Day 9 - 16th July - New Jersey - Philadelphia - Houston - Sacramento

Got up early - zipped u luggage and sat talking to Jazzy for a while. We then packed up the car and took us to a nearby town called MontClair (Upper). We walked around the town taking photos of the historic buildings then had a cold drink in a diner before heading off to Newark - Penn Station to catch our train back to PHiladelphia.

For some reason catching the train is the hardest thing for me to do, and I was very nervous. When asked why - I narrowed it down to not hearing where the train was, missing my station, and ending up in Alaska somewhere. My fears were unfounded. We sat next to a guy also travelling around USA who was getting off at the same station. He just happened to live in San Luis
Obispo where we were heading on the 20th.

The train was 20 minutes late, and when we got to the station, we had to catch another train to the airport. Because of construction the trains were going every hour, instead of every half hour. This cut our airport check in time very close, but we managed to arrive at the airport at 4.10pm before our 5.40 flight. Queues for security were long though. Mike got stung with a $50 fee for overweight baggage - 12 pounds overweight. I was also slightly overweight by about 4 pounds, but was allowed to take 2 pounds out of my luggage to put in my backpack and thus didn't have to pay the fee. Weird - it's weight still being carried on the plane!!!

Arrived in Houston - had dinner at Wendy's as it was the only thing open that was 'okay' as far as food was concerned. Caught another plane to Sacramento. When we arrived we 'lost' our luggage, but found we were standing at the wrong carousel!!! Once we had the luggage, we caught a super shuttle to the Hostel we were staying at. On the way our shuttle had a crash on the freeway. Trying to merge into a lane while someone else was merging and had a side on crash. We had to wait for the cops to come, then give statements - we our now registered with CHIPS!

By the time that was sorted out (about 2 hours) we arrived at the hostel to find it CLOSED. No one there to open up at all. So the shuttle driver drove us around and found a dive of a place for us not far from the hostel. However, it was 3am and we were stuffed and a bed is a bed. Our alternative was to sleep in the park!!! It cost us $72 usd for this dive - not bad I guess!!!

Day 8 - 15th July - Quiet Day

Had a quiet morning sorting out luggage and printing out maps for the next part of our trip. Booked a hostel in Sacramento. Jazzy went to the gym, and when she got back she dropped me off at a masseuse to work on my terrible feet. So swollen. The masseuse was wonderful - the team masseuse for the New Jersey Jets.

I was picked back up again half an hour later. Jazzy took us to an ATM so we could get more cash, then took us to lunch at a family restaurant. Lovely. After lunch she drove us to her sisters in Winchester County where we spent the day by the pool swimming and talking and having a great day.

After dinner we had had dessert - the Great American Apple Pie. Jazzy then drove us to Macy's where I managed to pik up the fossil watch I had wanted last xmas, for $61. It was $120 on sale in NZ so I was pleased with that.

Back to Jazzy's to pack - spent until 2.30am finalising Sacramento and helping Mike pack and throw out lots of stuff that wasn't necessary to cart back to NZ.

Day 7 - Philadelpha - New Jersey

Now starts the vacation part of the trip. Kim woke me up at 3.00am to say a final bye as she left to go to the airport to catch her flight home. She emailed me later to say that the hotel wanted to pay for the whole room, even though Cathy had already paid my share of it, and had the receipt. They ended up having to wake Cathy up at 3.15am to come down and sort it out, and apparently Cathy was really pissed off with the Hotel (and quite rightly so!) While this was going on I slept upstairs blissfully unaware of the problems I was causing!!

We meet Jazzy at 8.30am for breakfast in the hotel. Ate, got luggage, packed up car, checked out and vroomed up the freeways to New Jersey in Jazzys hot sports car. Unfortunately we couldn't put the top down as we had too much luggage. It took about 90 minutes to get to Jazzy's home in Little Falls, New Jersey. I actually recognised landmarks as we got close to her place so obviously my memory is still intact!

We unpacked a bit and then Jazzy took us to a New Jersey diner for lunch. Great food, not expensive and NJ diners are meant to be very unique in the USA. She then took u to a mall and I bought some New Balance running shoes for $34.00 (eat ya heart out running team!!), and also 3 pairs of Levi's. No tax on clothing in NJ and Levi's are wonderfully cheap. Back to Jazzy's for a lovely swim in the pool then got onto emails - have to yet book a hostel in Sacramento, and a rental car. I wonder if we could persuade USA to drive on the left for 3 weeks while I'm there???

For dinner we were taken to a moroccan restaurant in MontClair, NJ. It was absolutely divine food and finished with a refreshing mint tea - almost a syrup.