston in the morning to go explore, shop and hunt down "The Notebook" film sets! We found the cinema and the corner where they lay down on the street and watch the traffic lights turn from green to red in the film. I love the South Carolina accent. Southern accents are my favourite since moving to America and I try and do then to those southern folk who will listen to it, normally with an impressed response, thank goodness! We saw lots of shops, had lunch and a snack before getting back on the road to head back for Florida. We aimed to get to Jacksonville and stay there for the night before driving back to Orlando in the morning so me and Claire could go to work for 1pm. And another quality inn was found to have a magical nights sleep in!
The whole roadtrip was amazing. I love Orlando. But it felt so good to get out and away for a few days. It was a lovely long weekend/mini vacation that we all needed. I loved driving in America. We had so many laughs together. Each night was like a sleep over. Loads of photos from all the places we saw and it's sad to think that that was the countdown for me to the end of my program. Now that my best friends Anna and Kerry have finished, that meant only two weeks until my last day at work, very sad times! But a fantastic way to spend time with each other and I recommend anyone on a Disney program out here to do a Road trip and explore America!
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