The Ultimate Overland

Tuesday was a rest day in Nashville. We all had lots of admin to complete including finalising shipping details when we end this epic adventure, updating our accounts (Ham is the team’s inhouse accountant who every week summarises   the teams finances and who owes who what) and also necessary work on the cars. Whilst the boys toiled the girls went shopping and cowboy boots were firmly in their sites!! 3 for the price of 1 proved extremely successful for all concerned. Even with all the toiling Nigel and Bumble managed to add a classic to Nigel's ever expanding hat collection.       Nigel concentrates on ensuring that there are no bumps and squeaks on his Lagonda so the at Bumble will have a comfortable ride. Ham adjusted his clutch which has been riding somewhat high. He’s sure that the car will make it but wants to avoid any prospect of the clutch beginning to slip. He also changed his spark plugs and reset the points… and then the car wou...

  Nigel departed first thing for Nashville where Bumble is waiting for him and apart for his infernal magneto not working when it gets warm he had a fault free journey. He had been given instructions by Bumble that she didn’t want any bumps and squeaks so he busily spent the early morning, before departure, tightening everything he could reach. Given his titanium hips it’s amazing that there aren’t more bumps and squeaks from the driver, let alone his car!   The rest of us went for the early tour of Graceland the home of Elvis. When he died his estate was virtually bankrupt but his executors, led by his ex-wife Pricilla, saw the value of Gracelands as a tourist destination and put what was left into what it has become today. It fascinating to think what might have been, had he not been managed by a shark and had he lived beyond his short life of 42 years. He lies at Graceland with his Grandmother, his mother and father and now his daughter and grandson, e...

  The sun shone the next morning and we departed from Vicksburg with optimism in our hearts We were heading for the ‘Home of the Blues’, Memphis and the location of the Civil Rights museum now built in what was the Lorraine Motel the site of the assassination of Dr Martin Luther King.   The road continued to be largely flat, unexciting and agricultural and we were able to chew up the miles. We went through one small town that had been compleetly destrioyed by a typhonns. Nigel’s car’s temperature at last was holding steady at a perfect 78C, what a repair we had all executed the previous afternoon but largely lead by the radiator expertise of Chris who had washed his Model A radiator out in his hotel room on Peking to Paris in 2010.   That is until you get to Clarkdale, the birthplace of the Blues. Fortunately Barbara knew all about it and we all diverted to what was a great visit. A sleepy Sunday morning on main street, Clarksdale with a solitary...

  We leave New Orleans for Vicksburg the site of the final battle of the civil war. We left about 08:00 and within 10 minutes had all lost each other, heading north up the Mississippi all on different roads. Chris chose Waze ‘no highways’, ham the main Highway 55 and Nigel], despite his new water pump was still experiencing overheating problems somewhere in the boondocks of Mississippi.   Ham found Chris, Amelia, Sophie and Amelia around midday This part of Mississippi is flat and unexciting, covered in very fertile agriculture and not a lot else. Shortly after we reunited the Rolls grounds to a halt unable to change gear. A vital bolt had fallen out of the gear stick and after about 15 minutes of fiddling about Chris and Ham managed to get a replacement bolt in place, it would just mean that Chris would have to drive in 4 th for the rest of the day, fine on the flat or downhill but somewhat challenging if stationary uphill. And then it began to rain…… ...