Final checks for start tomorrow

With everyone safely back at the hotel there was now a frenzy of people getting cars organised for the big start tomorrow, all the packing would have to be done in the morning but final mechanical checks could be completed. Very quickly the need for food and sleep took over.

Our first experience on American roads

Car checked, bottles of water on board and a quick briefing not to get too carried away on the drive to the hotel and we are pulling out onto American highways in groups of 6 to be taken to the hotel. At this point I realise any maps I have are in my luggage so I am now relying on following the man in front.....no pressure then. The first thing we notice about Texas is the obsession with 4x4 trucks, they are everywhere. The highways are vast and everything is bigger than us. We diced with the afternoon rush hour traffic for an hour in 34 degree heat and to be fair most of the locals were very friendly.

Reunited with the Caterham

We all hopped on a couple of buses, the passengers taken to the hotel, the drivers to the unloading base to pick up the cars. The heat is extreme outside and in the loading shed it was almost unbearable yet the unloading team of volunteers who had come out a couple of days early had unloaded 40 cars in these conditions, fueled them, given them the once over. Big thanks to those involved, you know who you are.

Touch Down in Houston

We arrived in Houston at 2.30pm local time after the 10 hour flight from Gatwick. As we congregate in the arrivals hall some of us can't actually believe this is happening. There is a real sense of excitement, yes we have it at the start of every tour but this is so much bigger than anything we have done before. Anyway enough of all that nonsense, where are those Caterhams to we go for a blat.