On the Road Again!

The final day. I had a lie in until 9am and then went across to see Nigel and the team to say that I had transferred the money across for the work, and that it was all looking good and working. It was about 9.30am by the time I tidied everything away and set off for the fuel station at Grove. Bellingers Isuzu is not far from Williams F1. Yesterday when we went past on the bus diesel was £1.819. The cheapest I have seen for a long while.  When I got there it was even cheaper, at £1.799!  I know, getting excited by a fuel price 30p more than two months ago. If our dodgy government had followed other European governments then they would have cut the tax for a while. I filled up to the click as I always do. 63.10 litres! Or £113.50!!!!!!!! At least with the slow speeds to get home it should last a bit longer. With that I set the TomTom for home and we set off through Wantage and towards Newbu...

Day 2 started at 0730 when I set the alarm, made coffee and washed and dressed.  I found I had no towel. Luckily, I had the brand new dog towel from Dock and Bay. It's actually better I think as it is hand towel sized!!It was also brand new. Then at 0800, they came to look over the van to decide where everything would go. The battery us too tall to go under my seat. So it was decided that it would go under the bench seat in the dining area..... The inverter would then go under my seat.  The rest of the gubbins under Claire's seat. With nothing else to do I got a jumper and my man-bag and set off for a walk to the bus stops on the main Wantage to Faringdon road. My luck was out and I missed the buses in both directions by minutes. Molly on the right! I basically went the way I had driven in.  I sat and waited for the 67 bus to come. Wantage wasn't that far, but I was already hot after walking a mile.  Once in Wantage I decided to go into Oxford. Here I had two buses t...

I planned to leave around 3.30pm for the three hour drive across the south to Wantage in Oxfordshire. The destination is Off Grid Power Solutions to have work tomorrow to make the van more off grid usable. Over the morning, when I woke with terrible stomach pains, we put all the stuff I need for two days away from home.  So, everything was going far too swimmingly up the motorways and around the M25. As usual, despite the A3 junction work being completed, everything slowed to walking pace.  TomTom was actually working at this point to say that the M4 was blocked in several places. Without a co-pilot I had no idea where and why. Instead the route changed to the M3 and Bracknell to the M3 and Hook near Basingstoke. I stopped at Fleet Services to check everything was working and th n set off again. Across country to Reading on the M4 and then Reading Services where I had planned to stop.  At Reading Services I had avoi...

Today I am driving the van across to Off Grid at Wantage so that they can start work early tomorrow morning. Apart from local driving it's the first time I have gone anywhere solo in the van. Okay, I have driven to the storage quite a few times, and to Canterbury, but this is about three hours. I have emptied the van of everything not needed so that the guys doing the work don't have to do it. It leaves them a pretty much blank canvas to work on. I assume to work under the seats in the van, they will remove them. We'll have to wait and see. Offgrid Power Solutions

When I posted this picture on another social media platform, I had people commenting on the cap. Mostly asking if I had ridden it. The answer is no. I haven't ridden any of Route 66 on a motorcycle. Others simply trolling. The truth is. I have driven all of the Route 66 possible in Arizona. From the border with New Mexico to crossing the Colorado River to a section in California. We did it in a Dodge Charger SXT. Photographed near Lake Havasu. The original cap came from the Hackberry Stores. It "went missing" off my desk in 2020. I was lucky to be able to buy the exact same one, same colour, grey, on eBay. The trip was ten years ago. May and June 2016.

It's Day 24 of " Take the Lead " where Reggie and I walk to try and raise money for the charity St Mungo's. I put our names down for a mere 26 miles in April, using the Strava app to keep a record of the walks.  But. I keep forgetting to start it. Or worse, turn it off after a walk, then having to delete it, thus losing genuinely acquired miles!!! This was the case last week.  Turned on when I left Arsenal station, and off when I got back there. All good. Then after walking to the train I forgot and it came out at 78 miles!!! The three genuine miles lost. So how about a donation to a good cause? Justgiving will take any currency.... A single £ or $ or € will be appreciated. Paul & Reggie's Fundraising Page . As well as donating you can see updates on our progress.