The day finally came and first stop - Chicago, Illinois, AKA ‘The Windy City’. As we made our way from the airport, I thought, ‘This is it! Finally we’re in America!’ I felt like I was in a movie. The tall sky-scrapers and busy sidewalks. My first taste of American food was at the famous ‘Cheesecake Factory’. We were greeted with what would become familiar during our time in America...HUGE portions. The next day we picked up our motor-home to kick-start our road trip.

Motor home’s are so cool on TV, but being so in each others space led to a few ‘stepping on each others toes’ tiffs we never quite adjust to. How on earth millions of Americans live in these things, I don’t know!

Our second stop was Springfield, Illinois. We arrived a little late at our first KOA campsite which would become our regular ‘hook up’ as they call it in the States. Better than British camp sites, these had pools, nice shower blocks and play areas. We arrived right in the middle of a huge storm, which turned out to be a radio tornado warning! I had never seen anything like it in my life. The rain came down in heavy pelts banging against our motor home as if taking the paint off.

Fork lightening constantly lit up the sky. The worst storms in England will never be anything like this and I doubt I’ve even comment on them again!

Our next stop in the state of Missouri was the city many associate with blues and jazz - St Louis. It’s most memorable for its Gateway Arch, standing at 630 feet tall, in honour of President Jefferson. If you can imagine one giant half of the McDonalds ‘M’ you get the picture. The Arch is also known as ‘The Gateway to the West’ because St. Louis is seen as marking the east and west US divide. Also in St Louis is the second longest river in Missouri, The Mississippi. Many of the works of famous author Mark Twain feature the Mississippi including Children’s classic the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

Route 66 took us to Tony Christy’s song lyric favourite, Amarillo (yellow in Spanish), in North Texas. We ate at ‘The Big Texas Ranch’ where if you can down a 72 oz steak plus trimmings, within the hour, you can have it for free! My dad was all ready to rise to the challenge but mum wasn’t having any of it. Next we took the winding road through the Palo Duro Canyon. The rock faces towered 1,200 feet high and the views from the top were breathtaking. For a bit of random, artist surrealism, in the middle of nowhere, we headed to the strange ‘Cadillac Ranch’, which consisted of 10 buried Cadillac’s with all but their tailfins sticking up towards the sky.

It made a good photo and dad followed the example of hundreds before us with a ‘Shemeld family woz ere’ tag on one of the cars. Hope to go back and see if it’s still there some day!

Forget the mother road; in fact we did a detour off it because the next stop was the mother of all canyons. The Grand Canyon is a whopping 277 miles long and up to a mile deep and boy is it impressive. We booked a helicopter trip around and down into the Grand Canyon so we could get a better look and it was just incredible. Especially with the freedom of a helicopter flying directly over the biggest cliffs I had ever seen. We felt like ants in comparison.

1.5 kms below the south rim of the canyon, flows the Colorado River which winds impressively through the famous Rocky Mountains.

On to glitz and glamour in the form of Las Vegas, oddly situated in the middle of the Arizona desert and home to the most casinos and hotels in the world…surely?! A pure contract to what we’d experienced so far. On the first night we couldn’t resist a stroll down the famous Las Vegas Strip consisting of hotel after hotel. Treasure Island, Circus, Circus and Caesars Palace, all stood tall with their brightly lit architecture and innovatively themed entrances. We shopped at the flash Fashion Show Mall and even in hotels.

The famous ‘Stratosphere Tower’ was also a must see with its exhilarating rides. ‘X-Scream’ dangles you 866 feet above ground, the ‘Big Shot’ shoots you 160 feet up at 45 mph and ‘Insanity’ spins you 64 feet over the edge of the tower. Just looking was enough for me!

Our last stop was Los Angeles, City of Angels and home to Hollywood. I really was in the world of movies. We bid farewell to our trusty motor home, for a hotel and our own space once again. The first night we spent shopping at Universal City, dedicated to all types of shopping from the Universal Studio shop to Skechers footwear.. And for the first time in America, I ate the whole of my meal in the famous Hard Rock Café, and I wasn’t half stuffed! The next day we set off for Universal Studios, where movie themed rides such as the Simpsons and The Mummy take the limelight. My personal favourite was Jurassic Park – where I wasn’t expecting to get THAT wet. I hoped to dry off a little on the 3D rides (where you actually felt you were being pulled into the screen of a film). Who knows why I came up with that idea because I only got squirted in the face. Shame I didn’t have my camera for my dad’s reaction, it was a great picture moment!

For our final day in the USA we treated ourselves to a tour of the million dollar Where else but the fabulous Beverley Hills. We took a peak at the pads of the likes of Madonna, Jennifer Lopez, Christina Aguilera and Tom Cruise. Now that Tom Cruise is security obsessed you couldn’t see the gate let alone the house! And finally our last visit, a walk on the stars…not literally, just their prestigious pavement places – the Hollywood Walk of Fame. There were loads of names I didn’t recognise but it was great seeing the ones I did and knowing they’d stood exactly on that spot some time before. Even cartoons! The only word I can describe Hollywood with is amazing.

And that was that. Three weeks, 14 cities, several canyons and one long road across it all. It’s true when they say time fly’s when your having fun. And that’s all I did in America, just have fun. But as a certain girl says after travelling a certain road in a certain film in the state of Kansas….there’s NO PLACE like home…

By Toni shemeld