The Last Ditch by Tom Paine

I really enjoyed my drive through Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia yesterday, right from my first conversation with a guy at a gas station. He told me he and a friend had stumped up a $10,000 security deposit to take a Ferrari for a test drive. He was happy to…

Today started with a disappointment. Rain and mist had descended on our part of South Carolina and the flight in my friend’s plane that I had been looking forward to wasn’t possible. It would have added another dimension to this tour to have been able to post aerial photographs but…

My time in Georgia was all too short. I didn’t plan a long run for Monday, as I aimed to visit an old friend from my Moscow days who lives about three hours away in South Carolina. I stopped at the South Carolina Welcome Center to add a waypoint to…

I started in Mississipi, drove to Alabama, diverted to the Florida state line to check off that state and then headed to Georgia. Tonight, I sleep in Atlanta – an impressive city from what I saw of it in driving to my hotel.  It was a strenuous, but great, drive.…

I completed my objectives for today. I revisited two states (Louisiana and Mississippi) that I have already checked off my list. I had a look at the Gulf of Mexico from the seafront at Biloxi and now I am holed up in my hotel room, plotting and scheming for tomorrow…

I was at Ferrari & Maserati of San Antonio at 0800 today and was back on the road, minus my rattle, by 1000. Jim, the technician there, rapidly identified the source of the noise I had noticed as a loose and broken aerodynamic fin on the rear flat underfloor. It…

I like Texas. I knew I would. It’s a matter of attitude, really. A picture I saw somewhere of a local Senator posing by the increased speed limit sign on the Interstate. The “don’t mess with Texas” anti-litter signs on the roads. The Texan flag flying everywhere or pictured on…

As promised, I began my day in Roswell NM by visiting the UFO Museum, or as it styles itself “International Museum and Research Center”. In business, it’s always wise to beware people with elaborate job titles. They are usually far less important than the guy with the simple one. It…

You would think the main story of today was told by the picture of Speranza’s trip computer. Eight hours on the road at an average of almost 70mph? What more could there be? Yet though the drive was magnificent and exhilarating it’s not mostly what I shall remember about today.…

I thought revisiting the Grand Canyon might be a waste of time as my family and I had done the definitive tour. However I decided that the 25 mile “Desert View Drive” alongside the Canyon was a good chance to put Speranza’s roof down and listen carefully for whatever the…