Sally goes international

ROAD TRIP!

This was one of the first things we planned about this trip and both got excited about being able to get hold of a Mustang to do it in. I don't think that the tragedy of Zeebrugge was explained to the North Americans, they sail their ferries out of port with the car decks open. This had dawned on me while at Horseshoe bay and now standing in Victoria watching the motor vessel Covo arrive in the harbour I was reminded of it again.

The morning had been a brief one prior to arriving at the ferry terminal, we (well I, Tom took some convincing) were determined not to miss another ferry. Sally had whisked us down to the harbour and into the mind numbing US immigration queue. Thankfully this was no LAX and with our passports having already been Americanized we just had to entertain conversation with the woman from immigration as she visited us in Sally. The crossing to Port Angeles was uneventful however the scenery spectacular. We were soon on US soil and a guy from Customs interrogated us, satisfied we were not off to train terrorists, he let us through and we were loose with a few hundred miles of asphalt and a powerful convertible.

Sally roared into action and gobbled the miles up down the US west coast to Ocean Shores. Tom had the run of the local winding roads and his semi-permanent grin suggested he was enjoying Sally's handling. The Ramada, well the young girl at reception :), welcomed us to Ocean Shores and we were soon engrossed in American trash TV! Dinner that night was taken at the attached restaurant and I rapidly realised this was no Ramada of UK standard! Karaoke night was on in the restaurant, I requested a table "as far from that thing as possible" but that yielded little relief from bud swigging country crooners out on the coast for the Labor weekend. We escaped and headed to bed after a disappointing dinner.

With Sally's top off we drove up to the Ocean Shores headland and climbed some rocks. I didn't go to the end of this rock groyne as there was a leaking sewage pipe filling the sea and the prospect of getting sprayed by the resulting liquid was not a pleasant one. However, in the pursuit of exploring all Tom didn't hold back and off he went! A day of driving was ahead and we gobbled up the miles in style.

Our destination was Vashon Island and short hop on the ferry over from the mainland south of Seattle got us to some fantastic driving roads. We dived straight off the main road into the local back roads and threw Sally round the last 15 miles up to the hostel and the start of our hillbilly adventure!

Seattle and hillbillies were two things I didn't expect to encounter together, but Tom will have fun explaining them all to you!