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!
High Point : Driving over the Golden Gate bridge at 5.43pm and witnessing the most perfect sunset over San Francisco.
Low Point : The travel sickness felt by all in the back of the “Rig” after 3 hours of gunning down the wonderfully winding Highway 1. Of course it could of also been the 2 foot club sandwich we ate at lunch.
Rename of the day : Martha is currently holding her own when dwarfed by U.S Fire Engines twice her size but to help her sound more Macho and fitting with her surroundings we have currently renamed her from an engine to a “Rig”. Also she now can be referred to as a “Ride” as in “That’s a sweet ride you’ve got yourself there!”
Statement of the day (And potentially my life) : X-Pod (or Rob if you don’t know his self given nick name) … “ Riding this road is like taking a drug… and I’m Addicted to it……. But sometime in life you have to give up drugs….” Enlightening stuff Rob.
Low Point: Not being able to drive this road everyday
No point: Being anywhere else
What not to say at a border point: California border lady ‘’Do you have any fruit or vegetables on board Sir?’’, James ‘’No, only the three in the back.’’
Risk point: Getting 52 new troops in a game of Risk against Ben Battye. Surely that only happens once in a lifetime?
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.
