A bit more info (Part II)

This is NOT an April Fool's; yes, today really is my last full day in sunny Chesterfield until June 8th (cue mass outpouring of grief). Last night I did a final tour of the Chesterfield night life scene for a while, and I know that when I'm drinking a beer by the beach in California I will be wishing that I was back in Association, being stared at by lads with lads wearing shirts that are too tight. But in all seriousness for a moment there will be people I shall miss. It's not a long time away but a massive thumbs up to friends and family who have been so supportive, particularly over the last few stressful months.

Anyway, here's a rough idea of what I'll be doing for the second month of my stay; readers from yesterday's post will obviously have been on tenterhooks since then. After my stay in Portland I will be briefly heading north again to the town of Bellingham, the last real place of interest before the Canadian border. There I'll meet my good friend Alex Stevens, who has been working at a ski resort in Canada for the past six months or so. We have already bought a nice, tasty 4x4 (see above), which we have already nicknamed Darl, and she will be our home on the road for just over a month.

Once we've done some crazy kind of bromance ritual to celebrate the end of our separation, we're going to be heading down the Pacific Highway, taking in the sights of Washington and Oregon. We'll then be heading into California. We've not made any firm plans yet but some places we'll definitely want to go to are the Redwoods National Park, Yosemite National Park and eventually San Francisco. After that we both fancy touring some Steinbeck country - Monterey Bay, Salinas and the Salinas Valley - before making our way down to L.A.

We'll be hanging around there for a while no doubt, and my sis might be flying out to meet us for her birthday. After that we're going to head to San Diego for a bit of relaxing on the beach and perhaps a quick trip across the Mexican border (ariba!). Then we start to make our way back north - not sure which route we are taking but we'll hopefully see some different sights on the way back up. Our flight back is on the 6th June from Vancouver which means we get to see some of Canada as well (guessing it's basically going to be like an episode of 'South Park'). And that's it! We'll be selling the car just before we leave, hopefully coming back in one piece and not in loads of debt. And hopefully I've not eaten so many ribs that I need to buy two seats on the plane home.

Speaking of planes, I'm not a great flyer, and of course they would give me seat 13D for my flight out. Muamba seems to be getting better so if you have any spare prayers lying about, feel free. Adios and speak to you stateside very soon!