I’m very excited right now – “Why is that Tim” I hear you all cry with enthusiastic curiosity. Well everyone if you must know it’s mainly because I have a California road trip planned & booked for this year.. Woooooooooot!

I’ve never been anywhere in the US before but I’ve wanted to go for ages and come and meet all you happy, positive chaps (and chapesses) over there. Our route is on the left photo just there which we’ve planned over over 16 days. But in short the main stops are *big breath* LA>Santa Barbara>Monterey>San Francisco>Lake Tahoe>Yosemite Park>Death Valley>Vegas>Grand Canyon.

“But where are the statistics Tim” I hear someone cry out..  well Barry (I’ll call you Barry as it sounds like the name of someone who loves statistics) I’ll be driving about 1314 miles or about 26hours which according to those nice folks at Roadtrippers.com should cost about 226 of your US dollars in petrol (never understood why it’s called gas in the US?). Satisfied Barry?

I’d write more about the ‘Timmy & Leigh’s Road-trip Extravaganza’  in upcoming posts but if you have any suggested stops (worlds largest ball of string?) or tips or questions about what cool stuff is in my house to burgle while I’m away then let me know.

In addition to announcing my house  is empty for a bit of classic old English burglary I also wanted to mention books. Like some of you I think it’s nice to read a novel about places you’re visiting before you get there. Here’s my list of possible books I have so far.

• Vegas – The obvious choice was Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas but I’ve read that (liked a lot) but I haven’t read Leaving Las Vegas by John O’Brien. Is that a good choice?
• San Francisco – I’ve not read The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett or any of the Tales of the City series by Armistead Maupin.
• Los Angeles – I am Legend by Richard Matheson is an option (never saw the film).

Lemme know if you have recommendations .

Cheers!