The junction signs here are split up into three sections; lodgings, gas and fuel... there’s a Waffle House every 3 exits and there are probably more “hotels” along this stretch of freeway than there are in all of central London. We can only be the ‘deep south’ - America’s southern states.

I arrived in South Carolina after having been flown via Cincinnati from London. En route, the customs officer grills me about my visit, “so what’s your business?”. “Steak”, I proudly exclaim, “the reason for my visit is steak”. I’m in Greenville, South Carolina and I’m driving to Greenville, Mississippi – wherein lies an ‘eat place’ by the name of “Doe’s” which, my travel editor tells me, has the best steak in the world. It turns out that Mr. US Customs is an aficionado; “the best steak in the world won’t be in Mississippi”, he opines. Truth be told, I was certain it wouldn’t because the best steak in the world was in the last issue of Lusso, the Wagyu steak.

Just so I’m clear, steak is a major part of this feature. I’m conscious that I’ve said steak seven times (inclusive of that one) so far, but what is the rest of the article about?. Well, as I mentioned earlier, I am starting in South Carolina and going to Mississippi, and in case you are not so hot on American geography, that is quite a long way. There is also the small matter of the new BMW that is our steed for the trip.

BMW have a manufacturing plant in Spartanburg, near Greenville, South Carolina. Here they have been making various little gems, including the Z4, for a few years now. Tomorrow morning, I will leave my hotel for Spartanburg and will collect the very latest model to roll out of the gates - the right hand drive X5, soon to be shipped to the United Kingdom. In my eyes the X5 has been at the rump of the luxury SUV market for the last year, with Range Rover and other manufacturers pushing out face-lifted models with sumptuous and modern interiors.

The morning comes and it’s off to the manufacturing plant, which can only be described as a small town, complete with its own flock of ducks. The new X5 looks smaller and more compact here. Maybe it’s down to the supersized plant behind me, or the extra-large cars in the parking lot - I remain unsure.

At 9am we are given the keys to the car, and as the photographer packs up the boot, I load up the S atnav. In 12 hours we have to be in Mississippi (nearly 600 miles away) before Doe’s closes at 9pm! We will gain an extra hour when we cross the state line to Alabama, but even that is 400 miles away – so it’s engine on, seat belts in, and off we go.

We’re out of South Carolina in no time and powering through Georgia – ducking in and out of the carpool lane as we stay on the freeway that bisects Atlanta. Another hundred miles pass and we’re heading quickly towards the Alabama state border, and an extra 60 minutes. Crossing the border is a good sign that we’ll make our final destination in time, so we decide to have lunch. My colleague is a culinary craftsman, and has a much better understanding of American culture than I do, so I follow his advice and we pull into a Waffle House.

Twenty dollars later I’m feeling sick, as the ironed-flat bacon, two waffles, butter-soaked raisin bread, two pints of orange juice and hash browns seep into my bloodstream. I’m still disturbed at the gentleman behind my table calling out his order of “two steaks and, urr, four eggs”. The petrol tank is not empty yet, but in the interest of conserving time I’m going to fill it up. I still cannot get over how cheap petrol is out here – it frustrates me as any road trip back home costs as much in fuel as most plane tickets. Out here we’re able to really have some fun with the car and sprint down the freeway without worrying where the next petrol station is, or whether we’re spending an irresponsible amount of cash.