Day 8 (and 9): Triple H

The “Triple H” in the title of this journal refers to “Heritage, Horses, and Home”…

After the scary and very draining events of the previous night (see “The steps of DOOM!!!”), we’re all pretty wiped out until at least noon (Mark and I didn’t even get back to John and Marianne’s until almost 6am!!!).

But… as this is our “last day in England”, John has organized a couple of quick things for us. After a quick run back over to Julian and Jenny’s to shower and change and check on the progress of our very sore *but alive* friend, we return to Oakleigh House.

Jenny is taking Kathy and Melanie to an English horse jumping show where Bill, the “next door” neighbor who owns the equestrian team, is performing. Mark is taking Andrew and me to the British Motor Heritage Museum!

While I actually do have a few shots that Melanie took at the horse show, unfortunately, I haven’t uploaded them yet… so you’ll just have to use your imagination… and this expert Artist’s Rendition of Kathy and Mel enjoying the show:

Meanwhile… Andrew and I had a great time, although we were on a very short timeframe as the Museum was closing soon!

But… some of the great stuff we saw… an Aston-Martin LeMans racer:

>… another beautiful Aston-Martin:

… some of the, literally, hundreds of examples of British motor history:

… a very interesting WWII tracked version of an old Land Rover:

>… a *slick* looking MG concept car:

Since (at the time) I drove a Land Rover Freelander myself, this one really caught my eye.

It was the first Freelander off the British assembly line, and it was signed by all of the factory workers:

It was finally time to leave the Museum… Andrew wanted to drive home:

He was disappointed when he couldn’t take it home as a “door prize”.

On our way back to Oakleigh House, Mark, Andrew, and I stop at a great chip shop and get some *reallllllllly* excellent fish-and-chips — served properly in the paper with plenty of salt and malt vinegar! Wow, that was good!!!!

We meet back up and pick Julian up for a last night’s Indian food dinner… he’s on enough pain medication where he can actually sit up for a little while!!!! After that, it’s back to Woodland Cottage to pack things up and get to bed on our last full day in England.

The last of the three “H’s” has finally come… it’s time to go Home. We load up the van and Jenny drives us down to Heathrow. We board our 747 and make our way home to Round Rock, knowing that we’ve all had an incredible experience as a family that we’ll never forget.

Hopefully, you’ve enjoyed these rather long-winded (and heavily picture-laden) journals. Even with my ramblings and photos, it can’t describe the beauty of the country or the importance of doing this with family and friends.

If you ever get the chance to go to England… do the London touristy thing, of course… but then get out to the countryside. That’s where “real England’ is.

Thanks for reading… Cheers… and SPOT ON!!!!