The Mother Road (short story)

The Mother Road was the first short story in the Short Trips anthology Short Trips: Farewells. It was written by Gareth Wigmore. It featured the First Doctor, Ian Chesterton, Barbara Wright and Susan.

Summary
The Doctor and his friends are stuck in Chicago in 2006. The Doctor has lost the TARDIS in a bet with a businessman named Buchanan, and the four must journey to California to retrieve it. They take a road trip across America. On the way, they stop to enjoy themselves in several American cities.

In Texas, Barbara and Ian wonder if the Doctor is up to something. They also discuss getting home eventually and how much they enjoy travelling with the Doctor.

When they reach California, the Doctor participates in an online auction, finally winning his TARDIS back. It turns out that it must be picked up in Chicago, and Ian wonders how long the Doctor has known that the TARDIS was in Chicago all along. The Doctor admits he thought they could all do with a vacation, then he proceeds to get plane reservations for the trip back to Chicago.

Characters

 * First Doctor
 * Susan Foreman
 * Barbara Wright
 * Ian Chesterton
 * Buchanan

Worldbuilding

 * The Doctor and his friends visit Chicago, St Louis, Kansas, Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Texas, Santa Fe, Arizona and Santa Monica.
 * The Doctor and his friends drive a purple Oldsmobile 88 across America.
 * The Doctor and his friends take Route 66 across America.
 * The Doctor says that he and Susan have visited hundreds of worlds and hundreds of times.
 * When bidding for the TARDIS on RetroAuction.com, the Doctor uses the username "dr_who". He is bid against by someone with the username steam_r14.

Continuity

 * Ian notes that this is the second time the Doctor has lost the TARDIS in a bet. (TV: Marco Polo)
 * The Doctor tells Ian that he never asked very much about what Susan learned at Coal Hill School. (TV: An Unearthly Child)
 * Susan tells the Doctor that she misses home, and that she hopes the TARDIS will one day take them back there. (AUDIO: The Beginning, TV: An Unearthly Child)
 * Susan asks Barbara if she would really rather be back at Coal Hill "teaching Cortez and the Mexicans to spotty tearaways who couldn't care less". (TV: The Aztecs)