dollars (less than half a tank). This also saved us from an extended version of
the awkward conversation with him that had gone along the lines of:
Server 'Y'all Australian?'
Us 'No, we are British'
'Oh. Ha ha ha'
And then silence, as tumbleweeds blew past and he secretly filled our van
with urine instead of petrol.
Asking for directions was one thing that we managed to avoid on all of our
long-drive days, mainly because we stuck to the interstates and just drove
straight for three days running. With a detailed map and good fortune even I,
an appalling map-reader who gets lost driving to the local shops could get this
(nearly) right. In fact, the only time we asked for help was when we got very
lost in the suburbs of New Orleans. We chose a man outside a petrol station
to assist us and soon learned that he was not local - typical. We also
discovered his grandmother had just died, so helping us find our way was
very far down his list of priorities. Finally, the man was carrying an open bottle
of something very alcoholic in a brown paper bag as he got back in his car.
Overall a really great choice for assistance!
In the end we just kept driving in the same direction until we saw a
road-name or landmark we could identify on our map, always a good solution.
This certainly worked in Texas - where the landmark we aimed for was
'Louisiana'.