A wonderful wonderful day! A touch of nerves as per normal when we have to deal with anything shipping related. Today was no was exception. Martha had already been in Spain for couple of days and we were itching to get on the road (and very conscious of our time constraints). The sillyness of shipping didn’t disappoint but with our man Eric on the case dealing with all the craziness. He did a grand job of dealing with the shipping lines, warehouses, truck drivers, crane operators and all the other people involved in this over complicated process.
From September 2010. The FTFE expedition sneak a fire engine into China. After 6 months of paperwork and two fixers, did it really come down to hiding the word fire from the front of the truck ?
ITV news film the stage 8 crew in New York City. Driving through Time Square with a camerman on the roof is yet another very surreal experience for FTFE. Wonderful stuff !
George has done an awesome job of mapping our journey around the world. You can zoom out to see the entire route or zoom in to see more detail. Each of the red pins is a blog from that location. Super stuff George ! This page is always available by clicking on the image of the world map on the home page.
Hot Point : Surely every day should start with a soak in a hot springs tub?
Low Point : Constant and unrelenting exhaustion
Boiling Point : Is 4 cups of coffee too many to start the day?
Truth or Consequences, obviously the best name for a town anywhere in the world. This is how I pictured small town USA and how I pictured breakfast. A tiny town where everyone knows everyone and a fire engine from England is a pleasant surprise first thing on a Wednesday morning. Now first things first, breakfast. Our most important meal of the day as generally we don’t have lunch or if we do it’s normally filth (McDonalds, Burger King, etc). The Happy Belly Deli treated us to a master class in good old American cooking with a chorizo and scrambled egg feast, oh hello and good morning. But surely a good breakfast is not complete without a good old natter with a local or three. This is why we love small town USA, the characters, the stories and the enthusiasm for our expedition. To accompany my four coffees and splendid breakfast was a lovely chap who by all accounts has been round the block a few times. Stories of the road, trucking, the changing face of the USA and life in general. Super stuff. Read more →
High Point: Helicopter Flight over the Grand Canyon. Compliments of Grand Canyon Ranch we had a SPECTULAR start to the day dropping in over the West Rim in an awesome chopper. Wow wow wow wow, does it get much better or bigger? Our end of the Canyon is the narrowest but still HUGE at 14 miles wide. How big? Well the chopper pilot (let’s call him Stringfellow Hawk) pointed out what looked like a radio controlled helicopter, a great indicator of the vastness of this Canyon. Awesome times two.
Low Point: Landing in the chopper as Amy had just moments before recreating her now famous chunder on the cargo ship.
No Point: Waking up at 5.30am as we all got the time wrong (the Ranch operates the same time as Vegas)
Game Point: Team FTFE beating Phoenix Fire Department in a game of ping pong. Bosh.
National Lampoons: Legendary film staring comedy genius Chevy Chase dragging his family on a road trip across the USA to Wally World. After disaster after disaster they arrive to find Wally World closed, so he kidnaps the park employees to ensure his family get their dream Wally World experience.
Follow That Fire Engine: Legendary global road trip driving a silly red truck from London all the way to Disney Land!! After driving over 23,000 miles, through 25 countries, the stage 7 crew roll into Disney. The crew are treated like celebrities. Martha had her own parking spot and was dressed up with Disney Balloons. Two Disney employees (Reece and Kris) escorted us around the park where we had back stage passes to all the rides. For a morning it was like being celebrities, not just passing queues but going in the back entrances and having rides to ourselves!! We met the Disney Fire Department, Mary Poppins and screamed far too much on the rides. Like being Beckham for a morning
High Point: Big soft bed in a motel with Rocky 2 on the tele. Any TV with any English language film on is heaven
Low Point: Being personally guilty of being a complete muppet by leaving the fuel cap at the “gas stop”
Genius local: Dude at local auto shop that made a new petrol cap out of a plastic cup and a lid from a paint pot
Social Experiment: Being woken three times in the night by a crazy red light and an alarm in the fire station dorm every time there was a fire. Creepy stuff
Pointless Chat: The burger debate continues. Rob even brought it up when were interviewed on the tele and with the Chief Fire Officer for Portland
Best New Nickname: Ben Battye is now Patty Battye. A combination of the fact that a fireman thought his name was Pat and that he likes burgers
American Accents: Rob on continuous loop mimicking a shop assistant from Walmart, “Happy day sir”
Error of the Day: Ordering five filth burgers from Denny’s diner. Never a healthy sign as Ben when picked his up grease ran down his arm. Mucky.
