My uncle lives in Bloomington and my aunt from Florida had come for the reunion and also decided to stay. So we got to have a couple days together and tour the area.

It's a beautiful little town with some wonderful old houses. I loved being 'off the beaten path' and seeing America at it's grass roots level. The people are so generous, friendly, open and happy. It's such a big difference from the big cities. Everywhere I went people were so helpful and happy to meet me.

All the meals we had were superb and were massive servings. If I had of stayed any longer I would have ended up bursting my gut... or marrying one of the Hooters girls... or possible both...

I got to spend some quality time with my uncle, in his basement den, pouring over family photos and talking about family history. It was an incredible experience that i'll always treasure. I feel priviledged to have had that time with him. So many interesting snippets were revealed to me - including the discovery of so many eery similarities between him, myself and my father... I think only someone else who discovers a long lost relative could fully appreciate and understand the experience. It was a very weird and difficult experience to have to leave him again after only 3 short days together.

To get back to Chicago I decided to hire a Ford Mustang and drive along Route 66. It was one of the better decisions i've made. It was terrific and the car was superb. I got her over 100mph and she whistled like a bird and stung like a bee! I also love the fact that petrol is so cheap in USA. It's less than half the price that I'm used to so I really dont know what they are complaining about.... Long live the muscle car!