I'm preparing to do it again.

I've now booked my tickets...

September 1 I fly out and arrive in Portland OR, November 18 I depart the US via LA.

Already I'm thinking I could have done with another week.

I hope you enjoy it!

You can be sure I will...

Have a look at my blogs from previous US trips and you'll see how I do it.

One of the particular objects of my trip will be to drive around old road racing circuits...

When racing took place on public roads, which pretty much generally ended about 1960, there were several places in the USA and, I think, one or two in Canada, where circuits were created out of roads usually just out of town.

Previously I've explored the two Elkhart Lake examples and the first of two at Watkins Glen, the granddaddy of them all being the 21-miler at Savannah in Georgia. It dated back to 1908.

I've made a list for possible exploration this time:

Lowell is a primary objective, it looks like it was a great circuit and very different to its contemporaries before the first World War.

MilwaulkeeVanderbilt

I thing this might be interesting and I will certainly be somewhere nearby at some time.

Again a case of being somewhere nearby and it looks interesting enough.

The same applies to this one.

A possibility in the early days of the trip, not all that far from where I pick up my campervan.

Sadly this one is not on the cards at all, modern road changes make it impossible to follow.

I don't think I'll see this one either, but if I get near there I might.

This is very interesting, a huge perfect circle. These days it's got a freeway through the Northern quarter of it, but the road still exists.

Another in the same category as Pebble Beach, I most likely will run out of time to get to them.

Within a town, it looks interesting and there's a chance I'll go to San Diego again.

There has been plenty of circuits based on drag strips and built around or onto oval tracks, while places like Laguna Seca and the present day Elkhart Lake, Watkins Glen, Virginia International Raceway etc have mostly taken over from airstrip circuits which filled the void as the use of public roads became unpopular. But my interest is mainly centred on those which used public roads, especially a long time ago.

As far as I can determine there is little chance of me seeing any in Canada. Westwood has been carved up into a housing estate and I can't find maps of any others.

Anyway, it's a sideline pursuit between visiting family, friends, forum members and others as I travel seeing the sights.

And, by the way, all credit for the maps I've posted belongs to Oscar Plada, who has similarly mapped hundreds of circuits around the world.

They are excellent and accurate, most of them also having the change of altitude shown in graph form.

Slowly I'm putting things into place...

This week my new passport arrived, so I've been able to apply for and obtain my ESTA Visa Waiver for the USA. I won't require anything for Canada as I'll only enter that country via road border crossings.

I'm waiting at the moment for my son to sort out the insurance on the campervan.

Meanwhile, my 'adopted' daughters have begun some preliminary planning for a get-together with a number of friends, likely a barbecue at a lake or similar. Unlike the previous one, the one at which we staged the adoption ceremony, the numbers are being restricted to about half of those who were present that day.

I do have a small problem in that work has slowed down a bit here and I would be more comfortable if it hadn't and I was more readily stashing some money into the bank ready for the onslaught the accounts will soon be feeling.

I've encountered a snag in my preparations... mobile phone availability...

I could put 'roaming' to use on my regular phone at $AU5 per day if it's used. One incoming text message is included in the 'use', so a text message from someone advertising something could cost me that $5 on a day when I don't otherwise use the phone.

I'll be in the US and Canada for 80 days, that amounts to $AU400 on top of my present plan cost ($59 per month) if I do that, which I admit is very easy.

But it brings with it the problem of not being able to contact some people because they don't answer calls from out of the USA. Even though I'd be in the USA, it would show up as an Australian number. At least one of the people I plan to visit is included in this. Additionally, it means people in the USA would have to phone my Australian number, which some phone plans don't allow.

I can put the phone on a $10 per month 'hold' plan for the time I'm away and do something else, but if I do that the message callers get is, 'that number is unobtainable at the moment.' Or similar. I can't leave a tailored message telling people I'm away or when I'll be home again.

Doing this would be to make way for me to use a prepaid SIM on a US network. I'm looking at them online and they're riddled with problems. Some are data only, some have minimal data, if they have data there are some which don't allow tethering with the data, or some which allow only limited tethering or hotspot.

An absolute minefield!

Not to mention checking handset compatibility (based on the IMEI number). I wouldn't mind using roaming for, say, the first ten days and then the last ten days, which would mean I'd be looking for 60 days with a SIM. But I would not be happy at all if I couldn't tether or hotspot as virtually all of my internet usage is done on a laptop.

Can anyone suggest a path I can take here and not get blown up?

[ Edit: Edited on 6 Jun 2024, 06:33 GMT by Ray Bell ]

Perhaps you could include some relevant info in order to help people help you.

Data use per month in Mb or Gb?
Calls use per month in minutes?
Handset?

Most plans seem to offer unlimited calls and texts... no need for more than that...

Many plans seem to offer unlimited data, but I would never use more than about 25gb a month. Some have some limitations in Canada, but that's not going to disturb me as I'll not be in Canada for more than five or six days at a time, separated by over a month.

I'm really more interested to know about plans which don't hijack me with not allowing hotspot or tethering, and perhaps what's available that I can't Google from Australia.