Hundreds of thousands of England and Scotland fans are expected to go west next June for the opening stages of the men’s football World Cup in North America. England will take on Croatia in their opening game in Dallas, followed by Ghana in Boston and finally Panama in New York.
Scotland’s first two matches are both in Boston: against Haiti and Morocco. Their final match of the group, against Brazil, is in Miami.
The gaps between matches allow plenty of time for fans to enjoy road trips – from Texas to Massachusetts for England supporters, and from Boston to Miami for Scotland’s Tartan Army. In addition, England fans will have the opportunity to enjoy a trip by rail along the coast from Boston to New York.
Even more adventures potentially await supporters for Wales or Northern Ireland. If either wins their play-off, they will have the chance of two great North American journeys: from Toronto to Los Angeles, then onwards to Seattle. But for now, these are prescriptions for the best US adventures for travelling fans.
Six days on the road: Dallas to Boston
Almost as soon as the final whistle sounds at the AT&T Stadium in Denver on 17 June, England fans will want to leave the hot and humid Texas city and head northeast. These are the key locations to visit on the trip.
Arkansas
Set the controls for I-30 to its terminus in Little Rock, Arkansas. Along the way, pop into Texarkana on the state border – divided, you will not be surprised to learn, between Texas and Arkansas. The highlight: the Ace of Clubs House, a 19th-century mansion designed in the shape of the playing card – and now a museum.
For a small state capital, Little Rock has two big political locations. The Central High School is now a National Historic Site because of its key role in the civil rights struggle. In 1957, the state governor tried to prevent nine Black students – the Little Rock Nine – from attending a white high school. President Eisenhower sent troops to escort the students to class. A later state governor, Bill Clinton, served two terms in the White House and has established the Clinton Presidential Center.
Hot Springs, Arkansas will hold your interest for longer: Bathhouse Row comprises a line of baths. My favourites are the elaborately plumbed Fordyce Bath and the grand Arlington Hotel which opened on New Year’s Eve 1924, with decor from Venice via Hollywood. Al Capone’s favourite room was 443; the gangster took over the entire fourth floor for his well-armed entourage.
Tennessee
Switch to I-40, turn the radio up and aim for the Mississippi. As soon as you cross the mighty river you reach the city where the Blues were born and Elvis Presley died.
Memphis is officially the “Home of the Blues”. Its location on the great American river brought influences and audiences for the sound born from slavery – with African-American spirituals as its roots. On downtown Beale Street, the home of the “Father of the Blues”, WC Handy, is now a museum.
The home where Elvis Presley lived and died, Graceland, is a combination of kitsch and sadness: the tropical-themed “Jungle Room” and the Meditation Garden where the Presley family are laid to rest.
Memphis was also the location for the assassination, on 4 April 1968, of Dr Martin Luther King Jr. The civil rights campaigner was speaking from the balcony of the city’s Lorraine Motel when he was shot. The motel has been transformed into the National Civil Rights Museum, chronicling the harrowing history of slavery and segregation.
In Nashville, Elvis’s golden Cadillac is one of the attractions at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. For another riff, the National Museum of African American Music is the new venue celebrating black music. And while few would confuse the capital of Tennessee with the capital of Greece, Nashville boasts a full-scale replica of the Parthenon in the city’s Centennial Park – in far better condition than the original in Athens.
The third great musical city of Tennessee is Knoxville – home of bluegrass. The best way to enjoy the banjo-based genre is in one of the informal jam sessions run by the East Tennessee Bluegrass Association.
I-81, I-84 and the Massachusetts Turnpike
From just east of Knoxville, plan to spend all day driving I-81 for the 700 miles to Scranton, Pennsylvania. This interstate highway shadows the Appalachian range and bypasses all the big eastern cities. If you have time to spare, detour east and drive the parallel Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive through Virginia
You then clip a corner of Maryland and enter Pennsylvania. At Scranton, join I-84 and soon after leave the state at Port Jervis, where New Jersey and New York states also converge. Cross the Hudson River at Newburgh – a small city that, like so many, is seeking to recover past glories.
Blink and you’ll miss inland Connecticut – whose glories are to be found closer to the Atlantic – and join the Massachusetts Turnpike for the final leg.
Revolutionary America
Just before you reach Boston, divert north to Lexington. It was here, in 1775, that the American revolutionary, Paul Revere, a declared: “If they mean to have a war, let it begin here.” A column of British troops arrived and seven of Revere’s Minutemen died. This battle marked the start of the War of Independence.
Neighbouring Concord, also central to the struggle, is now a distillation of New England style: simple clapperboard homes, a handsome neo-classical church, a village green and an air of contentment.
Now to find the Gillette Stadium in Boston, where England play Ghana. Let battle commence.
Five days on the road: Boston to Miami
US Route 1 runs from the Canadian border south through Maine to Boston, where Scots might want to pick it up and drive to Miami – with continuation to Key West in Florida. But colloquially this highway is known as “everybody’s main street”, with traffic lights approximately every quarter-mile. Instead, hop on to I-95 and hop off at these key locations.
New Haven, Connecticut
If you visit only one art museum in your life, make it Yale University Art Gallery – surely the greatest cultural concentration on earth. Antiquities from Greece and Egypt are augmented by African, Asian and ancient American art. There is even a rooftop sculpture terrace. Whether your creative heart is with the Italian Renaissance, Vincent van Gogh or Pablo Picasso, you will be rewarded here.
Washington DC
Whatever your view of the current incumbent of the White House, Washington DC is a superb location for the tourist. The Smithsonian Mall is a vast green rectangle south of the city centre – flanked by 11 museums that celebrate knowledge. All are free.
My personal favourite is the National Museum of Natural History, which includes the oldest substance you will ever see, in the shape of microscopic particles of a fallen star. For the avoidance of doubt, this dates from a time even earlier than Scotland’s last appearance in a World Cup.
Savannah, Georgia
Savannah is a quintessential Southern town steeped in 18th-century elegance. If Savannah’s dainty streets and twee stores start to pall, then head across to the empty beaches of Tybee Island – location to Georgia’s oldest working lighthouse. My colleague, global travel editor Annabel Grossman, says: “When making the drive from Savannah out to Tybee, you may want to stop in at the Crab Shack, where you’ll be treated to a rather wacky experience of alligators, marshy waterways and Low Country boil – with the tagline ‘where the elite eat in their bare feet’.”
Before you rejoin I-95, Keller’s Flea Market specialises in kitsch souvenirs.
Kennedy Space Center, Florida
Your connection with the Cosmos is only 20 minutes away from I-95. Whether or not you experience the dazzle and rumble of a space launch, a visit to this astronomical theme park will remain in your memory banks. The Kennedy Space Center is a repository for retired rockets, a museum of astronomical adventures and a source of inspiration for the future of exploration.
You may also have the good fortune to meet an astronaut: one of a very select group of around 700 people who have ever been into space. Should Scotland beat Brazil in their final group game, the whole Tartan Army will be over the moon.
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