Conclusion

This marks the conclusion of my retro-blog about my road trip across the USA this summer. I hope you enjoyed reading it.

Introduction

In this blog I plan to retroactively detail my road trip across the USA this summer. I'm not sure how well it will go, but I'll be basing it on the journal I tried to keep at the time.

Unknown entry

I found this entry halfway through my journal, with no date. I don't remember writing it.

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I'm Richard. I'm a crazy English bloke. I have no opinions. My favourite friend in the whole world is Autumn. I wish I was just like her but without lady-parts [censored -ed]. I sure will miss her when I'm gone.

Thursday

I'm at the airport, having missed my flight - United kept me in line for ages just to tell me I was in the wrong place! It's Opodo's fault really - they gave me the wrong airline on my itinerary. I won't be booking with them again! Luckily the lady at Air Canada helped me out and found me a new flight tonight, at no extra charge, but it's going to be a long wait. 

Yesterday was really fun, we had a small party on Arroya Verde park. We barbequed, had a piñata, and went iceblocking. It was all great fun! First time I'd ever iceblocked (sliding down a grassy hill on a big block of ice) or had a piñata! Afterwards we went back to Leila's dad's again for more games. During the day we'd been to buy party supplies, ate at Johnny's - great chips! I'm really going to miss Ventura and the people who live here.

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I'm now on the plane for Toronto. Autumn came back to the airport and we spent the afternoon together, we went to Santa Monica, got pizza for lunch and went to the beach. I managed to relax after the stress of missing my flight, and say bye to Autumn again. It's going to be so strange not seeing her! 

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I'm now in Heathrow central bus station waiting for a coach home. The flights weren't bad, I had lots to watch and listen to on the seat-back screens, got window seats on both flights, and was at a wing exit from Toronto-London, which meant extra legroom!

I should be home by about 4:30am.

Tuesday

On Friday night we arrived in Ventura at about 2am. We watched a couple of episodes of Flight of the Conchords and then slept. We woke up at about noon on Saturday and just lazed around all day - it was nice not being in the car, or being on any kind of schedule! We watched more Flight of the Conchords (after getting familiar with all the songs, I had to see what the show was like), played Xbox, and ate mexican food. Autumn's older (middle-aged) cousin and his wife came round and we watched some dirt bike showreels while we ate.

On Sunday we all went to see an airshow at Point Mugu naval air station. There were lots of cool flying displays from stunt planes, military planes, and a display team called the Blue Angels. In the evening Autumn and I hung out with her friend Leila, watched Shaun of the Dead and made stuffed felt shapes (I made a flower for Autumn, she made a dinosaur for me). 

Yesterday we met Jenna again and went to the park with her dog to play frisbee and ate lunch at Chipotle, which was pretty tasty. In the evening Autumn, Leila, Jenna and I went to Golf 'n' Stuff and had fun on the games, won lots of tickets, and got lots of prizes. Later Sakwa and Jason joined us and we went to the fair - which we got into for free thanks to Leila being a county employee! It was fun, we went on a cool ride and played some games, Jenna won a stuffed penguin. We all went back to Leila's dad's again and played games - one called Set which was difficult but fun (especially difficult when you're colourblind), and one called Blokus.

Today we slept in quite late and are now going to lunch with Leila.

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Leila bought us lunch which was really nice of her, we got real Mexican food from Taqueria Vallarta, it was very very good. After lunch we went to a shop called Rocket Fizz where I got Dal a selection of candy. Then Autumn and I came home, watched more Conchords and went to the beach. In the evening Julie and Joe took us to Red Robin for a tasty dinner, and we got fancy chocolate from See's. It's so sad that tomorrow is my last day!

Friday

Last night we stayed in Hurricane, Utah, just about 30 minutes away from the entrance to Zion national park, where we visited today. We walked a couple of short trails and saw a museum of human history in the area, along with paintings of the park. We decided that rather than staying in a hotel another night or camping, we'd just drive straight back to Ventura - it's only 7 hours or so, meaning we'll arrive at about 1 or 2 am. It's sad to think I'll be home this time next week, but it will be nice to see my friends and family again! It'll be so weird not seeing Autumn at all, after spending 5 weeks constantly together.

Thursday

Last night we stayed in Green River, Utah. We'd left Colorado so late that we couldn't go all the way to Zion in a day, and to top it off there was a pretty huge thunderstorm in the area. It's only about 4 hours from here to where we want to be, though.

As we left Colorado we drove through and took a break in Glenwood Canyon, which was apparently the hardest 12 miles of the Interstate system to build. I'm glad they did, though, as it's a beautiful drive!

As we got into Utah we started to hit the electrical storm I mentioned. It looked really cool, as it was happening literally all around us, but as we were outside you could see the entire storm, with flickers of lightning but no thunder (I guess we were too far away). Utah is quite flat and desert-y, but with big mesas and buttes and other rock formations in the distance, so it's quite pretty. I'm looking forward to visiting Zion park again, as I remember it being very pretty.

Wednesday

We had to find a hotel in Denver at about 2am which was stressful. The rest stops were rubbish and we couldn't find any RoomSaver coupons, and phoning around was tough too because one hotel said they had rooms but when we arrived they didn't. We ended up getting an expensive hotel near the airport for $80! By that point we just wanted to get out of the car and into bed. This morning we slept in, lazed around, and found a route to Zion in Utah. We found a cheap hotel but we need a number for it. 

Tuesday

Yesterday we drove from Knoxville to Harrisonville, Missouri. It was my first time driving on the freeway and it wasn't as bad as I'd worried.  After stopping nearby for food we arrived in Harrisonville at about 1am and stayed in Mike's house with Jeremy, autumn's half-brother. This morning we did some laundry and had lunch with Autumn's grandma Sally and are now on the road to Denver. We're not staying in Buena Vista any more, we could be staying with Autumn's friend who goes to school in Denver but we're not sure, we'll see!

2 Weeks Later

Monday Morning.

My journal was lost in the car for the past two weeks, I found it just now under the passenger seat!

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The night after my last entry we stayed on the Box R ranch near Cora, Wyoming. It was a really nice place, we had a spot for our tent and a campfire. I made the mistake of trying to drink with a cowboy, and got really drunk! The cowboy, Barney, gave us all cowboy hats which was nice of him, and he gave Jason a really nice shirt and coat too. It was a nice night apart from getting too drunk. 

The next day we drove through Wyoming and Colorado to reach Denver. We got a budget motel just outside of it and the next day went to get things done - Autumn needed a replacement camera (hers had broken in Yellowstone) and we went to an aquarium, then that night we stayed in a different hotel in Denver itself.

After that we drove through Colorado and Kansas in a day to get to Missouri. We met Autumn's biological dad who put us up for the weekend, as well as her grandma, uncle, and more family. The next day we went to an 1850s re-enactment farm for a while, but it was REALLY hot and the kids were getting too hot so we couldn't stay for long.  We went back to her grandma and uncle's house where we ate, played videogames, and hung around. 

The next day Jason flew back to California early in the morning, as he had to get back for work, and then later in the day Autumn's dad took us out to see more of the state. We went on a helicopter ride, into some natural caves, and saw a lot of nice scenery and the ruins of a big house. 

The day after that we left Missouri to head for North Carolina. We tried to sleep in a rest area in Tennessee but it was so unbearably hot that we got a budget hotel again. The next day we made it to NC and met John, who knew Autumn's mum from years ago. He's very friendly, an ex-Marine. He took us to stay in the basement of the house owned and built by one of his Marine friends while they were away. We spent two days there then on Friday we went up to John's property in the mountains near West Jefferson and Boone.

In the first house, near Snow Camp, we visited another aquarium near Fort Fisher, and saw the coast while we were there, as well as seeing a natural history museum and a park. In the following days, whilst camping, we swam and kayaked in/on the New River, hiked a mile or two of the Appalachian trail (really pretty! I like NC), and visited a little tourist-y town. It was a really fun few days and John was such a nice guy!

Yesterday (Sunday) we left NC and stayed in a motel in Knoxville, TN. Today we're going back to Missouri - we were thinking of seeing Autumn's cousin in Arkansas but the weather report said it was going to be 110 degrees or more so we decided not to. We'll be staying in her dad's house - even though he's back in Ohio for work, his son will be there, and we'll see her grandma again. After a night there we'll be staying with Autumn's friend in Buena Vista, Colorado for a couple of days, then hopefully a couchsurfer in Utah, before driving through Arizona and Nevada back into California, we're hoping to be there by the weekend as the car needs returning by Monday and my flight home is on Thursday. I'm going to be very sad to leave but it will be nice to see my friends and family at home again.

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Things I forgot to mention - On the way to the ranch, we saw a black bear in the distance, and on the dirt road to the ranch we saw LOTS of pringhorn, a couple of badgers, a bald eagle, a hawk, and horses on the ranch. Cool!

In the North Carolina we visited Mike, who owns the property near the ranch and organised for us to stay there. His place was nice, we fished in his pond and rode one of his horses called Sonny, it was very nice.

Monday night

Today we went into Yellowstone park. We saw a few elk and quite a few bison, as well as seeing the upper falls, a quick look at the lower falls, and the lake. We also saw some hot springs and geysers. It's pretty in the summer, but honestly I think I preferred it in the spring.

We ate breakfast and dinner in West Yellowstone - dinner at a place that served lots of local microbrews, but unfortunately none from West Yellowstone's own Wolf Pack Brewery as they didn't brew this year.  I tried a nice amber ale from Bozeman, Montana called Bozone.

We're at the same campsite tonight and tomorrow we'll be camping on a ranch in Wyoming, owned by Autumn's mum's friend's friend's friend who said we could stay for free! The day after that we're going to Denver, Colorado.

Monday morning

Last night was our first night camping. Cool! I slept quite well - we had inflatable mattresses as well as sleeping bags. The campground is nice, there is a big lake (Hebgen lake) which our site is right next to, and lots of trees. Our tent was pretty easy to set up, and then we built a fire and heated up some soup over it - we tried to make macaroni cheese but mosquitoes kept falling into the water! The sky was very clear, I could see so many stars, it was really nice. We are staying here another night then heading to Colorado. Today we're going to Yellowstone, hooray!

Saturday night

Today we drove to Boise, Idaho, about halfway along the route to Yellowstone. We were going to camp but couldn't find anywhere, so we're in a budget motel which isn't bad. 

We were supposed to meet Jesse for breakfast this morning but as it was his birthday he'd been out the night before and overslept today, so we had breakfast at the hotel - very filling - then shared a waffle from the Waffle Window, it was very good. We used the hotel wifi to research campgrounds near Yellowstone and found a good place where we'll be staying the next couple of nights.

Friday night

Today we spent the morning packing and sorting our things out, before going to lunch with Carolyne at the truck stop, then we set off to Portland, where Carolyne had paid for a room in a fancy hotel for us. It's really classy! Once we'd checked in we got some food and Jason and I had some free beer (it was happy hour) and then we hung out in the lobby and played cards, checkers, and air hockey in the games room. We had some more drinks and then came to bed.

Tomorrow we're meeting Autumn's uncle Jesse for breakfast - it's his birthday - then setting off for a stop along the way to Yellowstone. 

Thursday night

This morning Carolyne made us American-style 'biscuits' - like a flaky, savoury scone - for breakfast, then she took us to the gun club's shooting range to fire her 38-caliber snub-nosed revolver. It was really fun, I managed to get 2 bullseyes! After that we came home for lunch before going to another river for swimming and gold-panning. We had to search a while for a non-claimed area to pan, one spot had been claimed by 'Mad Dog' - the sign was riddled with bullet holes! The old man operating the dredge raft, presumably Mad Dog himself, looked like a real pioneer, with a long grey beard. Carolyne's handyman Charles, who we had met earlier, was similar - he was a very nice man but a bit crazy-looking, and kind of dirty. He had built his ramshackle house himself, along with a cage around his vines to keep the raccoons out. Tonight we ate at Carolyne's and watched a film before going to bed, and tomorrow we're leaving for Yellowstone.

Wednesday night

This morning we went to the wildlife safari park - it's like a cross between a safari park and a zoo. We saw animals from all around the world. Afterwards we ate in a nearby town, went food shopping and then went to a park to feed ducks and nutria (although the nutria never showed up) and then the three of us went to swim in another river, which was nice.

Tuesday night

Yesterday we drove all afternoon to get to Canyonville, Oregon, where Autumn's grandma lives. We arrived at about 8pm, met Carolyne (who is lovely and very hospitable) who took us to a restaurant at a nearby truck stop - apparently one of the biggest in the US. Afterward, we took a walk around her property which is beautiful. It's a little way out of town and is quite wilderness-y. Wild deer, cats and turkeys come right into the garden!
Today we went to a local diner for lunch after spending the morning eating breakfast and playing scrabble. I had a traditional diner-style milkshake with my meal which was lovely, and then we went to a little waterfall in the river, about 40 miles away. There were a lot of other people swimming there, and it was so beautiful! The water was crystal-clear and mostly slow-flowing. People were jumping off the waterfall into the pool beneath, swimming, or relaxing on the rocky shore. I would kill to live here.
In the afternoon Autumn, Jason and I went to the wal-mart to buy camping supplies, got food, then went back and played cards. It was a good day. Tomorrow morning we're going to the zoo/park nearby.

Monday morning

I arrived to Ventura on Friday, after two fairly long flights. It took me forever to get through Chicago O'Hare airport, and thanks to the passport control and security measures I only just made it to my second flight as they were closing the doors - luckily I did get on. 

Once I landed in Los Angeles airport, Autumn came to pick me up and we went back to Ventura to hang out with her dad, younger brother, and her sister. After a while her boyfriend Jason came round and the three of us went to get some food. When we got back, her older brother and his girlfriend were there too. It was a very full house! We hung around some more and then went to bed.

On Saturday we overslept a little, had some breakfast, and then Autumn's friend Jenna came round and took us to pick up the rental car. Unfortunately, due to us being late, the car was no longer there so we had to wait for another to come in. It turned out to be a good thing because the car was slightly bigger, and allowed us to pack all of our stuff in. After sorting that out we went to get lunch - a local dentist's surgery had an In-n-Out Burger van outside giving away free burgers and drinks! We went back to pack our things and then left for Mariposa, near Yosemite park, where Jason's family had a holiday home.  We arrived in the evening and set ourselves up on a mattress in the main sitting room.

On Sunday we went to Yosemite - it's so beautiful! We drove all around it and saw some amazing sights - towering cliffs, huge waterfalls, rivers, and lots and lots of pine trees. After spending the day there we went to eat at a Japanese restaurant then went home and watched 'Memento', a good film.

Today, Monday, we're heading North again to Oregon, where Autumn's grandma lives.