Brit drives in US for the first time – here's what surprised her the most
When Brit Tati Reed picked up her 4X4 in Denver, the enormity of the road trip before her proved a little nerve-wracking.
She had decided to drive to Los Angeles for a flight back to the UK — via Wyoming and Montana.
Quite the detour.
Plus, it was her first time driving in the US, she had next to no plan, she'd be sleeping in the roof tent of her Ineos Grenadier Trailmaster – and she was on her own.
The 22-year-old is no stranger to driving – she has amassed 486,000 Instagram followers with vlogs about driving Land Rovers (@overintherover) – but in a "Day 1" post about the trip, she admitted: "I'm feeling a bit teary… a little bit scared. It's quite a big thing to do."
She tells The Independent: "There was no route. No suggested tourist points. It was very much going with the wind."
In the end, though, she had the time of her life. She reveals to us some of the shocks and surprises that helped make the road trip one to truly remember, from landscapes that dropped her jaw, to quirky road rules and service-station coffee shocks.
Tati explains that the idea for the trip came to her while she attended the BFGoodrich Mint 400 off-road race in Las Vegas.
She says: "I asked if I could alter the return flight back to the UK, to which the airline agreed very kindly. I then had three weeks I needed to fill, as I hadn't already got a plan. So, I spoke to various companies about vehicle loan, and Grenadier expressed the most interest.
"It organised the loan of a vehicle for me for the period, and off I went. I picked it up in Denver, drove to Montana, then down to LA."
The only dates in the diary for Tati were to visit a "lovely couple" who worked in Montana she'd befriended at the BFGoodrich Mint 400 and a girl she knew from Instagram who lived in Salt Lake City.
"When I wasn't hanging out with almost-strangers, I was by myself," says Tati. "And that turned out to be a great choice, as I was so open to everything."
Were there any pleasant surprises to driving in the States?
Tati says: "I loved it. I loved the fact that you could turn right on a red light. Very odd, but also logical. I was amazed at how wide the streets were and it was amazing driving through the interstates and watching various landscapes unfold.
"No one fully explained how stunning America would be. Breathtaking, ever-changing views every few miles. It was just unbelievable."
Tati also journeyed through Idaho, Utah and Arizona on her way to California and parked up each night on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land, which she "didn't know existed" prior to the trip.
"Being able to camp/drive over vast expanses of land was epic," says Tati. "Though also terrifying, as people can also shoot wherever they want on it."
Tati was also a big fan of the "ludicrously cheap" gas (petrol to Brits) and the "self-filling fuel".
"When you start filling up your car," says Tati for the benefit of British readers, "you can flick a thing on the pump and it continues to fill up the tank without you holding it."
Any downsides to the 4,000-mile road trip?
"Drug/drunk diving was very prevalent," recalls Tati, "and the coffee in the service stations was yuck."
Would she do it again?
"I would," says Tati, who's from West Sussex in England. "But over three or four months — not two weeks."
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