Outside, it's America

My memories of America from my youth are either wild west films, or TV cop series.

I guess the first one I remember really was The Streets of San Francisco with Karl Malden and a young Michael Douglas. Then it was Starsky and Hutch, with both shows showing cars being chased down alleyways crashing through piles of old newspapers and puddles of water.

It all seemed so different, so glamorous, even if cars did just burst into flames for no reason, or tyres screech as cars went round corners, this was America, and was so very different to dul old Oulton Broad and Lowestoft.

If not driving at silly speeds through the country's big cities, it would be the Good Ol' Duke Boys getting away from the sheriff in the Dukes of Hazzard. Even that seemed so wonderful, or was that just Daisy?

I never thought I would go there, even when I was in the RAF, I was friendly with a freight mover and he would hitch rides on planes to the States, something I never thought I would do.

But a second divorce meant suddenly I had time, I just needed money.

And then I get a cal from my Sargeant whilst on a course: "Wanna go to las Vegas on detachment, boy?" Indeed I did, Roger, indeed I did.

Detachment is where planes would visit an airfield away from home, could be in the UK or on the other side of the world, and so the support trades would have to go too to do our job, over there. Just outside Vegas is Nellis AFB, and that is where we and two Hercules C130s were going to spend most of November 1996.

I don't think I had even been so excited about anything as the wait for the flight out, even if it was on a ropey old RAF VC10. In flight catering was a sandwich box made up of a couple of sandwiches, a cheap pack of crisps, a Club biscuit and a piece of fruit. On arrival at Vegas, the immigration guy came on board and told us all items of fruit and vegetables would have to be confiscated. There was about 150 of us on board, each with two pieces of uneaten fruit. He was gonna need a bigger bag to collect it all.

We lined up at immigration, shwed our passport and NATO travel order, meaning we were allowed in; would you like your passport stamped? Heck yes I would!

And waiting outside was a bus. An American bus, very much like a Greyhound bus, with the door operated by the driver via a lever, just like in the movies. And outside were cars. American cars, huge things.



I was in a movie. Or so it seemed. Since then I have been to quite a few areas of the US, in order:

Nevada
Arizona
Massachusetts
New Hampshire
Maine
Rhode Island
Oklahoma
Arkansas
Vermont
New York (upstate)
Texas
Washington
Oregon
California
Colorado
Wyoming
Montana

I think that is it.

And met some fine people: Marcy in New Hampshire, Jason and Cheryl in Arkansas and Dawn and her partner in Colorado. As well as those people who felt the need to speak with this Brit at every available opportunity, even when all I wanted was a quiet night, I would get the "I like your accent, where you from?" England. "Oh wow, love that place, I have a friend in London, Bob, you know him?"Yes, these conversations really do happen.

And I have seen some of the best sights the US has to offer:

New England in the fall

Grand Canyon

Crater Lake

The Pacific North West

The Ozark Mountains

But I have never been to New York. Not until this week. On Friday a new adventure begins, where I retread the same streets Starsky and Hutch used to patrol.

Wish me luck. Hope you all enjoy the journey too.

But that's not until Friday....