Hi everyone!

So here I am in San Francisco, alive, well, not having; crashed the car, picked up a hitch hiker (or an escaped convict), been eaten by a bear, wolf or mountain lion (did you know you were supposed to fight back if such an event attempted to occur?), gored by a buffalo or given myself food poisoning. All in all, a rather successful 17 days I feel. I realise I haven't written in a while, and I realise we have done quite a lot, so I am going to write up journal entries since Chicago. If they seem rambling or irrelevant, simply skip over them. Hope you're all doing ok. I've had an amazing adventure!

Day 3 - thursday Illinois, Minnesota, South Dakota, 11 hrs driving

RTL (Roadtrip lesson) #1 The scenery between Illinois and South Dakota does not change much

RTL # 2 Apple sauce from the pot is a perfectly acceptable roadtrip snack, and healthier than most available to me.

RTL #3 thunderstorms in South Dakota are big.

Left Chicago about 9. Drive relatively uneventful. Lots of flat, and large farms. We stopped at a historic town where president grant had lived, named after a type of rock, I forget... It was a complete accident. We got a bit lost and went the wrong way.

We arrived at Big Sioux in the dark, took forever to light a fire and finally got the food going as the storm started. The ranger came up to warn us of the severity of the storm, so we ate half cooked food in the shelter of the toilets. Not the best start! It's still going out there now... the lightning is insane and it's a bit scary. C'est la vie...

Day 4 - friday - South Dakota, 5 hrs drive, 1 hour back in time

RTL #1 Bug bites = OW

RTL#2 no sleep = hard driving

RTL#3 if you walk 4 miles in the desert, you need water.

I was pretty stressed when I woke up this morning, mostly to do with the tiny wet tent, wet sleeping bag and ten million bug bites. I was pretty grumpy to be honest. The drive wasnt great. I was so tired after the storm! However, I started to feel better as the landscape got drier and drier... hopefully no more rain for us tonight. We entered mountain time on the road, back in time another hour! Driving into badlands NP was insane. The landscape just suddenly changed after the park gate. Boom. Ridges and peaks, colourful layered mini mountains. The road twisted and turned through them. We found the camp site and booked ourselves an awesome (that american word) pitch set everything out to dry and had lunch. I had pitta with brie and tomatoes. Mmm.

After lunch, following the advice of a ranger, we went for a hike. It was a little over 4 miles, and relatively flat, so after this summer we thought; easy. Stupid us. We went first through the prairie and then through the stunning rock formations. It's impossible to describe the sheer strangeness and awe inspiring scale of the rocks. Little bit too hot though. Will need to get more water bottles! Was afraid of passing out again, with no one torescue me this time! Chilled out a bit after that. It was very red (rocks, sand) and very hot. We went to the museum and found a bit about the place.

We went to a night sky show before bed. We looked at the moon and nebulae through a telescope. I enjoyed it.

Day 5 - Saturday - South Dakota, 3 hour drive

Woke up at 7 and got packed up quickly. Set off on a drive through the rest of badlands, past the point where we watched a very impressive sunset last night. It was very beautiful, and expansive. We saw prairie dogs on the way out! Outside of the national park, we stopped at the town of wall. What can I say about Wall?

So, a long time ago, some people brought the wall drug store. They were making no money as its in the middle of nowhere, so they thought of interesting ways to draw attention. It was totally crazy! It spans the entire street, with loads of tourists shops, galleries, a traveller's chapel, and of course, a drug store. They sold 5 cent coffee and "free water" I had my photo taken by a large t-rex, and on a giant rabbit with antlers.

Next we drove to Mount Rushmore. As we headed towards the black hills, the scenery began to change. The hills got bigger, evergreen trees emerged everywhere, and all of a sudden there it was. Lincoln, Roosevelt, Washington and Jefferson were staring down at us. We went into the park, got up close to the memorial and visited the museum. it was huge!! (the presidents, not the museum). They had photos of the guy carving, and one nose was 3 times his size!

We headed off after that to windcave national park. As soon as we got inside the park gates, we saw herds of buffalo. One massive one walked straight out in front of the car as I was driving. I was not about to argue with him. We found a campsite, then headed off to the cave.

Windcave is the 5th largest cave in the world. It has 135 miles of tunnels discovered, most of which lie under 1 square mile. It has a very strong air flow through it; depending on air pressure, air will either be rushing out or rushing in. The native americans found the entrance when it blew their hats off, literally! The cave should have been wonderful, but it was way too commercial for me. Although the formations were amazing, the path was concreted and fitted with electric lights, and we went down an elevator to get there. I prefer our camp cave. We had a good dinner, with baked banana for desert. We cihlled on the grass and watched the stars come out. Very beautiful.

Day 6 - Sunday - South Dakota to Wyoming, 10 hours driving

RTL#1 Buffalo are large

RTL#2 Mountain weather = very different, for example the low being 33 degrees farenheit, otherwise known as freezing (literally, ice on ground)

RTL#3 Yellowstone = beautiful, but smelly

So last night I woke up after a couple of hours, and must of been in that state between waking and sleeping, as I completely convinced myself I saw a snake at the top of the tent where the window is (the tent to be fair is very low to the ground). I then wasnt sure whether the window was open or not, was hyperventilating thought I was going to die.... so like a true outdoors trained person I buried myself as far as I could in my sleeping bag, tied a knot above my head and hid till morning. Did not sleep well. Got up at 7 and left our beautiful campsite. A couple of hours later we were suddenly at the mountains. It was big horn national forest and it was beautigul. Waterfalls, canyons, mountains, trees and lakes. The ladnscape and colours reminded me of scotland.

We stopped off at a little local store called dirty annie's for lunch. It was like a treat, having a cooked meal that we didnt need to do anything for! Then we headed to yellowstone. So exciting! We saw loads of buffalo at the entrance, couldnt get in. We visited mud volcanoes and the sulfur caldron. It all smelt! But the mud was bubbling and exploding, and steam was shooting everywhere. It was impressive and surreal.

After our mini hydrothermal adventure, we went to the campsite; bridge bay on the edge of lake yellowstone. It's a lot bigger than we're used to! So many people! BEAR COUNTRY! No food, toiletries, medicines in the tens or outside, or you'll be eaten. In the happy event that you are not eaten, you will be fine 1000s of dollars. The lake is stunning. It reminds me a lot of scotland here, big lakes with rolling yellow/orange mountains, evergreens... I love it.

We went to the ranger talk in the ampitheatre. It was on the reintroduction of wolves, trying to make people understand why it is important. he talked about the history of the park, and how the wolves benefitted the ecosystem as a whole. It was really interesting, and he had beautiful pictures, but it was cold, and so wet!

Day 7 - Monday - Yellowstone! 90 mile drive, hikes, 9 hours

RTL#1 Yellowstone is cold

RTL#2 There was a big volcano here that errupted way back in time. There is lots of magma still going on. 50 years ago an earthquake happened and the ground moved and all manner of things sprang forth. Hence yellowstone today (a good explanation I think, not)

RTL#3 Yellowstone is cold

I pretty much did not sleep last night. Want to know why? Because it is COLD! How cold, one may wonder? ) celcius. Freezing. In a tent! When I've had to be used to 40 celcius! Not appreciating the 8000 ft altitude. Got up at 7.30, had breakfast and were on out way to the SHOWERS! It was the best $3 I have ever spent, e a) I started to feel my feet and b) there hasn't been a shower since big sioux.

After the shower we set out on our adventure. We decided to the the main loop anti-clockwise. It was incredible! We would be at a lush green forest, then a meadow. We saw a rushing river which carved "the grand canyon of yellowston", then geysers and mud vocanoes, deep pools of orange, green, red, blue... all spewing forth great clouds of steam. We finished our trip with old faithful. We walked up, sat down, and whoosh! off it went. Not waiting 4 hours for us! It was very big and impressive. Yellwostone is incredible.

We made a big fire when we got back. I've been wearing 2 pairs of trousers, and 2 tshirts all day. We heated cous cous, had hot te and toasted marshmallows. Much warmer.

Day 8 - Tuesday - Wyoming to Colorado, 13 hours

RTL#1 Road works are ridiculous here

RTL#2 Dont trust small town electricity

RTL#3 When driving mountain roads, add at least 3 hours to the estimate ddrive time.

Had an earlier start today. Stopped off for warm breakfast and felt better. Drove through the south entrance of yellowstone and were on our way to the rocky mountains national park. Relatively uneventful, but here are a few points of interest;

The grand teton mountain range in the early morning light, spectacular.

The fact that if people are doing roadwprks the clsoe off 20 miles of road and make you wait half an hour, even if they are only currently doing one mile. Happened 3 times.

Going into safeway, wegot all the food and the power went out in the entire side of town we were on, so we had to leave and go to another store, 150 miles down the empty road.

We arrived at our campstire, moraine park in the rocky mountains. Tomorrow is going to be chilled. Its not as cold as yellowstone. last night I slept in 3 pairs of trousers, 2 pairs of socks, leggins, 3 tops a hoodie a fleece blanket and my sleeping bag! And I was cold. hopefully tonight will be better.

Day 9 -Wednesday - Colorado

RTL#1 Getting back on a horse after some years is something like getting back on a bike - seems you dont forget

RTL#2 In a similar way, if you spend 4 hours when not used to it, you will hurt.

RTL#3 kindling helps when making a fire.

So, we woke up in the beautiful rocky mountinas national park. We decided as we'd done a lot of hiking, we would blow our money and go horse riding instead. It was this decision which led to me being sat on top of a rather large horse, named smiley. For 4 hours.

it was really beautiful once I got over my nerves. The trail was narrow and steep, but my horse knew what he was doing. The view ove rthe mountains was spectacular. We had one scary bucking moment, but I won (go me!) We had an early dinner and an early night, to prepare for the long day ahead tomorrow.

I am going to have to stop here as I have run out of money. I will try to write the rest tomorrow. Sorry if I have bored you all. I've had an amazing time. I will show you pictures when I get home.

Lots of love to you all xxxxx