New York to Houston

I have got into the groove of living in Manhattan, but it is time to leave. I miss my wife and kids, who have gone on ahead of me to Houston by train.

There are a lot of road miles to get to Texas, and I want to make one substantial detour.

I want to visit Cape Cod since I've never visited it before and it sounds interesting. I'm also tempted to try and make it up to Niagara before heading South, taking in more of New England and the Hudson Valley in upstate New York along the way. I am hoping to visit as many iconic American locations on this trip as possible, but if I have visited somewhere before I'm not going to bust a gut getting there again. I have seen the Niagara Falls before on a trip up to Toronto, and have spent a lot of time in New England and upstate New York over the years, so I will play it by ear. Furthermore it is too early to enjoy the Fall colours. If the weather looks good, I will head North from Massachusetts, if not I will turn South.

In Massachusetts I want to visit Plymouth, where the pilgrim fathers landed, then take in some places that have helped define American history and what it is to be an American. I also plan to visit Concord, the site of the first battle of the War of Independence that was won by the settlers. If I head South, my next call will be Gettysburg, where the bloodiest battle of the Civil War took place. Then on to Washington, to visit some friends and walk along the Mall, and Virginia which featured so heavily in the history of the Confederacy and the Civil Rights movement.

Nadia has never been to Asheville but heard good things about it, so a brief visit to the Blue Ridge Mountains is in order, then Nashville and Memphis and then a drive down through Mississippi and on to Texas.

But first up is New Jersey.