Another warm night staying with Stuart in his home. We were introduced to Eric, Dina and Tyler by Steve from the previous post. They introduced us to Stewart and magically we had somewhere to stay. They all came over to Stuarts and Dina brought home made soup and snacks. More importantly they came with wine....We had a evening of chatting and drinking which I enjoy as it gives me plenty of opportunity to speak. I do let others say the odd word sometimes.

Stuarts house is surrounded by animals, Horses and even a Cow. His series Land Rover is in the barn and although we didn't get to take a look at it closely its still used in the summer to go on trips with his kids. He even fits car seats in the "jump seats" in the back.

We're now on our way to somewhere else. Not sure where but southwards.....

A little detour to go to Doncaster. The Village/Town has no sign. We're not sure its even called Doncaster however the map says it is. This is the only marker we found along with a street name.

(thanks tot he assistant editor for pointing out in comments my mistakes)

We managed to get into Washington to go see something we missed last time. That's all we went to see. IT was ffing COLD.....

One good thing is there's free parking at the Lincoln Memorial BUT at Arlington its not. Great to see them profiteering from death.....if I'd known we would not have gone. Disgusting, and it looks like its a private company on the grounds.

Yes, it really is a film.....my mother has it on DVD. I avoided watching it.

Its been a cold night after the hospitality of others for the days after we arrived back in the USA. The snow has been falling and I've been watching people clear their driveways (see photo). The last two nights we've been in the car for the first time since we left. New RAB sleeping bag being used to full effect. Its was way under zero Celsius.

Thanks to Gayle and John Canary (another Bird) for putting us up in their lovely home for a couple of nights when we got back. Without that we would be up at 10pm trying to start the car. This took an hour as all the doors were frozen shut so luckily we did it in the morning. Matilda spluttered into life eventually.  We met some family and friends and even had some home made shortbread off Shona, a Scottish ex-pat.

Another thanks to Josh for letting us park the car in his fridge.....

Steve Hoare and his wife Susie put us up and fed and watered us a little too much. The diet took a back seat for the many bottles of Wine. Steve is the USA Editor of Land Rover International Magazine. Not sure we'll get a mention in the magazine....Susie even did us a pack-up for the road. Yummy.

We might be meeting Steve again in a few days as he's got some Editorial stuff to do with an old James Bond Landy....! Keep your eye on the magazine.

Sat having dinner in, guess where. Manager/owner gave us it half price. Thanks. This is the second time he's looked after us.

Matilda took some starting. At least 1minute of cranking and door locks all frozen up. It was too cold for the gas cooker to light. The gas doesn't evaporate as its too cold. We managed to start the webasto heater and used that to warm the gas can and then that to melt the doors open. Where theres a will....

My two AGM batteries linked to get her started. They might be nearly 4 years old but they still pack enough punch to crank a very cold engine for well over a minute.

Last night we slept at Gayle and John's and this was a wise choice. It took us a few hours to sort the car out. It would not have been nice at 10pm....I'm glad she insisted. Thanks to them.

A big THANKS to RAB who today have sent us a box of goodies. They've delivered us a couple of coats and a new sleeping back for me. I've had one of their sleeping bags for 24 years and I'm still using it. They truly are the best and now I have one that's not loosing feathers and filling the car with quality down feathers.....It sometimes looks like we've hit a goose on the road....I suppose I should stitch the small hole up.

We are very lucky people.

http://rab.uk.com/products/sleeping-bags/ascent/ascent-900.html

http://rab.uk.com/products/mens-clothing/synthetic-fill/plasma-hoodie.html

http://rab.uk.com/products/womens-clothing/down/women-s-neutrino-vest.html

http://rab.uk.com/products/mens-clothing/down/jannu-jacket.html

http://rab.uk.com/products/womens-clothing/down/women-s-neutrino-plus-jacket.html

Some of you may have noticed its 800 days since we quit normal life and went off round the world.

It won't be long until we are moving again and this time we hope without event. We've had a few months of issues which are now resolved. We've still got to sort out the linkage to the diff-lock but this should be pretty simple. I've got a case full of parts again from our trip back to the USA.

We are planning on 6 or 7 months to finished the journey. We've not got the money to complete the full 360 (unless we win the lottery this week).