One thing you take for granted in the UK is the close proximity of everything. Unlike some areas of America. Imagine having to drive 20 minutes down the road, just to get a pint of milk in the morning?
Living in a country that's hundreds of years old, Britain is now awash with villages, towns and cities, all connected by a spaghetti system of roads, lanes and motorways. It's a complex network, that means there are very few truly remote areas in the UK.
In Ohio, where I was staying, it's very different. It would take 2 hours to drive to the nearest city. A plan formulated weeks in advance was for us to drive to Niagara Falls, on the U.S/Canadian border near Buffalo, the second biggest city in New York state (no prizes for guessing the biggest city.)
The drive would take us out of Ohio, through Pennsylvania and into New York state, approximately 8 hours of continuous driving. Now, if you drove anywhere in the UK for 8 hours, chances are you'd be contemplating suicide in a service station around the 6 hour mark. Well, maybe that's just me. You see, I hate driving long distances. I get supremely bored on motorways and would rather take trains anywhere that would take me longer than 3 hours by car.
But, if I lived in the US, I would very likely change my attitude to driving entirely. I was very impressed with the roads in America. They seemed wider, cleaner, better maintained and far easier to navigate. A lot of it is just down to the fact America has more space. They can build straight roads that go on for miles and miles, without having to worry about bulldozing through villages, private land and National Heritage sites. It's great for drivers.
We started our journey to Buffalo mid-morning, around 9 a.m, with the expectation to be there by 5 p.m (or 6 p.m, factoring in rest stops). As everyone knows, the Americans drive on the right-hand side of the road. I actually found it quite easy to "click" into that mindset, although things do get a bit hairier at intersections and suchlike, as your natural instincts to go left kicks in once you're sat behind traffic lights! But, you don't really hit many traffic lights on the open road, unless you're actually in an urban environment. The roads are long, relatively straight and a breeze to coast down at 55-60 m.ph.
The speed limits were interesting, as they're lower than Britain's, and people seem content to stay 10 m.p.h under the limit. Back home, drivers would have their needle dead on 70, or over. But people seem more relaxed in the US, which is understandable because the whole experience of driving is more calm and enjoyable. It helps that the weather was bright and sunny, too, nicely tempered by the air-con.
In no time whatsoever, you find you've driven for 3 hours and pull in for a stop at one of the many rest areas. These rest areas are brilliant. In the UK, we stop at service stations where you have to sell your car to pay for a sandwich and the toilets are a mess. In the US, the facilities are purely for the benefit and convenience of the driver: vending machines for drinks/snacks/newspapers... clean, sparkling toilets... neat picnic areas... and nice display boards of maps and tourist information. A genuinely relaxing place to stretch your legs for 10 minutes.Travelling across America, you also notice how identical many of the towns are, in terms of their facilities and shops. Around midday, we pulled off the freeway into a small town (the American equivalent of a "very small village") and they still boasted a dozen fast-food restaurants and four motels, including a Hilton! It makes you wonder how they can afford to keep these places going, but there must be thousands of motorists passing through each day. They food outlets certainly couldn't rely on their measly local populations, could they?
It's good fun to spot license plates on passing cars, too. In America, the registration plates are specific to states, so it's always nice to see a truck pass by from Florida (oranges on the plate) and wonder what he's doing in Pennsylvania. I'd be happy if we could get regional plates in the UK (ooh, what's a Fiat from Northumberland doing in Kent?)
There were also loads of trucks. I didn't think they were particularly big, as you'd expect, but they're certainly prettier than UK lorries. I love their snub-noses and the design work on many of them. One bright red rig roared past us at 2 p.m, with a black tarpaulin flapping from over its cargo and two silver horns protruding from its cab... making it look like a vehicular Satan, flying down the freeway like it had come straight from hell itself.
Oh, and did you know that the Dwight D. Einsehower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways (or Interstate Highway System for short!) carries nearly all goods across America? Even freight going by train or plane will use the roads at some stage. A reason they're so large is also because they've been dual-designed to enable mass evacuation of major cities. The idea that they were also meant to serve as emergency airstrips, is an urban myth, though... but I bet you could!I also didn't know that the odd-numbered routes run north-to-south, and even numbered routes run east-to-west! What a handy idea! Even better, an odd first digit means the route terminates at a city centre, an even first digit signifies a loop/bypass around a city and the last two digits are the highway's origin. A little complex perhaps, but the odd/even thing means you have a vague idea of direction. Pretty cool, eh? It makes more sense than the seemingly random road numbering in the UK!
Anyway, back to the road trip, which was hitting the 6 hour mark and there wasn't a single case of "numb bum syndrome" in the car. Talk turned to petrol/gas prices, which is a topic of conversation that gets Yanks and Brits united... although it soon becomes clear the Yanks are complaining about nothing! In the past four years, prices in the USA have risen (due to the Middle East situation), from about $1.50 a gallon to just under $3. Hmmm, okay. Sounds unfortunate... until you realize all us Brits are paying just under $10 a gallon!! If you want to make an American's jaw-drop, just tell them that little fact.
So I have no sympathy for their $3 a gallon joke. I mean, we were travelling 8 hours straight and only put in $60/£30. I can only travel 4 hours on £30! It also irked me that most of the petrol stations in the local area were all British Petroleum! The swines! Still, I suppose Americans use their cars more often than us Brits, as their country is so large. A few days before, we'd been driven to a "nearby town". I was expecting a 10, maybe 20 minute, trip. One HOUR later we arrived. Distance sure is relative...We began hitting more traffic in New York state, leaving the rural expanses of Ohio and the wooded areas of Pennsylvania behind.. The weather had turned very wet, which was annoying because Ohio was suffering a 3-week drought at the time, so it wasn't the best welcome. But, the grey and wet cityscapes of Buffalo came as something of a relief after so much brightness and 88 degree temperatures. Y'know, sometimes us Brits just want a miserable day. It's comforting.
The road to Niagara Falls seemed to be a circular one that went around Buffalo's edge, beside a river (the Niagara River I assume), and crossing a few blue steel toll bridges. Eventually, we were in Buffalo's centre, slowing down to a crawl to try and get as close to the Falls as we could, but mainly looking for a hotel to stay. The plan being to hit the Falls in the morning. We finally pulled into a tourist office and a man behind a counter orientated us with a map, gave us some vouchers for a few local hotels/motels and sent us on our way...Part 5: The Hotel, The Casino & The Niagara Falls
Part 3: Food & Supermarkets
Part 2: Wildlife & Weather
Part 1: Coming To America
