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.