Day two in Indiana was thankfully a touch cooler than my first day. Heather's partner cooked us up a hearty american breakfast of bacon, scrambled eggs, mini sausages and pancakes with maple syrup. Mmmmm. I showed my 'foreigness' by starting off with the savoury stuff and having the pancakes second, instead of lumping everything all on the one plate.

Our mission today was to find Olivers Winery, not far from Franklin, about an hour's drive, apparently close to a lake and with beautiful gardens.

Luckily we had the trusty Sat Nav with us on Heather's mobile phone, so we punched in the address and away we went. The directions took us towards Oliver's winery and before long we saw a sign indicating that Oliver's winery was just 9 miles away. Shortly after that the Sat Nav started getting a bit upset and told us we had to do a U-turn so that we could turn right (or what would have been left as we approached it the first time). We were a bit confused as it was taking us in the other direction from the signs, but surely the Sat Nav knew what it was talking about - perhaps it was a back way there, or the old road? The route took us along a beautiful tree lined road through the hilly countryside with large houses on plots with private lakes and woods flanking each side of the road. After a short while the Sat Nav declared that we were almost at our destination, and then advised that our destination was on our left. Unfortunatley all we could see on our left were many, many trees!

We kept driving, with the Sat Nav getting really upset now that we had missed our stop, and frantically re-calculating our route. We decided to listen to the Sat Nav - perhaps we had missed something, did the required U-turn and headed back to where it told us to go. Once again it told us our destination was close, and this time advised us that our destination was on our right. We desperately tried to find some kind of building structure amongst the trees that the Sat Nav was sure our destination was to be held, but we really couldnt. We decided our best bet would be to go back to the high way, and maybe rely on the huge signs by the side of the road that told us, and all those other folk who were looking for the winery that maybe didnt have Sat Nav, how to get to the Winery. Our detour took us about an hour, and shortly after we got back onto the highway, we were relieved to see another sign. Ten minutes later we triumphantly found the winery and parked the car.

Our first stop was the wine shop, it seemed to be where everyone was headed. The shop was packed full of tourists, and after a swift walk around, I headed towards the wine tasting area. I quickly found my passport to prove to the staff that I was of age to taste the wine, and worked my way through some recomended options. I try to taste wines that I normally dont like, to see if there are versions of a particular wine that might surprise me. I tried a Rose which as usual I didnt really care for. The Sauv Blanc, which I usually like, was fine, but the surprise for me was the Pinot Grigio that had quite a nice citrusy flavour to it which I quite liked. We went on a tour of the vineyard, and then for a walk in the gardens down to the water area - which personally I couldnt really describe as a lake - more of a big pond really, with enormous golden coy carp in it.

This was a good opportunity to do my song for Indiana - and I think you might find my inventiveness quite amusing when coming up for an appropriate song for this stage in my travels!

It had taken us so long to get here that we were getting a bit peckish by now, so I bought my souvenir bottle of Pinot Grigio and we headed back towards Greenwood in search of food. Luckily Heather knew the way back to Greenwood, so she turned the Sat Nav off, which was good because it was draining the battery of the phone. We saw the exit sign for Greenwood and took it, in the happy knowledge that we would soon be able to get some food, and I was particularly happy because a delicious cheescake had been promised afterwards. Unfortunatley, it seemed that somebody had come along and re-arranged all the roads in Greenwood, because Heather soon realised that she couldnt quite figure out where we were. The phone - and therefore the Sat Nav was dying, so we couldnt risk turning it back on and being incommunicado. We drove around for quite a bit and finally, thankfully found a landmark that we recognised - the town's Target. We put in an SOS call to Heather's partner, quickly managing to tell him where we were before the phone gave up its last gasp of breath. We sat, hot and slightly despondent in the car-park of Target, and before long were saved by our knight on a shiney blue motorbike. Heather's partner threw us a withering look before leading us in the direction of the town's best Chinese buffet.

We re-fuelled on chinese food and refillable soft drinks and then headed to the town's italian restaurant for the most delicious creamy cheescake with a bruleed crust. Superb!

The next day we decided to have a down day. Two days of driving about in the summer heat had taken it out of us, so we spent the day catching up on old times, as I tried desperatly to find a way to plan my trip to the Grand Canyon. I have left it far too late, with much of the accomodation in the area being booked up to a year in advance. I have toyed with the idea of staying in a nearby town and hiring a car, but I dont think that would be wise from any way you look at it. The current option seems to be going to Las Vegas and taking a tour bus from there. We shall see.

We did take a trip to Wal-Mart in the afternoon so that we could pick up some bits and pieces. Heather had explained to me that Indiana seems to have suffered particularly from the current economic crisis. Many people have lost their jobs, and in fact many of her neighbours have had to move away from her area to try to find a rental with a lower rent, simply not being able to afford the small semi-detached houses in the estate any longer. In Wal-Mart car park we saw the perfect example of people just having to make-do. A truck had clearly had an engine fire, and you could still see the patch of burned metal on the bonnet of the car. The owner of the truck clearly had no money to fix the truck or the engine properly, so had wedged a common household fan underneath the bonnet, seemingly plugged in to the cigarette lighter inside the truck.

I also had to get some cash, so we drove to a drive-thru cash machine! You just drive your car up to it, and lean out of the window to use the machine! We had to drive the wrong way to position my window next to the machine, but once we did that it was quite easy! And pretty cool.

The afternoon passed in a blur of playing with Heather's cute one year old and opening my wine, which I was happy to find I enjoyed just as much at home as in the environment of the Vineyard.

The next day I woke early to pack my bags and we headed off back to Indy so that I could board my plane for Atlanta, Georgia. We found our way to the airport no problem and I was sad to say goodbye to my friend. I went through security pretty quickly and found a seat outside my gate. Just before we were about to board one of the AirTran staff announced that they were looking for 5 volunteers to offer to take the next flight to Atlanta at 7pm (instead of 12.30) as the flight was overbooked - and they were offering a free return ticket to any AirTran destination. Unfortunatly Crystal's trip from her home town to Atlanta Airport took about as long as my flight, and I didnt think it would be fair to tell her to go home and wait for me, so I let this one pass, but have my fingers crossed that this offer will come up again when I havent got someone waiting at the other end for me!

The flight to Atlanta was very quick and we were soon landing. Atlanta airport is HUGE and it took me ages to walk from the arrivals hall to baggage reclaim. I kept on ignoring the train that indicated that it was going to baggage reclaim - favouring to walk and get a bit of excercise to try to walk off all these cheese-cakes that I have been eating. But you know what? They offer a train for a reason - beacause it is a really, really long way!

Anyway, I finally got there, and was delighted to see Crystal, the next in my list of friends that I am visiting that I havent seen for about ten years!

We jumped into the truck and drove the hour and a half down to Warner Robins and her home.

We talked non-stop until Luke came home from work, and after warm hugs we set off for some good old fashioned southern cooking. I ate all sorts of dishes with Ocra in it, fried chicken and fried pork, and for the first time ever - Fried Green Tomatoes! (Which, by the way, were very yummy).

We headed back home and sat in the back garden watching the various bits of wildlife enjoying the cool of the evening. Where Cyprus has ants and cockroaches, there is a little army of millipedes making their way around and in the house every so often. They are not as gross as ants or cockroaches, and you simply have to scoop them up and flush them away. More interestingly, there were plenty of birds eating from the bird feeders scattered in the garden, and then, after the sun went down, raccoons coming to get their evening snack of dog food from their little perch on the fence!

We spent the rest of the evening looking up exciting things to do in Georgia and researching my song for this state, which I will post in due course!