America - The Road from New York to The Deep South

By David Ellis

When NSW couple Dean and Kath Le Page told mates they were off to the USA for a bit of a driving holiday, the general reaction was: "Have a good time – see you in a couple of weeks".

And have a good time they did, but it was anything other than a "couple of weeks". Once they hit the road, Dean and Kath kept driving, clocking up an amazing 16,000 kilometres, driving and sightseeing their way through thirty States, using something like US$1,500+ worth of fuel, and not coming home for three months.

And already they are itching to go back to see places they couldn't get to last year because of hurricanes and floods that blocked their way in the south, and blizzards in the north.

Something of "Ford Junkies" (they have a Ford Territory for regular use back home on the NSW Central Coast, and a 1966 Ford Mustang as a “weekender,”) the Le Page’s had planned on doing their big USA drive in a second-hand Mustang.

They began with a week in New York’s Manhattan district, then took a Greyhound coach to Philadelphia where they planned to buy their car, as it would be cheaper than long-term renting.

But they uncovered a quirk in American law before they left home: to own a vehicle in the ‘States you have to have a permanent American address to which it can be registered.

Mates in a motoring group, however, who’d come across the same problem previously, put them in touch with an attorney who got around this by registering Dean and Kath their own “American company,” by which any vehicle they bought could be owned.

They chose a 2002 Mustang in Philadelphia with 160,000 kilometres on the clock, paying US$10,000 plus the $1000 for the attorney who arranged its registration and necessary paperwork.

Then they set off on a driving adventure worthy of anything from Boys Own Annual, and doubtless if they now delved into the record books would find they’d broken more than a few entries for holidaying Aussies in America.

From hitting the road in Philadelphia, Dean and Kath headed south through Washington DC, the Carolinas to Tennessee, into Arkansas, other states in the Deep South, and then west into the vastness of Texas.

Reaching the Mississippi they tracked this great waterway north, covering hundreds of kilometres through the Midwest to Chicago, where they turned west again across the Plains to the spectacular Dakotas.

There, in a move like in a giant game of Snakes and Ladders, they dived south once more, driving deep into New Mexico, and then north-west to the Grand Canyon, the great Sierra Nevadas and San Francisco.

From ‘Frisco they yet again headed south, this time down the scenic Highway 1, following the Pacific coast to Los Angeles, San Diego and back to LA, where they sold the faithful little Mustang that hadn’t missed a beat on the whole 16,000km journey, getting about $2000 less than they’d paid for it.

Filling the car’s tank had cost them less than half the $70 they pay back home to fill their “weekender” Mustang, and neither found any problems with driving “on the wrong side of the road.”

“The highways in America are kept in absolutely perfect condition,” Dean says. “And while we had a GPS it wasn’t always necessary as signposting on major road was excellent.”

And the couple gave themselves plenty of time for seeing as many as possible of the scores of local attractions they came across, mostly driving only a half-day at a time or less.

They also signed up with an internet provider for $10 a month, using the web every day to find accommodation for that night – and not once did they have a problem getting a room.

And they found dining to be particularly good value on the road, and the Americans friendly and welcoming everywhere they went.

And what next? “We’d like to go back to do those areas we missed last time because of the weather, in particular New England, Niagara Falls – and Detroit’s car plants,” car-buff Dean says.

“But then again, Europe looks interesting…”

For a fuller coverage of their travels, observations and tips, see www.travelmonitor.com.au and click on The Great US Car Tour in Travellers’ Tales.