Tuesday April 26th
This was our first experience of a winter storm in South Dakota and Wyoming, and it was relatively manageable, so we set off for Mount Rushmore.
It continued to snow all the way there but was still OK - it's a very impressive place, and there is a pretty good visitors centre explaining the history of the place, and the logistics behind the sculpture.

Fascinating Mount Rushmore.

The snow continued to fall on the small highway that we had to use, but even when we got back on the Interstate, the roads were still poor. So we made an executive decision to stop early and stay at a motel. Looking at the weather reports on the TV and Internet, the unexpected snow was forecast to last until Wednesday afternoon. But the roads were still passable, so we moved on the next morning.

Looking back, we should have taken note of the omens - as soon as it was my time to drive, the weather and roads worsened considerably and we had a giddy-big mountain to get over. With Bob's advice, I was managing OK but then suddenly the road turned to snow on ice, and there were a couple of trucks stuck. I was completely overwhelmed having rarely driven in snow at home, and burst into tears - but there was no way of stopping and handing over to Bob so I just had to keep going until we found a safe place. I've never been so terrified in my life - it was even worse than the ice and snow we had in Russia on the motorbikes! I'd suddenly turned into a wussy girly-girl - fortunately only for a moment! But we survived after Bob got us off the mountain safely and I eventually pulled myself together.

We stopped earlier than originally planned at a place called Cody, which was full of Buffalo Bill history and stuff. It continued to snow after we'd put the tent up, so we went and bought a small bottle of brandy (for medicinal purposes only) and discussed the crappy day we'd had.

Snowy Foxtrot.

Thursday 28th April
It had snowed and frozen overnight, although we were both toasty and warm in our sleeping-bags. We set off but after about a mile, there was a big sign saying all the roads to Yellowstone were closed, so we turned around and went back to the Visitor Information Centre in Cody. The people there seemed to think all roads were passable, knew nothing about the roads being closed, and seemed to be saying that snow never stops anyone, so we decided on a route that would take us to the North entrance in Montana. We set off, and the roads quickly turned to snow again, with low fog. Given the horrendous day we'd had yesterday with ice and snow we took another executive decision that sadly we were again going to miss Old Faithful Geyser in Yellowstone down to the weather. We decided we had to be going south to get a bit warmer, towards Salt Lake City. But each time we thought we'd got through the mountains and snow, there was another lurking behind it. We're both a bit fed up and disappointed at the bits we're missing out on, due to the weather.

Sunday 1st May
Finally - some sun. We're in Phoenix, Arizona, and the sun is shining. Yay. Not in a particular pleasant area (near the airport) but it doesn't matter when the sun is around.

We've been at anything between 5000 and 9000 feet while we've been in America and today we dropped down to sea level which is playing havoc with my sensitive ears, which haven't adjusted properly from the flight to New York. Makes talking and more importantly listening difficult in Foxtrot - Land Rover's are not lauded for their sound-deadening properties.

Tuesday 3rd May
This was our first border crossing in a while, and the difference this time, is that I have to share Bob's pain - when we were away before, my job was to stay with the bikes. And since many cultures don't expect much from their women-folk, they don't talk to them as equals, which you can imagine rankled a little! This time, we can lock Foxtrot and sort out the paperwork together. We were through the Mexico border in 2 hours, after they'd x-rayed the vehicle and we thought 'this is a piece of cake' even though we both felt a little uneasy that we weren't pointed towards getting a Tourist card at any point. There were no signs assisting at all. But we thought there must be something further into the country, telling you how to get one.
We stopped at the first sensible place and Bob found a friendly policeman who spoke a little English. Unfortunately the outcome was that we had to go back to the border, and find the SAT building to get our Tourist cards. So we turned around and went back to the border which had now become incredibly busy, so we queued up for another 2 hours sat in Foxtrot, in 30 degree heat, to get back into USA so we could get access to the right building. We had to explain to various officials and police with guns why we were trying to get back to a country we'd left just a couple of hours ago(and also bear in mind we only had a one-time-only import licence for Foxtrot).

Having successfully retraced our first journey and paid for our Tourist cards (about £15 each), the unusually helpful Customs officer then gave us a map of the place we had to find in Tijuana, to get our Temporary Import Vehicle document stamped and authorised. This office was so incredibly difficult to find but a bit of pidgin-Spanish and a few helpful truck-drivers later, we eventually were relieved of a shed-load more money, and were on our way. And it had only taken 6 hours and two attempts. Not stressed at all!

We had to buy vehicle insurance for Mexico, but failed to check whether Sheila was covered, and there was no way we understood the paperwork enough so we decided that Bob would have to drive until we could work it out. This brought its own set of problems - I have a glass back at the best of times, but sitting in the passenger seat for hours on end was possibly the worst thing I could have done. That, coupled with the most uncomfortable mattress in the roof-tent made sure I suffered big-time. (We currently have no long-term solution in place for this but ripping out the mattress is favourite at the moment.)

We had decided to go down the Baja Peninsula (the bit that hangs from California on the east coast) thinking that it would be more American and less Mexican and therefore set up for RV's and camping - yet another illusion shattered!

The northern part of Baja is very dry, dusty, poor and they appear to hate Americans. The southern part was much nicer staying at lovely places like Mulege, Loreto and La Paz. We found some lovely beaches, which again brought its 'challenges' including multiple angry bites from sand-flies or pretty much every other biting insect on Sheila, a stinking cold, (also Sheila) and Bob sun-burned his legs so badly he could hardly walk. So we were both in the wars, in addition to the mother of all Tequila hangovers one night as a means of drowning our sorrows.

Loreto beachfront

Tuesday 10th May
Took the overnight ferry from La Paz on Baja, to Mazatlan on the Mexican mainland. The cool'ish cabin had felt like an extravagance but was a welcome relief from the heat, and allowed us time to address our increasing aforementioned health niggles. So we were both feeling a lot more positive - we've both been struggling lately, but as we already know, independent adventure-travelling consists of massive highs and massive lows.

Thursday 12th May
We tried out both major roads and toll roads and decided that even though some of the toll roads were single carriageways they were still quicker than the normal roads. Anything from £2-£10 depending on length, and the quality varies considerably. They are often full of trucks barrelling along at speed until they get behind us - then they can be really intimidating in the mirrors, often following at about a foot behind!

But most people love the looks of Foxtrot - we've had hundreds of people stop us at petrol stations and in traffic, to give us a thumbs-up.

Generic cactus landscape