This is a gentle coming-of-age story about a college-aged boy becoming the girl he knows he truly is.
With the help of his two girl friends he becomes Susanna as they teach him all about life as a girl.
Please note this is a gentle, sentimental tale and although there is some sexual content it is inferred, NOT graphic and tagged where it occurs. I have change the picture as requested and hope this one is ok.

We felt like royalty being escorted through the streets of Chicago in the middle of these large motorcycles we followed as much of the original route of the road as we could however without the local knowledge of our escort we would never have found it as a lot of it had disappeared.

A brief description of how we got out of Chicago. The city has loads of signs for route 66 even though it doesn’t really exist as a road.
However in Chicago the original historic start was Jackson Blvd but this was built on for the world fair so now the start is the intersection of Lake Shore Drive and Jackson Drive.
Then through Cicero (Al Capone fame) and Berwyn into Lyons down Ogden Avenue and past the Hoffman Tower and Dam. On to McCook past General Motors and the Wishing Well Motel - which is where we said goodbye to our escort the bikes swept into the motel and we followed here we said our goodbyes - we had only known these guys a short time but counted them as friends.

The last three to leave were Al senior, Al junior and Big Ed. Al Junior said a fond farewell to Kelly trying to suck her tonsils out!

Al senior gave us a piece of advice (well I think it was advice) he told us, “One of our rules is ‘Never hit a woman who’s carrying a monkey wrench’ remember that girls!”
Big Ed gave Charley a hug telling her, “Your daddy would be proud of you girl.” Then he gave each of us a pouch which when we opened them contained an aerosol of pepper spray. With his usual laconic grin he simply said, “Modern day monkey wrench!”

The three ‘hogs’ roared off and we were on our own sad to be leaving but excited as to what as to come.
Kelly was no good at all for driving as I think she really felt something for young Al.
So Charley drove we were heading for somewhere around Springfield Illinois.
I decided that I was going to tell Charley about myself as soon as possible - I know it was a bit late but I simply had to be honest with her.

But we didn’t get very far when we saw a sign for Dell Rheas Chicken Basket so as we were hungry we pulled off.
We were not disappointed the food was wonderful I have never tasted chicken like it so we had some in the restaurant then took some (well a lot) with us to eat later.
By now it was after three in the afternoon and we still had about 150 miles to travel before our campsite for the week!

I had told Kelly and Shonali that I was going to tell Charley about myself as I felt it wasn’t fair on her.
So as Shoni drove I started speaking to Charley somewhat hesitantly I began, “Charley, I’ve got something to tell you before we go too far - so you can get home if you feel you can’t travel with us.”
Charley looked at me with those big brown eyes asking, “Whatever could be so bad Susanna?”
There was no easy way to tell her so I simply said, “Charley I’m not a complete girl I was born a boy - but I’m transitioning!”

Her reaction totally stunned me she looked me up and down those big brown eyes looking into my soul and simply said, “Ok fine” and that was it!

Even Kelly was taken by surprise at this reaction she swivelled around and said, “Ok, is that all”
Charley gave that small wry smile of hers and said, “Yep! So Susie was born a guy - for goodness sake just look at her she’s a girl simple! But thanks guys for telling me really you had no need.”
And that was it! No histrionics nothing - it was like a non-event and I’d been building myself up to telling her for a heck of a long time.

Then Charley looked at me with a cheeky grin and said, “Well you’ve gotta make out like a girl because Mac said he’d never kissed a girl as sexy and sweet!”
That caused me to blush and of course Kelly and Shoni cackled hysterically. Shoni spluttered, “Oh Charley you’re going to fit in just fine already you’ve found out our Susie blushes really easy”

We carried on driving and just before six in the evening we arrived at our campground near Springfield Illinois - the Double J Campground.
We had phoned ahead and had a ‘primitive camp site’ booked for 5 days the grand total for this was $90.
The place was really nice and being the end of the summer it was quiet with only a couple of other primitive campers but there were quite a few RVs. (In the UK we call them caravans or mobile homes)
Now compared to the others we were really primitive a simple 3 man tent and a small stove the other tents were far bigger and had barbeques and multi burner stoves.
So we pitched up sorted ourselves out found the shower block and boiled some water for a drink.

Four young girls travelling on their own aroused a lot of curiosity especially when people noticed our accents.
As I now know the American people are very gregarious and not reserved like in the UK. So very soon we were talking to other people on the site and all of the other people camped around us.
They were of all ages and simple sat around talking then Charley got out her guitar and I was coaxed into singing.
I never thought that I had a good singing voice in fact a cat being tortured springs to mind.
But when I had my vocal chords tensioned this apparently changed everything because everyone tells me I now have a – while not great singing voice adequate I think is a fair way of describing it a sort of mellow Bonny Tyler!
So with Charley playing the guitar and me singing popular songs everyone knew and could join in with us we had a great evening making a lot of new friends.

We finally settled down in our tent to go to sleep. As we undressed I could see Charley looking at me kind of curious like.
So I asked her, “Are you certain you are comfortable with me because I’d understand it if..........” I tailed off.
Charley looked guilty at me noticing and answered, “No honest Susie I’m cool with you it’s just that ------ well - errm you don’t look any different to us guy’s.”
I smiled at her and answered, “Thanks for that but honestly I am different as those two will tell you.”

So we settled down in the tent and once in our sleeping bags there was more than enough room for the four of us.
Tents must be designed with men in mind as girls are smaller this was just fine for us we lay head to feet, chatting away.
I was talking to Kelly’s feel on one side and Charley’s feet on the other Shoni only had Charley’s feet to talk to and Kelly had mine!

Charley asked, “So you guy’s haven’t know each other since you were little girls?”
Shoni answered saying, “Yes we have because in a way Susie’s our little girl aren’t you sweetheart?”
I grunted at this responding, “Yes mum” Shoni just giggled and started to tell he the story of my life from when I was reborn as Susanna.
Soon the four of us were giggling away as the trials and tribulations of my rapid crash course in femininity were revealed.
How I used to poke my eye out putting mascara on my problems with false eyelashes really high heels and short skirts; the time they swapped my one-piece swimsuits for bikinis - everything was out in the open but I didn’t mind in the slightest – I liked Charley a LOT.

As we carried on talking and sharing secrets we really got to know each other.
Charley opened up about herself and how she missed her parents her life growing up as an only child.
Kelly and Shoni told her about themselves so really in that small tent outside the town of Springfield Illinois we started cementing our friendship.
Next morning up and boiled some water for a drink hit the shower block then our thoughts turned to food as we needed breakfast.
We found ‘The Cozy Dog’ drive-in where we had a monstrous breakfast for $6 this would set us up for the day then off we went.
This was the routine for the next 4 days we travelled far and wide. Using Springfield as our base.
We saw the Mississippi up at Alton and went on a river cruise to do some sightseeing.
We were going to visit the wineries but as we were underage we didn’t bother.
So instead we went on the Sam Vadalabene bike trail and hired bikes this is about 20 miles of excellent trail.

Next we visited Galena, which was a lovely old-fashioned town with loads to see. It was while we were there that we decided to spend some more time in the area so we looked around and found that we could camp for free off the trail in the Shawnee National Forest so we decided on going there after we had our week at the camp site – we were in no rush.
Around Springfield there is lots to see concerning Abraham Lincoln so we concentrated on these places.

Word got around about these four girls travelling around the world so we made many friends.
As usual in the evening people would come from the caravan site (called RV’s) to sit on the grass talk and sing AND guys about the same age were attracted like fly’s around honey – not that we were complaining.

The only down side for me was that I kept phoning Gill but all I got was his voice mail each time I left a message and each time I never got a reply – I was getting a bit p*ssed off.
Shoni was no better each time she phoned she got the same – straight to voice mail like me she was royally p*ssed off and even asked her parents what was happening and to tell Gill to phone.

Next we moved to the Shawnee National Forest to try our hand at really primitive camping no amenities at all except at the north end of the Kinkaid lake trail where there were toilets.
In this area we canoed walked visited the Garden of the Gods and the Cave–in-Rock national park.
We camped close by a stream or creek as they call them around here. While we were here was the first time Charley had seen me naked as we had strip washes by the creek to keep ourselves fresh and clean.
I never gave it a thought as I stripped off to wash because the three of us had seen each other naked and thought nothing about it.

However when Charley saw me washing, she did a double take at the sight of my ‘vagina’. She managed to stammer, “B, b,b, but I thought you were a guy?”
I was a bit mystified and answered, “I am until my operation” “But you have a doo dah!” She gasped.
It was then I realised what she meant and explained about my prosthetic vagina telling her that I would have to remove it soon to let my skin breath and recover then I joked with her saying, “When it does come off you won’t see much difference cos I’m not huge down there.”

Soon it was time to move on further down Route 66 so we packed up the jeep and headed off to re-join the road at Springfield.
We called in at Bill Shea’s Gas station for a look see and also a photo opportunity and some advice. We were told that the original 1923 route was not very interesting the later 1930 four-lane route was better so on using this advice we set off.
Another set of photos at ‘Our Lady of the Highways’ near Raymond then off again.
We entered St Louis and as per the guide we avoided areas that were said to be unsafe (after all we were 4 girls) entering Missouri by the Martin Luther King memorial bridge.

We all felt like we needed a bit of pampering after four days in the forest so we decided to splash out on a motel for a couple of days to return to feeling normal.
We carried on past St. Louis heading for a place mentioned in our guide in a place called Cuba.
The Wagon Wheel Motel was our goal as it was mentioned in our EZ guidebook. We never thought to book or phone ahead we simply turned up four dishevelled girls and a dusty 4 x 4 Jeep.
The big Neon sign for the motel could be seen for miles and apparently it was original from when the motel was built really evocative of the 1920’s/30’s so this was where we pulled into.

What a lovely place this was! Brick built units spotlessly clean and absolutely charming.
If the sight of us entering the motel didn’t put the reception off - if it did they certainly didn’t show it.
We explained what we were doing and as we had been primitive camping we needed some comfort. (Breaking ourselves in gently)
I couldn’t praise them enough so friendly accommodating they had a room big enough so the four of us stayed in a double room for $85 a night we decided as the place was so nice to stay for three days.
We had saved money camping for free in the forests – so it was pamper time.

It was heaven getting a shower washing our hair properly though it must be said that the bathroom was a bit small with a shower cubical, sink and toilet there was a bit tight for the amount of wriggling I had to do to remove my ‘vagina’ to let my skin breathe
This really was perfectly normal operation for me. Kelly and Shoni had seen me do this many times before.
But for Charley’s sake I was a bit circumspect about exposing myself so as not to upset her.
Charley had been first in the shower followed by Shoni. Kelly was in there now so it was my turn next.
Usually I simply wiggle out of it in front of the girls but this time I put a towel around myself. Unfortunately once I started wiggling the towel slipped and I had to make a grab for it.
Charley was sitting on the bed drying her hair watching my antics with interest looking at me she grinned and said, “Susie you’ll find it a heck of a lot easier if you had three arms - which you don’t! Look sometime in this trip of ours I’m going to see you naked so let’s get it over with!”
Smiling sheepishly I decided that ‘what the hell’ and the next time the towel decided to drop I let it.
Charley looked and said, “Good! Now we’ve got that over with” Then with a cheeky grin she commented, “You were right Susie you’re definitely better as a girl there’s not much down there!” Which caused Shoni to choke with laughter and me – well I blushed scarlet nothing seemed to faze Charley.

We each had on short sundresses which us three had bought in Chicago and some low heel fancy sandals these took no-room in our back packs so we had decided to keep them with us to remind us we were girls! (Especially me)
We went out to the Missouri Hick Bar-B-Q and really stuffed our faces.
This put a whole new and wonderful meaning on a Bar-B-Q. As usual everyone was so very friendly and welcoming as we had come to expect however it was more so when the staff and other diners heard our English accents.

In Missouri we did the tourist places that took our fancy – Ted Drewes Frozen Custard!!!!!!!!
There are words I have used many time in relation to food in this leg of the trip BUT this frozen custard was to die for - absolutely scrummy! Really with all this wonderful food it was a good job we were very active or else we would definitely pile weight on.

We spent a day at the Wolf Sanctuary, then the Jesse James Museum and Meramac Caverns. Onondaga Cave State Park.
The final day we spent in the town of Cuba looking at the murals down town also the biggest rocking chair in the world we did some shopping for essentials and visited a history museum.

Now was onto Kansas - Kansas only has 13 miles of Route 66 running through it initially we were going to drive straight through but we decided to camp for a couple of days (we were in no rush).
We found a campsite near the town of Baxter and as usual with us food was on our minds so we ate at the Café on the Route or the little Brick Inn the food was good and cheap (apparently it closed in 2013, so we were lucky.)
We did some sight seeing Fort Blair being one of the places - this was originally built as a Union Fort and was involved in a massacre.
One thing that did happed while in Kansas was that we were happily driving along the road singing away to the radio and chatting as girls do.
When Kelly – who was driving said, “Oh, oh girls we got visitors” looking behind us a group of about half a dozen motor bikes were rapidly catching us they flanked us and simply looked at us which made us feel very uncomfortable.
Then one of them put his hand up and off they roared we stopped a bit further down the road as we were a bit shook up when a lone bike came the other way and pulled up. A scary looking guy with long hair was riding the bike he looked a bit dishevelled – but his bike was immaculate.
He switched off and came across to us saying, “Hi little ladies, apologies for scaring you but we were told to keep an eye out for four girls in a Tan SUV” he was a Warrior.
Which relieved us greatly so we offered him a soda from our cool box and talked for a while then off he roared to re-join his friends.
Shoni looked at the three of us and quietly said, “It really does look like they are keeping an eye on us!”

Oklahoma was our next state as usual food was on our mind so we stopped at Clanton’s Café in Vinita where the portions were huge but really good also in this town was the biggest McDonalds any of us had ever seen (including Charley).
We carried on calling at Galloway Park where there was a huge totem pole it was massive and said to be 90’ tall.
Through Oklahoma City onto Geary where the original road was a dirt track for 5 miles it was a bit iffy but passable - in our ignorance we thought all dirt road sections would be like this – Oh how wrong we were!

We camped again for a few days visiting the Clinton Route 66 museum - then we were off again to Texas.
After a weeks camping we decided to become girly again so we stopped at a place called Shamrock and booked into the Econolodge where a double bed room for 4 cost $60.
It was an average hotel but heaven after camping. We did some touristy type things then moved on closer to Amarillo. Another bit of dirt road again no problems with it. At a place called Groom there was an amazing structure - a leaning water tower!

In Conway there’s a place called the ‘Bug Farm’ where VW bugs are buried nose down (in the UK we call them VW Beetles)
We couldn’t go the Jericho gap route as this is a private road but soon we were at Amarillo all of us singing the song as we entered the city!
The city airport is built over the original route so this meant another diversion.
Back to camping again this time we went to Lake Meredith a free campsite where there’s drinking water and rest rooms. We camped at Cedar Canyon AND we camped on the beach in splendid isolation.
Went to Palo Duro Canyon, and trekked around there for a day then we went for a meal at the Big Texan Steak House!
In one-way this was a mistake because we couldn’t eat it all – we each left with a ‘doggy’ bag. But in another way it was absolutely brilliant good food and a great atmosphere.
Let me explain! We were really starving so we started off with a ‘Big Texan Appetiser’, which was Fried Mushrooms, Mountain Oysters Cheese stix and Big Texan Howlers this was between the four of us.
We found out three things. One Mountain Oysters have never seen the sea! Two the Howlers were HOT and I mean HOT breaded deep fried Jalapeño’s. And three in Texas when they say big they mean BIG!

Then we each had a 12oz steak with all the trimmings this was when we raised the white flag in surrender and the doggy bags came into play! For doggy bag read the next days snack bag – we were so glad that we had decided to carry our stove’s griddle.
But we went there for breakfast while we were in Amarillo and for $10 we had between us the Big Texan Breakfast Buffet, which set us up for the day! (That word BIG again – we remembered)
Now onto New Mexico just before the state line we passed through a ghost town called Glenrio we all knew about ghost town but never realised that they still existed - it felt really eerie.
Between Glenrio and San Jon the original road is unpaved and rough - we thought the previous sections of old road were rough but this was 19 miles of sheer hell – well sort of - but we made it the Jeep did us proud!

We carried on until a place called Cuervo where again the original road goes unpaved.
As we had just done the Glenrio section we thought ‘no problems to us’!
This was only a 16 mile section. BUT it was 16 miles of pure purgatory the road was totally overgrown potholes the size of the Grand Canyon and so very, very rough in short it was absolute shit! And it was my turn to drive.
To cover 13 miles or so took me nearly 3 bone jarring hours.
Towards the end I could have cried because there was a very high very uneven cattle guard.
Before we tried to go over it we all had good look at it and all of us thought that the Jeep would make it over – wrong - and we got stuck on it!

That was it we couldn’t go forward or back. According to our map Santa Rosa was the next town but that was miles away about three miles of this road where the old Route 66 joined an interstate again.
We tried a few things to try and free ourselves but as it was getting dark we realised we were here for the night so we had to sleep in the car!

Luckily we had water, soda and some food we had picked up at a store. Well I say food it was chocolate and some biscuits (cookies) but it would do.
So we got our trusty stove out made some coffee and had a council of war.
We decided that tomorrow we would try to use the car’s jack and any wood or rocks we could find to try and get the car out - we all were really despondent. And I was blaming myself for getting stuck but the others told me not to be so hard on myself as we all had decided that we could get over it– but it didn’t help me much.

Things were deathly quiet we had no phone signal the night was pitch black with a million stars visible if we weren’t is deep doo-doo the night sky would have been fantastic. In the distance we could see the loom of headlights on the interstate we were miles from anywhere even to get to the nearest interstate was a 3 mile walk so for the time being we were on our own!
We went to sleep early and spent a not too bad night in the car snuggled up to each other.
We were awake at daylight made some coffee and had some cookies for our breakfast. Luckily we had lots of water as we bought it by the case and we had four cases in the back of the Jeep food was more of a problem but once we had freed ourselves today we’d be ok – right?

Well - wrong as it so happens. We tried packing the underneath out with anything we could find jacking the back of the car up then using the 4 wheel drive slowly move forward and hopefully we would be free.
Plan ‘A’ an abject failure all the stuff we packed under the wheels simply shot out like an shower of exocet missiles when we tried to move forward threatening to lame anyone standing in their path.

Plan ‘B’ cry! A stupendous success!

Didn’t do much to help us but we did feel better plan ‘C’ was devised after plan ‘B’ two of us would either have to walk to the interstate or to a place where we could get a phone signal.
We all were willing to go but in the end Charley and Kelly were chosen. Kelly was the one of us who did the most walking and Charley chose herself saying, “Well you’ll need someone who speaks the language – right”.

We had seen what the weather had been like so the two of them dressed accordingly wide brimmed hats to keep the sun off them; good boots and long lightweight trousers as protection against the thorn bushes also water proofs (because when it rains – boy!) and one of our first aid kits.
We packed one of our backpacks with the tent, 2 sleeping bags some food and water – more water than food all un-necessary items were removed so the one backpack was quite light remembering that they had to carry this stuff on their backs.
The plan was to get to I-40 then head south on it to get help while Shoni and I remained with the car.
We really didn’t want to separate but felt that we had no option AND we made sure the girls took their pepper spray with them! Just in case.

The next morning we said goodbye and watched them follow the track (that was supposed to be the road) until they were out of sight then we had another attempt at freeing the Jeep but with two of us we didn’t get far.
Night came and no sign of the girls or help so the two of us drank some water and snuggled up to sleep at least the girls had sleeping bags with them we were wondering if they had managed to get any sleep.
The next day really passed slowly the two of us imagined all sorts of awful things happening to Charley and Kelly we were sat in the shade of the car when we heard a strange noise.
Standing up the noise appeared to be coming closer and sounded like the engine of a motorbike. Putting our pepper spray in our pockets (you can’t be too sure) we scanned all around. It was then we saw two motorbikes about a mile away heading towards us – we were saved or so we hoped!

Two trail bikes roared in - skidded to a stop. Then two whirling dervishes bounded off the back of them and ran towards us it was Charley and Kelly they managed to get their helmets off and leapt onto to us crying and hugging us – our nightmare was over after three days.
These guys were Warriors and had been looking for us as we had been late getting to where they expected us (if that makes sense) so as they had not seen the Jeep some guys were on the road looking for us and found Charley and Kelly as they were walking along I-40.
The guys looked at out attempts to free ourselves and from what I gathered we had been doing the right things but not enough of it!
Tom and Garry (our saviours) said that there was a truck on the way with some guys to get us free we offered them coffee, soda, or water and of course cookies which is all we had left.

Garry snorted with laughter telling Tom, “Geez these Brits are unbelievable, stuck in the wilds with rattlers and scorpions for three days and the offer us tea!”
Shoni - who totally missed the irony naively told him, “Well we have tea if you prefer but no milk”
Garry still chuckling said he would have a soda. I picked something up from his comments and asked, “You mean that they’re snakes around here?” he nodded saying, “Rattlers and Scorpions”
The four of us looked at each other in shock we had never even thought about things like this! And we had been in the rough moving rocks and dead trees.

We had better wise up before Australia where there are all sorts of creatures ready willing and able to kill you!
They had a soda and very soon a big tow truck arrived together with four other guys all members of the brotherhood.
They grunted when they saw where we got stuck and asked if we took any notice of the EZ guide?
This confused us until they pointed out that the guide did warn drivers that there was an uneven cattle guard (which is what we got stuck on!)
Ooops talk about embarrassment! But in mitigation in the UK a cattle grid is a set of poles which are embedded into the road and are easy to drive over but this was something else entirely.

However even though these guys knew what they were doing it still took them four hours to release us.
So we would have stood no chance without the help of these guys. I gave a silent thanks to Al senior and his friends for looking after us.
Finally we were off the cattle guard and ready to continue Kelly asked, “Can you point us in the direction of a motel?”
One of the guys called Elmer who had come with the truck simply answered, “You aint stopping at any motel little lady come on back to the ranch and stay with Becca and me - she’ll be glad of some female company.”

We protested that we couldn’t impose but he made argument impossible when he simply said, “I owe Chuck Willis my life girls. Helping his daughter is the only way I can say thanks to him - you’re staying with Becca and me!” Then he added, “Oh and the boys.” We surrendered at this – it seemed that Charley’s dad was a brave and well-respected man!
Most of these guys were in their fifties or sixties the youngest was Jay who was still in the army on leave at the moment he was in his mid twenties.
The truck was a huge high tow truck with banks of spotlights pointing forwards and backwards it was a workhorse but well loved.

We followed them to the interstate then a short way down this turned south and headed up a dirt road until we reached the ranch.
I really didn’t know what to expect I had seen films with ranches and TV programmes but this was the first time I had seen one in the flesh so to speak.
There was a large central main building with a veranda running all along the front (and back I later found out).
One side of the yard had barns the other had a fenced off field with about a dozen horses in it there were stable blocks, sheds and what I found out was a bunk house.

The house was in a C shape very old looking but really well maintained as we pulled up outside it a slender woman came out shouting, “You found them?”
Then she came to the Jeep and looked at us saying, “Come along inside you’ll be ready for a shower – I’m Becca, welcome to my home”
With that she shepherded us inside the smell of food making our tummy’s rumble and showed us where we could change and as she put it freshen up.
After three days stuck in the wilderness using bottled water to wash that was a diplomatic way of saying we were a bit ripe!

Becca was a perfect foil for her husband Elmer he was a well muscled guy, about 6’ 6” and I would guess about 50 years old whipcord thin his features weathered by the sun and working outside.
Becca on the other hand was the same height as Kelly and Shoni she was very slender and very feminine. I would put her mid forties with classic good looks she had laughter lines true - but they enhanced her looks. She must have been stunning when she was younger because she was still stunning now!

The room we were shown was huge with a bathroom attached we were in heaven hot running water – so started a most wonderful period of out trip so far– one of many where the kindness of strangers gave you faith in the world.