Chain hotels; Fried green tomatoes; Fall webworm; Moving house; How far is it; Rustmobilia; What’ll We Call It
Chain hotels: Sometimes on these trips we fall into the habit of using a particular hotel chain for several days in a row. It is an oddly comforting thing to do with the “identikit” brands like Holiday Inn Express or Radisson Blue or Marriott Courtyard because you know that tonight’s room will be identical to last night’s. You can find everything as soon as you enter the room, you know how the aircon and lights work, there is a little internal sigh of relief. I wonder if this means that in later life I am going to become one of those people who goes on cruises so that I only need to learn one room. This is a bit worrying.
Fried green tomatoes: WOW!!! Why don’t we eat fried green tomatoes in the UK?? They are TRULY OSSOME!!
Fall Webworm: Not everyone knows what this is. So now that I’ve looked it up on Mr G, I’m posting it here so you can show off at parties. Assuming that you go to the sort of parties where people say “I wonder what those big spider webby things are on trees?”
Moving house: You know, the problem is that you can find the house you want or the location you want, but it seems to be impossible to find both. But because US houses are timber-framed, there is a solution. Move the house! 
I have included one picture here, but also in the Colorado Springs museum they mentioned in passing that a local hero(ine) had asked her husband to reorient their house so that it faced in a better direction. Not something that works easily in the UK with brick houses and 4′ deep foundations.
How far is it? In the UK we would answer “100 miles”. In the US they would reply “2 hours”. We find this very irritating. JUST TELL ME HOW FAR IT IS, we say. After some calculations… “well I guess around 100 miles”. “Gosh so that would take me… about 2 hours to drive it” we reply. A wise American will find something else to say at that point.
Rustmobilia ©: As I have mentioned, the game of We Don’t Throw Nuthin’ Away leads to a certain number of old tractors, pickups etc being available. For added decoration, put them out of the front of the house and mow tidily round them. I have trademarked the term Rustmobilia™ in case nobody else has got there first.
What’ll We Call It: We have visited Oak Ridge. It is oakey, and it is on a ridge. We have visited Knoxville. It is a town and it is named after Mr Knox. I am not sure why we have ended up with villages in the UK called Much Hadham or Stansted Mountfitchet or Wenden’s Ambo.