Mission Accomplished

Posted by Rachael Wright at 14:49 on 11 Dec 2009

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Since watching the marvellous BBC series, Stephen Fry In America, last year, I've been obsessed with collecting the fridge magnets for each state, used in the opening credits.



Mr Fry made it sound like a relatively simple quest, saying the magnets could be picked up at truck stops, as it's mainly truckers who collect them on their travels.  Of course, truck stops are few and far between in Manhattan, but on various sojourns outside the city I've been looking bloody everywhere, to no bloody avail, for the last three bloody months.  I've bored everyone to death with my magnet pining and I even asked a truck driver if he knew where I could find them (while mawkishly imagining him to have the whole set proudly displayed in his kitchen somewhere in the Midwest).  He told me he ‘couldn't give a shit' about collecting magnets when he's on the road because he just wants to get where he's going.  Hope was all but lost.

But, aside from mean truckers destroying my romantic visions of America, I'm pleased to finally report:

I FOUND THEM

...on an interstate north of Indianapolis.  And, even better, this truck stop didn't only sell Indiana - they sold every US state!  I imagine the elation I felt was on a par with that of Christopher Columbus when he stumbled upon this fine piece of land in 1492.

Having embarrassed my cousin with a public squeal of delight, I handed over 12 bucks for every state I've been to thus far:
Florida
California
Hawaii
Massachusetts (I had a two-hour layover in Boston a couple of years ago and I saw the city from the runway - it counts, ok?)
Texas
New York
New Jersey
Connecticut
Indiana
Illinois

And here she is - my proud collection:


I fully intend to reconstruct an entire magnetic map of the USA in the next few years.  Midnight sun in Alaska... Obama-spotting in Washington D.C. (is it me, or is he quite hot?)... Skiing in Colorado... Pretending I'm in The Notebook in South Carolina... Doing whatever it is one does in Delaware...

ROAD TRIP!  Who's with me?

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