Taking a detour from Route 66, we headed up to beautiful Santa Fe for a few days in this wonderful chilled out city and area known for its Pueblo-style architecture, its culture, food and arts scene. Then, in complete contrast as we headed back onto Route 66 with a brief stop in Albuquerque.

No US road trip would be complete without taking in some of the most famous road in the world. We followed Route 66 from just east of Amarillo, Texas to Flagstaff, Arizona.

After a busy week in New Orleans, and six weeks already on the road, we were looking forward to some time on the beach in Galverston and then exploring some more of the Lone Star State. However, our plans to explore Texas were scuppered by Covid…

As the temperature rose we arrived in perhaps the most vibrant city of our trip – New Orleans! We loved the vibe, the fusion of cultures, the southern soul food, the beautiful green spaces, the architecture and, more than anything else, we loved the music.

The next stage of our journey was from Nashville to New Orleans and included a road trip within a road trip as we made our way down the scenic Natchez Trace Parkway with detours to explore a couple of stops on the Mississippi Blues Trail.

Next stop Nashville! In early May 2022, we arrived in the so-called Country Music Capital of the World excited to learn about the history and diversity of country music that exists and about the civil rights history of the area.

At the end of April we travelled from Minneapolis down to St Louis, starting the great southern music section of our travels. A great opportunity to visit family, see the local sights and prepare ourselves for the road trip to come.

So we headed North West, instead of South, to visit our friend James in Minneapolis. Colder weather than we’d packed for, but we got away with it. Our first new state, Minnesota (MN) of the trip!

It’s taken a few weeks for us to set our website up as we have been busy experiencing our trip rather than doing admin but our first page is now up. Read about our first five days – in Chicago, Illinois. The website is still a work in progress as we learn the joys of WordPress and find the time to work on it but hopefully more content will follow soonish…