All (For information, we visited at the beginning of May last.) At the airport we received our first "experience" (i.e. what we had decided to put all the mishaps down to). Despite being assured by the international hire office in England that the price quoted was all inclusive, we found that we had been misinformed and the cost suddenly elevated by 50%. That was quite a sickener but we were determined not to let it spoil our trip. We took the paperwork up to the garage where the attendant looked at it and said, "You're not going all the way to Portland in an economy, are you?"! After that remark we were quite surprised to find that the economy cars were GM Cavaliers. Another customer appeared and hovered round the car we were looking at which was a slightly upmarket version (a Pontiac?) with a tachometer and tape player. Anyway we whittled it down to the pontiac and the car next to it with the help of this new customer (we checked the engines and found that they were identical - 2.2 litre fuel injected). Finally Chris decided on the Cavalier as she found the seats more comfortable. The amusing part about it was that we would have paid almost top whack for a similar car in England. We had power steering, air conditioning, a radio, cruise control (though I didn't find out how to work it until Ron showed me on our return) and a dinky little fridge under the arm rest. So what's it like driving on the wrong side of the road? It was actually easier than in France when I was on the wrong side of the road and the wrong side of the car (I took my own car over on the ferry). The most amusing thing was that my wife and I were constantly going to the wrong sides to get in and once we both actually did and just sat there and looked at each other. Providing I concentrated I managed quite easily but there was always a feeling in the back of my mind that something was going to come at me from the other direction. This was particularly acute when turning left. In fact the biggest problem I had occurred shortly after we returned home. I was pulling out of the multi storey car park at work and, for once, the road was clear. I could not remember which side of the road I was supposed to drive on to! The major problem I had was a tendency to drift to the right and then, suddenly, I realized why this was. In England I position the car on the road by referencing the white line on my right and I was still doing it. The feelings I had whilst driving across the New Mexico desert were strange. It all seemed so unreal. Here I was thousands of miles from home driving across an alien landscape which seemed so vast. Every time we reached the horizon it had just stretched further on as if someone was rolling a carpet out before us. The vehicles were similar to what I was used to but somehow different. Fortunately, driving in rush hour traffic in Manchester and along English motorways (which are far more crowded than the freeways we travelled on) helped me cope with some of the aggressive driving I encountered. As a driver I am not easily intimidated <g>. I was also surprised and irritated by the number of advertising hoardings which were by the sides of the road even though we did use them later in our journey. It sort of made the place look untidy. The irony of it was that they were the only decent sized road signs we found! (Have you ever started something and then regretted it? I've still got loads to go through and it is bedtime already - hope I'm not boring you. Mind you if I am you probably have not read this far <g>). BoW. _______ To unsubscribe, send "unsubscribe rangernet" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] "Eat the hay & spit out the sticks! - A#1's mule" RTKB&G4JC! http://rangernet.org Autoresponder: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
