Follow Tom Paine on tour and on Twitter

I have been following with interest Tom Paine's journey across America.

Tom (not his real name!) writes The Last Ditch, an extremely well-written blog that chronicles the "death of liberty in Britain".

I stumbled upon it in 2008 and wrote about it here.

Tom was working in Moscow at the time. Subsequently, I believe, he moved to China before returning to the UK in 2011.

I met him at Stony Stratford when a group of us - under Dick Puddlecote's direction - met to protest against a proposal to ban smoking in the town.

Tom, a "non-smoking gent" according to Dick, drove Mr Puddlecote to Buckinghamshire in his Maserati, much to the latter's delight.

We spoke briefly in the pub. It was noisy and I struggled to hear everything he said. In fact, when he told me his wife had a terminal illness, hence their decision to come home, I wasn't entirely sure I had heard him correctly.

I hope I'm not being insensitive. I wouldn't mention it were it not for the fact that when 'Mrs P' died the following month Tom wrote very movingly about both his wife and the funeral so it's already in the public domain.

It is also pertinent, I think, to his current adventure which some people might think is a bit of an indulgence. (I'm not one of them, to be clear!)

Truth is, there's a poignancy about Tom's journey that is extremely touching if you know the background.

Anyway, a few weeks before he set off I bumped into him again.

It was the day of Margaret Thatcher's funeral and Tom, Dick Puddlecote and I found ourselves in a crowded pub a short walk from St Paul's.

Tom told me about his forthcoming road trip and said he was shipping his own car, a Ferrari, to the United States.

I was impressed and I've been following his daily posts since his arrival last month. It's heart warming stuff, though I'm concerned he appears to be in love with his car, which even has a name (Speranza) and a gender.

Tom's epic 48-state journey is also a tribute to the power of blogging because at various points Tom has met up with readers and fellow bloggers who have provided hospitality and, sometimes, accommodation.

To follow the final stages of the tour pop over to The Last Ditch. You can also follow Tom on Twitter (@tompaine). Warmly recommended.

PS. In August my family and I are embarking on our own US road trip. We begin in San Francisco from where we will drive to San Diego via Santa Barbara, Santa Monica and Yosemite National Park, to name just a few stopping points.

Instead of a Ferrari I shall be driving a Grand Jeep Cherokee (on hire from Hertz). We will call him Fred. Or Tom.

Comments

[Tom]

Thanks, Simon, both for the write up and your kind words. You are probably right that this journey is somehow to draw a long and very squiggly line under the loss of my wife. I try not to practise amateur psychology, though. The unexamined life may not be worth living, but there will be plenty of time for examination later when I haven't got something as fun to do as this trip.

Good luck with your own road trip. America is an amazing place to travel through. Please don't use those names for your vehicle though. Even a Jeep is feminine because all vessels, craft and vehicles are feminine. Brenda would be a good name for a Grand Jeep Cherokee.