Washington DC-Austin

The personal webspace of James Dunn

Must apologize for the brief update...

We have now driven around 2000 miles and ended up in Austin, Texas as I write. On the way we visited Bristol, Lynchburg, New Orleans, Houston, as well as a whole bunch of Super 8 Motels!

Had a tour of the Jack Daniel's distillery which was interesting - the tour guide told us that he used to work in the tasting department until he got caught drinking the whisky instead of sampling it... at least that's what I think he said - only managed to understand about one word in three as the accent was so strong. Now I know how Americans feel when they visit places like Newcastle in the UK...

After this we pressed onto New Orleans where we had a few issues with the car, resulting in an expensive $300 dollar bill to fix a broken crank shaft seal and new cam belt... This dampener was soon cast aside though when Charles, our resident mechanic and co-road tripper managed to fix the air conditioning system with some sellotape, ensuring cool driving for the desert which is still to come.

After an interesting night out on Bourbon Street in downtown New Orleans we got back in the car and covered another five hundred miles-ish and now find ourselves in Austin. Had a word with a bartender in a restaurant who recommended a few bars for us to check out this evening, as well as some places to hear some good live music. Will give you a full report as to how this goes later.

The distances are still staggering: it doesn't feel like we've even left yet, but we have covered 1981 miles in six days. Sometime it'll actually feel like we're on a road trip! Next stop Las Vegas!

Posted on August 03, 2005 16:38 | Add Comment →