Hot wheels

So here we are in Dearborn MI, just outside Detroit. Duncan on the right, Aaron Villa (our helpful sales man) in the middle, myself on the left and our wonderful car on the very far left.

Our car is a beautiful Mercury Sable 4 door Sedan GS. 3.0 6 cylinder automatic in Spruce green colour. I'd never heard of Mercury before, but apparently it's a slightly more luxurious make by Ford.

We're very thankful to Marlene for helping us with the car dealerships and the small matter of cash as our bank cards failed to spew out the required funds. And to Jesse and his family for looking after us very well here in Westland.

So our plan for the first few days of the journey is to head up to Houghton Lake to take a wee boat trip with Marlene and Pat before heading over to Traverse City for the night. Then Sunday drive up via Mackinaw City and onto the Upper Peninsula of Michigan before heading west through Wisconsin and on to Minneapolis for Monday 30th August.

I'm still a bit jet-lagged after my 3.30am start in Aberdeen and getting to bed 25 hours later in Detroit. Duncan on the other hand is completely acclimatised after his month over here. However, his suggestion of cd for the drive shown here suggests he's been in need of Scottish company the last few days.

Duncan: "Sarah, do you think it would be fair to put a photo of Jesse in a kilt on our blog for lots of people to see?"

Sarah: "I think that's very fair. In fact, it would be a travesty if you didn't do it."

Jesse is getting married on the 18th of September so, in Scotland at least, it is traditional for some form of embarrassing ceremony to take place to the groom. So here he is in all his Scottish greatness!

2 days to go!

Hurrah! In 2 days time I will be somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean watching some terrible film on a screen the size of a crisp packet.
I finished my Masters course yesterday with my viva exam and having already handed in my thesis and finished my presentation I'm now free to leave!
Thankfully the BAA strikes fell through so I'm good to fly - I leave at 6am from Aberdeen to Amsterdam on Thursday morning and after a couple hours lay-over I'm back in the air again to Detroit. I get in about lunchtime US time, but near bedtime for my body clock.

Much packing/tidying/organising to be done before all of that though.
Next update will be coming from the other side of the pond in America! To those I won't get chance to see before I leave - hope you have a grand couple of months. To those I'll soon be seeing in America - can't wait to catch up!

Watch this space...

Staff from BAA-operated airports across the UK (Aberdeen included) today announced that workers had voted 3 to 1 in favour of strike action. While less than half of the eligible workers actually cast their vote, it does throw our road-trip up in the air, if only for a few days. At least our trip lasts a long time, rendering 3 or 4 days delay more of a nuisance than a fatal blow, unlike those going on a 7 day package holiday.

A minimum of one week's notice must be given for any strike action and the Union have said they will be meeting on Monday (16th) to discuss a plan of action. So it looks like action could take place from the 23rd of August, but hopefully they will target the August Bank Holiday weekend of the 28th August, allowing me to slip through on the 26th before they close up shop.

Ideally a deal can be struck before too long but it looks ominous. On the up side, no strike action has ever before completely closed BAA airports, so it's a case of watch this space...