At Stennis

First day at Stennis, first impressions it’s big.. To start with there’s a 5 mile wide buffer zone all around, no on can build in the buffer zone, bit like no mans land in the war. After getting through the gate and security it was exactly 71/2 miles to site where I’m working, that’s over 12 miles if you include the buffer zone, like travailing between Loughborough and Leicester. I don’t think we were even in the middle of the Stennis site.
Took a while to get through security though, more finger prints, all four fingers and thumb on each hand, then four fingers of each hand together, not forgetting photos as well. Good job I’d filled in most of the paper work weeks before I got there, as I was told it can take about 10 days the get the passes sorted out if i hadn't..
Once you get your pass though you can just drive in and pretty much go where you like, except for a few off limits places.

Once in it’s like a small town, three restaurants a couple of shops, petrol station, bank, sports facilities and am sure there are other tings i don't know about yet.

This is a view in site Stennis of the road leading to site, it’s like being in the middle of a forest, trees every where you look.

Got to watch out for these guys as well as they are likely just to run out in front of you, there'severywhere.

Along with the deer there are alligators in the swamp, lots of mosquito's, poisonous snakes and spiders. Just like being out in the woods in England, think not.

Driving down to Slidell

Had decided to drive down to Mississippi on Monday, 480 miles but the roads were good.. The way I looked at it by the time I’d drove to Nashville, waited at the airport flown to New Orleans got another car then drove to my hotel in Slidell both journeys were almost the same time wise, both about 7 to 8 hours. Driving by car though there was no messing about with bags and at airports, just put it in cruse control and point, ok a bit more to it than that, you had to say awake as-well.
So it’s Monday the 20th in the office, got my direction from Google and pointers from Rusty about Mississippi etiquette and off I went. Was like a mini rode trip, starting off in Tennessee, through Alabama and Mississippi then into Louisiana. Stennis is in Mississippi but near the border with Louisiana.
I was staying at a hotel in Slidell also in Louisiana which was about 30 miles form New Orleans, will have to check that out when I get chance, I’ve been warned about it being a bit rough since they had the hurricane, been told though that Mississippi and Alabama were hit harder by the Hurricane and New Orleans was mostly water damage when the levies broke.
Sounds like I may be going fishing while I’m down here as well, another guy I know well comes her all the time to fish, he wants to take me out on his boat in the march as he calls it.. Only problem is he goes out for 8 -10 hours at a time, he’s a hard core fisherman by all accounts and fishes all day in the middle of nowhere. He did say he’ buy the beer though even though he’s an ex alcoholic, will see what happens if he comes down.
I’d set of for Slidell at about 10.30 in the morning and got to the hotel at about 6pm, seven and a half hours not bad for my first time. Driving down wasn’t to bad got on one road which went straight for about 350 miles, a bit like the M1 but a lot longer and I was only on a bit of it, distance seems a lot different over here..
Country side was pretty nice but I did notice a difference when I got into southern Alabama and Mississippi, country was still real nice maybe even nicer but it just seemed a bit less wealthy, the roads and the towns, guess there’s a bit of a north south divide in the states as well, just over here the north is wealthier here.
Got to Slidell booked into the hotel, even at 6pm it was roasting, over 90 degrees and humid, felt like going in the swimming pool except the pool was almost in the car park and the sun was burning down on it, so went to my room instead..
Oh forgot to say just as I was arriving in Slidell was listening to the radio and there was a double murder, guy had shot his wife and another guy in a local store, welcome to America. You tend to forget that everyone has guns, was speaking to people back in Tullahoma and everyone had a gun, mostly more than one. As someone pointed out at the airports the signs says check you guns before boarding, this means make sure they are not in you carry on luggage and in you hold baggage.
Went out with the guy I was meeting down here for dinner, went to Texas Peat’s or something like that I know it was a good name, big portions again but the stake was great, don’t know why we can’t do them like that in the UK. Will have to find a gym down here though, hopefully they’ll have one on site, will find out tomorrow..

Do you really need to get out of the car

Got my camera the other day, good old WalMart, am just trying to fit in a few photos i took last week.
They tell me there are even drive through grocery stores.
Guess you can't be that sick if you're well enough to drive.

Used this ATM the other day, there was a $2 charge was almost worth it because of the novelty value.







These Sonic drive In's as opposed to drive throughs are where you park up in your can and eat, bit like a drive in movie, just without the film but with a burger.

They kind of remind me of old US films, or fifty's America.

One Week Down

It’s Tuesday the 14th Aug and today back in the office, found out I was going down to Mississippi next week. To be precise I’ll be at the John C Stennis Space Centre which is a big NASA facility in Mississippi for the next couple of months. Anyway not going to bore you with work, having meetings most of this week about what will be happening over the next couple of months, am going to skip most of the week just mention the things I did outside work
Rolls Royce in the UK were over for the meetings so spent a couple of days going out with them at night for meals, what I said earlier about the portions sizes is defiantly correct, you can almost go swimming in the coke it’s so big and some of the stakes are the size of a small cow, OK know I'm exaggerating a bit but they are big
After the RR guys had left it was pretty much the weekend, got invited to a couple of peoples homes for meals and a beer or two

Friday night went to Cathy and Fred's, they'd just built a new house for dinner. Another friend called Rich was cooking for us all, i knew Rich from working with him in Korea. Rich and His wife were living in Fred's and Cathy's basement, sounded funny when i first heared, made me want to laugh, i was thinking of what a basement or cellar in the UK was like especially mine, sounded a bit like they had squatters who they couldn't get out.

With this in mind is set out using the directions Cathy had given me, the house was about 15miles out of Tullahoma, found it no problem thanks to Mister Google.

The the house was fantastic, nice and big no close neighbours,the basement was like a separate house, it had it's own bathroom and kitchen plus everything else.

Fred and Cathy had built the house themselves, well not themselves literally but they had bought the land and hired labour. Apparently it's pretty easy here to buy land and build on it, seems you can pretty much buy any piece of land and build, planning permissions still needed same as for us but it's real easy to get so I'm told, must be because there's so much land around.

Forgot about the food,Rich did up proud he must have cooked for 10 instead of 5 as there was as much again left over even after seconds, had a nice evening a few beers good company and in a great place.

Guy who I'm sitting next to me in the office is an old friend of mine called Rusty he invited me round for dinner Saturday. Have worked with Rusty on projects in the past and he just happens to be from Mississippi where I'm going, so he's been filling me in all week on what i can expect down there. Mosquito's the size of helicopters, he compared them to the scene in "Apocalypse Now" when the helicopters are coming in to the sound of Wagner. There are also alligators snakes and a lot of nasty spiders and what they call fire ants, all of them bite or poison you.

The photos are of flag that decorate the wall of Rusty's office
The one on the right is the flag of Mississippi, and the one on the left is the confederate battle flag with a Nottingham Forest pin just to the right of it, some guy gave the pin to Rusty in a pub when he was over at Rolls in Derby. Above them both to the left is the stars and stripes, the war may be over but it's not forgotten down here.

On to the meal turned up at Rusty's again courtesy of Google, Fred and Cathy were there to. Took some Stella which i know he's partial to and some Cadbury's chocolate for his wife, it was made by Hershey's though, so no sure about that.
Oh forgot to mention was going to take some beer to Fred's yesterday, went in the supermarket to buy it, they would'nt sell it to me as i didn't have any photo ID on me. Apparently in Tennessee they have just passed another law (the bible belt thing) everyone and i mean everyone must prove there identity/age before being allowed to buy alcohol, felt a bit stupid having to prove my age, at my age.
Digressing a bit, the meal was great again, Rusty's wife had made it all except for smoking the ribs which he did. Old style southern ribs and pork loin, real real nice. Sort of a chocolate/sponge/cheesecake for desert with thick hot chocolate sauce all home made and great.
Anyway that's the end of the first week almost, so now to Mississippi.

Hotel and Fast Jacks

The hotel had changed its name to the Executive Inn since the last time I was here it certainly didn’t live up to it’s name, read on.
After checking in i knew it was a bigger dump that i had first thought, it had been pretty nice from what I remember the last time I was here, now it was old, tired, dirty and dingy could go on but you’d think I was moaning, and as I said the air-con didn't work, don’t normally bitch as they say over here but just feel like it today.
Went to sleep that night thinking I would check out and find somewhere else as soon as possible, it’s defiantly one place I wouldn’t recommend unless I didn;t like you of course, someone may like it though it’s pretty cheap, price wise that is and everything except the air-con worked so not all bad.
Checked out the next day before I went to the office, told people where I’d stayed and it drew shudders, comments were the pits, third world and a few things I cant repeat, trust me not to know.
Seeing the people I’d worked with before was good and everyone made me feel welcome, got the low down on the weather, a mini heat wave, in the high 90s during the day for a couple of weeks and no rain.
So I was out of a place to stay and had to hunt round for one, I settled on the Jameson Inn right in town and next to the Wall-Mart that I'd found the night before, handy if you needed anything.
Went out that night with one of the guys I’d worked in Korea with, Scott and me went to Fast Jacks, great name for a bar don’t you think, there’s no names like the Black Lion or the Three Nuns here, it’s more like Crockett's, or Daddy Billie’s.
Had a few beers and something to eat, you've just got to love American food portions, think you were feeding the five thousand, may put on weight while I’m over here if this is anything to go by.
Bars close here at twelve, don't think we were there that long but it was time to go and check out my new hotel, tomorrow is another day, Tuesday to be precise..

On The Road to Tullahoma

So finally got the car, tried to check it out for any dint or scratches but it was pretty difficult as by this time it's about 10.30 at night and dark. Did the best i could with the check out then tried to get used to the controls, mostly just wanted to know how to turn on the lights so i could see where i was going, get on the road and get to the hotel, car was an automatic so no gears to worry about.
Got in started up, pulled off went the wrong way round the car park and couldn't find the exit, not a great start, but it was pretty late and it really didn't matter, just felt a bit stupid.

So out on the road and I'm looking for the roads i need to take to where I'm going. I'd picked up a bit of a map at the car desk, place i was going was called Tullahoma, also in Tennessee and about an hour and a half from Nashville. Changing the subject this where or very close to where George Dickel whisky is made (you've probably never heard of it) but is the good stuff down here apparently. It's pretty ironic as its made in a dry county, which means it has some real strange laws about the selling and consumption of alcohol especially spirits such as whisky, basically it's in an area that's known as the bible belt, lots of religion and we know what that means.

Enough of the history lesson after a couple of wrong turns finally found the road i wanted, interstate 24, straight to Tullahome or near enough, basically turn left at a little place called Manchester, maybe you've heard of it and you're there.

First things i noticed about traveling on the roads in the states though was how big some of the cars were and the roads were all pretty good and straight, except i was on the wrong side of course. I say cars, a lot were trucks, sort of big pick ups, Dodge Rams, Chevy's and big Fords, not sure if it's like this all over the states or just more of a southern thing. I liked the look of the trucks, would be nice to be driving one don't think anyone would mess with you.

So there i was in Tullahoma at about one o-clock Monday morning, thought I'd best get something to eat and maybe some water for the room so i went looking. Found a Wall Mart which was open 24/7 as the Americans say, big, big shop got what i wanted and then set out to find the hotel. Took me a while to find it as it had changed its name since I'd stayed there last, about three quarters of and hour later found it and it was a dump. It had been pretty nice the last time i stayed there (six years ago) but i guess different owners and time had took there toll. A dump and the air-con did not work properly which made it worse, even at about 1.45 in the morning the temperature outside was about 80F, unknown to me had walked into the middle of a mini heat wave for the area.

The Car

Am at Nashville International Airport, not sure why the International is in there guess it's like the world series in baseball, just one of those things. Anyway got all my bags and stuff, which is quit a bit as I'm here for up to three months, next port of call the Dollar Rent a car desk which is just down stairs thank you Nashville.
Finally get to the desk after waiting in a bit of a queue, all the other rent a car desks seemed empty except this one, that is at least while i was there which was probably three quarters of an hour. As i said I'd ordered my car over the Internet before leaving England, lo and behold they had all my info, wonders of modern technology, only thing they did not have was the car i wanted. Dollar rent a car wanted to give me a people carrier some kind of seven seater thing, similar to a ford galaxy in the UK, or maybe a Chevy Suburban over here. Had ordered a intermediate car which basically was not as big as a tank, just wanted a regular car something to get me from A to B.
To cut a long story short did not want the seven seater thing would spoil my image if i had one that is, it was only for me after all, would probably loose myself or something in it was so big.
Told the guy this a couple of times and a Jeep Compass miraculously turned up, David Blane would have been impressed or should that be Paul Danial's as i'm from the UK, anyway a Jeep Compass is sort of a small Jeep Cherokee.
Not sure if it was theirs or they borrowed it from the guy round the corner or stole the managers, but i settled on it. Bottom line is pretty much got what i wanted and at a real good price, so folks i can recommend Dollar rent a car, think this is probably why the other car desks were pretty empty but who knows. By the way Dollar are not paying me very much for this plug, in fact it's free.
All happened on the 12th August, I'm playing catchup as you probably already know, only decided to attempt this blog last night.

Photo of the car on the left took this about a week after I'd picked it up, basically when i got hold of a camera, told you i was playing catch up.

Getting There

Have never done a blog before so everyone, that is if anyone sees this will have to bare with me, think i am going to do a bit at a time not daily or anything, just when i have time. Some of it will be for a particular day and some of it will probably for a period of about a week or so interspersed by photos, once i get hold of a camera that is.
Quick out line of what's going on, I'm over here for about three months on business. Not really going to talk about work or business much in this blog, just wanted to let you know why i was here and to say that most of the time i will probably be down south in Mississippi.
The start, or the story so far:
Arrived in Nashville on Sunday the 12 August the year of our lord 2007, left Birmingham in the UK at about 11am in the morning, about 16 hours later after passing through Amsterdam and Minneapolis was finally there and picking my car up, which i had booked over the Internet before leaving England.
Sounds easy but glossed over a lot of things, all the time traveling to the airport, all the time waiting at the airport to catch the plane. All of it's pretty frustrating especially when you travel to the states, what with all the new security that's in place now. You finally arrive in the states it's to more waiting, lots more waiting red tape and questions it can take a couple of hours sometimes just to get through immigration.
Anyway enough of that like i say finally got to Nashville and to pick up my car, which i guess is where one journey end and another begins as that's as far as I'm going by plane, the rest will be by car. Only thing else I'll say is that while waiting at the gate in Minneapolis to catch my connection to Nashville, the time was 7pm and the screen said temperature in Nashville 97 deg's, seems it going to be hot where I'm going.