High Point: Our traditional southwestern breakfast cooked by The Caskey family…. Who`d have thought that eggs and chilly could go together so well!
Low Point: Dinner is early in rural America… restaurants here are closed by 8pm which resulted in one very hungry and unhappy crew searching to find some food at 9pm.
No Point: Why are the boys having more showers than the girls? And what is a ‘strip wash’?
Burger Point: With the crew now weighted firmly towards the healthy-eating girls, the burger count has been officially closed with yours truly striding out in front with a massive 20 burgers consumed in 15 days. We need a new count now….? Read more →
High point: Reaching Bill Caskey’s farm after eight hours negotiating dicey roads through blizzards and ice on one of the most tricky drives in FTFE history. Thanks to Troy Caskey for being our guide and Guardian Angel
Low point: Leaving our new friends at Phoenix Fire Station and saying good bye to stage 7 crew legends Rob and Ben, we miss you already!
Snow point: Getting back into the cab and Martha sliding 5 inches down hill, icy conditions or too many burgers?
No point: Stocking up on cookies, Shelley from station 35 sent us on our way with enough cookies to feed a football team, for four weeks. Thank you!
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.
Hooters point: A very nice man called Cary lined us up with an early morning shoot at Hooters before we set off on our way. Only in Vegas! Thanks Hooters.
Hoover Dam point: We had to pay this magnificent piece of engineering a visit and we weren’t disappointed. What an awesome site it was too.
Amazing road point: the drive through the Arizona desert en route to the Grand Canyon was amazing and potentially even more incredible than the Pacific Coast Highway. The two drives couldn’t be more contrasting though; one set on the beautiful coast and the other literally in the middle of the desert.
High point: the welcome and hospitality we received from Susan, Ben and the gang at the ‘Grand Canyon Ranch’, coupled with a glorious sunset and the rising moon or Apache sun.
High Point: The Bellagio hotel switching on their musical water fountains especially for us. Is there anything that we can’t get done with FTFE?
Low Point: “I asked for two cheese burgers but you gave me two hamburgers. Why did you do that? Where’s my cheese? Ok did you honestly just put cheese on these burgers and give them back to me?Yeah but now they’re cold. All I want is my cheese. I’m not being awkward I just want what I paid for. No, I want you to make me fresh ones not just heat them up again. Thank you. Good night.”
No Point: Playing Black Jack when the table has turned. Take your winnings (or in my case lack of winnings) and get outta there. Quick.
High Point: Seeing the bright lights of Las Vegas appear out of nowhere in the Mojave Desert then saying hello to “Sin City” properly by rolling Martha right down the middle of Las Vegas Boulevard!
Low Point: Getting out of L.A. during rush hour (which is basically all day). L.A is a massive sprawling concrete jungle of a city dominated by cars. The traffic was frustratingly heavy while the highways themselves are probably the worst Martha has seen since Russia and Poland! Sort it out Arnie!
No Point: Driving around downtown L.A for two hours trying to see the enormous “HOLLYWOOD” sign and eventually realizing you can’t get close to it at all….. OH… MY… GOD!
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: Stopping off on Route 1 to see hundreds of mammoth elephant seals chillaxing on the beach
Low point: The temperature
No point: Putting your foot down, take in the view
Sleeping under the stars, being at one with nature, telling secrets around the fire; I’m quite a big fan of camping, or I was. Waking up at silly o’clock in the morning freezing cold, despite sleeping in a ski jacket, wooly hat and a four seasons sleeping bag (apparently comfortable at temperatures of –15) is not ideal. It took nearly all day for the crew to properly defrost after our night in the Big Sur. Despite the weather, I’d like to say a big thank you to the Big Sur Campground and Cabins for their generous hospitality http://www.bigsurcamp.com/ you guys rock!
High point: Being led out of this superb city with a relay escort of 1906 commemorative fire engines.
Road point: Pacific Coast Highway 1 is turning out to be epic, with a coastline to die for. It was great to be back on this very special stretch of road as we hit the Big Sur.
TiVo point: As we made our way to Big Sur via Santa Cruz, I insisted we stop by at TiVo HQ. TiVo is all the talk at Virgin Media (where I work) so I couldn’t resist stopping by for a photo.
Burger point: Best burgers of the USA so far had in Santa Cruz Diner. The current count at 23, with James leading the way on 8 and surprisingly I am currently in last place with 4 (that’s only one every other day!)
Camping with Ewoks point: Camping rocks and it was made even better still as we were in woods that resembled a scene from ‘Return of the Jedi’. Dinner under the stars was a delicious ‘Harpin and Morrow Medley’ pasta dish cooked on our camp fire. This was mixed with some good chat, a few beers and followed by toasted marsh mallows, or in Ben’s case – flamed!
Low point: Not a lot of sleep due to the freezing cold and Ben’s snoring. Hmmm, camping still rocks though, right?
High Point: San Francisco officially replaces Vancouver as FTFE’s favourite North American city. Wow.
High Point: The fund raising bash organised by Susan and Kevin McCabe which raised over $500 for FTFE. Oh and the view from their apartment overlooking Alcatraz and the Golden Gate bridge. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
High Point: Watching the sun set over San Francisco bay and the sky change through every colour in the rainbow.
High Point: Watching San Fran Police officers chase and arrest a burglar no more than half an hour after being told that San Fran has a low crime rate. Brilliant.
High point: Our headphone guided tour around Alcatraz. Crime does not pay kids but tourism does.
High point: California winter sun. Twenty degrees, blue skies and no cloud. Incredible.
High Point: Driving up and down the steepest roads known to man. Hill starts with the low diff setting on. Testing!
