Forrest and Meryl do Southie: Vik ---- driving the volcanic south coast

After some last minute decisions and a late departure from Reykjavik, we set off for the south coast in our spacious toyota Yaris outfitted with "nailed" tires (aka studs). Forrest skillfully navigated the bustling streets of Reykjavik and got us on to highway 1, also known as the ring road. We were expecting a highway (since it is considered one of the busiest roads here) and were a bit surprised to discover that it was 1 lane each direction complete with round abouts at most intersections and 90km/hr speed limit. We drove through snow, rain, slush, hail and a little bit of sun. Unfortunatly the clouds were low so we could see the 3 volcano's that we passed or the glaciers, including the one that erupted last year, Eyjafjallajokull (youtube video coming soon). What we did see was an ash covered landscape (see photo below) and evidence of flooding that caused rivers to expand and fill vallies full of sediment.
We also stopped at a waterfall and drove past many Icelandic horse and sheep farms, before stopping for the night in the most southerly town in iceland, Vik (which means bay). We went for a very, very, windy walk along a beautiful black sand beach. Tomorrow we will continue to head east past more volcano's and the largest glacier in Europe (hopefully we will be able to see it through the clouds).