Thank you so much. Thank you. Yes we can to opportunity. Yes we can

prepare this world. Yes we can prepare this world.

Yes we can.

Yes we can.

Yes we can.

Yes we can, he said and millions of Americans wanted to believe him.

The year Barack Obama was elected US President, America was staggering.

It was a year into the great global recession that saw banks crash jobs disappear house

prices slump business prospects evaporate even the US auto industry teetered on the brink of collapse.

But candidate Obama spoke about hope, offering recovery at home, respite from America's

wars abroad, and an historic first as he became America's first black president.

In that year 2008, the BBC drove coast to coast across the United States to ask people what's life like for you today

Starting here in the West where I am now on the beach in Los Angeles

BBC reporters drove inland from California,

dipped south towards Texas, then up the east coast

to New York, hearing personal stories.

So here we are, toes in the Pacific Ocean, which is really very cold. Standing on Venice Beach, ready to take our own road trip.

We'll revisit some of the people who opened up their lives to the BBC eight years ago.

And we're looking for new stories about how things have changed in America's Obama years.

For the first part of the road trip, that's me, Philippa Thomas and producer Charlotte Pritchard.

So Charlotte, where do we head after LA?

Next we're going to Las Vegas in Nevada, and then we'll go down to Phoenix, Arizona,

...