Dyas

Another big driving day. One of the biggest, seven hours on the road and we passed the 8 000 miles mark. We drove through the heart of the South that involved three states; Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.

The journey was fine except for the rain that fell heavily just outside Louisiana. What was also noticeable was the marshy swamp areas that we drove over on long bridges. The bridges seemed to last for miles over thick swaying trees and endless streams and rivers. For our stopover we had our first KFC. We weren't in Kentucky but it had to be done. We were both dazzled by the options, very few of them we recognised from the UK with a big emphasis on Mexican style chicken eats; burritos, quesadillas, etc. It provided us with sustenance and we drove on. It was getting dark as we entered New Orleans and on arrival at our B&B we were both feeling tired. We decided on making sandwiches for dinner as we could not be bothered to go out to eat. We also wanted to watch the election night coverage. That soon woke us up again!

Alice and I watched CNN from 7pm and the outcome was becoming apparent by 11pm when we switched over to The Daily Show Election Special with Trevor Noah. It was surreal. Trevor looked in both shock and horror as he and the rest of the show's comedians tried to create humour for something that they clearly hadn't expected to happen. It was just too uncomfortable to watch. As has been the case for the past year or so, news is the new 'must watch' show, and so we went back to CNN. I've got to hand it to them, they were in my opinion desperately trying to appear neutral. As soon as anything was said to favour one candidate, the other anchor would counter argue for the other candidate. What they couldn't hide was their surprise as the results came in. Each state had a progress chart that slowly rose as the votes were being counted and many states jumped between the two candidates with each 'vote dump'. The flashing graphics for a 'projected win' and 'key race alert' would focus all attention to a breaking update every few minutes. It was compulsive viewing.

Various rolling partisan news channels have became outlandish 'info-tainment' and now a reality TV personality has become President of the United States of America. This is the reality now. The question I wonder is what else will become normalised with Trump as a representative of an incredibly influential country on the rest of the world? A cloud of uncertainty has descended and it is a strange time to be in one of the most self-confident nation's on Earth.

Song of the Day:
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Sweet Home Alabama (chosen as we drove through Alabama)Read more