In October 2003 we drove back to the UK from Italy having taken a ferry from Corfu in our european motorhome-a CI Riviera 181. We stayed with our friends Robert and Tina Walton in Norfolk whilst we did the research and prepared the motorhome for the crossing. We left the motorhome with the shipping agent in Southampton and flew to Orlando from Gatwick. We were told that the motorhome would take 10-12 days to cross to Charleston in South Carolina. We took advatage and toured round Florida staying at motels we found along the way. We then headed north to Charleston, found a motel and had an agonising wait for the motorhome to arrive. The motorhome finally cleared customs on 20th November and we were able to get going. After Thanksgiving we headed south to Key West along the east coast.
From Key West we returned northwards along the Gulf coast to Pensacola and across to New Orleans. From here we set off for Long Island to stay with my cousin Sidonie and her family. We took the ferry to New England and spent New Years' Eve on Nantucket. The weather then took a turn for the worst so we sped south again to Texas via Nashville and Memphis.
Whilst in Texas we visited Padre Island,San Antonio and Big Bend National Park. We then left the motorhome in Texasand caught a bus in Mexico to Chihuahua so we could take the train journey through the Copper Canyon. We then took the motorhome accross to the Baja in Mexico. After a lovely relaxing time down there in the sunshine we headed north to California where Mike's daughter Amy came to stay. Once the weather warmed up in May we met up with friends and family and visited Nevada,Arizona,Flagstaff and Lake Powell.
During June we completed our tour of the 'Grand Circle' and continued on to New Mexico, through the plains to South Dakota,Montana and Washingtion State. We set off further northwards to Vancouver and enjoyed an Alaskan Cruise.
During August we travelled eastwards along the trans Canada highway all the way to Ontario. We then visited Ottawa and Quebec and crossed into New England on the 1st September. The final newsletter written in November describes our journey south along the east coast to Baltimore where we had the motorhome shipped back to Southampton in the UK.