In the beginning…

Twenty years ago on this day — 7th November 1994 — I set out to fulfill a long held ambition — to drive across the USA East to West. During the trip I kept a journal every day which came to light recently and which seemed to be wasted in the bask of a cupboard.

So to mark the 20th anniversary I thought that I would share it with others. Someone may be interested.

I intend to add a story of each day as I progressed across the continent, leaving nothing out and adding nothing to the text.

Although the idea of a trip like this had been in the back of my mind for some years, probably since I was a student in the 1970's, the course of my life and career had just not allowed me the time (or the money) to be able to take up the challenge. However, after a torrid 4 years or so in a senior Director role at the (now defunct) Welsh Development Agency I found myself with a months ‘career break’ before starting a new phase of my career with a post at the Cardiff Business School.

With 3 sons and a hard working wife taking a few weeks off on my own to fulfill an ambition was probably ever so slightly an indulgence but to be fair, it was Catherine who was the most keen that I should take some time and go.

This wasn't a ruse simply to get out from under her feet — or at least I like to think that it wasn’t — rather, she recognised that with family illness and career tensions that had been unrelenting for a few years and the looming date of my 40th birthday, I needed the space and it was probably ‘now or never’. As one of heroes, Van Morrison, once said (actually he said it in every concert probably) “Its too late to stop now”. A sentiment that has been a guiding principle of mine for a long long time.

In 2014 (actually even in 2004), planning and undertaking a trip across America is easy. You look stuff up on the internet, places to visit and their opening times, book hotels, book rental cars, send emails home, pick up your mobile and call home or text at any time regardless of time zones.

In 1994 I had to rely on a domestic telephone to call the airline to book my flight from Heathrow to Newark NJ; I turned up in Newark without a hotel booking and then booked hotels one day or sometimes half a day ahead by looking them up in a directory and calling them from a payphone.

I could only call home a couple of times when my stops coincided with the family being up and about back in Wales and I had to write the occasional postcard home. My journal was an A4 book that I bought on the first day and it was handwritten every night.

I had no laptop or tablet; no iPhone; no Kindle . I had no digital camera just good old reels of film that had to be developed en bloc at a store in LA before leaving for home. (On the plus side I didn't need to worry about battery chargers!)

I bought a Rough Guide a couple of weeks before travelling and planned a very rough itinerary before leaving. In just two weeks I was to travel 3,800 miles and visit 16 States and 12 Cities and all in a rather nice Buick LeSabre (an upgrade courtesy of Alamo).

The Journal will be posted daily over the next two weeks or so.

I hope that you enjoy the trip from 20 years further on up the road.