My alarm went off at 3.25am, but because I hadn’t taken into account the hour’s change into Mountain time, it was actually 2.25am. When the right time did come, we loaded up the OJ and doughnuts and headed back to the Canyon for the sunrise. There was heavy cloud presence which was threatening our viewing, but we still headed back with the hope we were still going to see something. Like the previous evening, Todd led us to another ledge just off the path, where everyone stayed, but Todd, Jess and I climbed down to a lower ledge and sat there for ages waiting and having some individual ‘me’ time. Just like Dead Horse Point, it was so peaceful. Sadly the cloud presence hindered any attempts to witness a sunrise, so the three of us finally ... read more

The trip was getting better and better, especially lately. We left Moab behind and headed to our next destination – Monument Valley. But first of all we stopped off in Natural Bridges National Monument to view 3 bridges that were naturally made. The first, Sipapu Bridge, was nearby the visitor centre, and everyone but Sarah, Zoe and me set off down towards the bridge about 1 km away. The three of us stayed near the van and looked out for the others to appear far below at the viewpoint to see the bridge. Sadly it couldn’t be seen from where we were standing, but I wasn’t that fussed. When the others finally returned, we all climbed in again, and headed to the second bridge, Kachina Bridge. This time I decided to join with the others and ... read more

After waking up early, packing up, and then waiting around for the daily ritual of striking camp, we sadly left Colorado behind, a fact I didn’t really like, but I have definitely decided I am coming back to the Centennial Stat one day, and we headed into Utah. We heard about Graham and Neal’s exploits from the previous night, the highlights being that Neal lost his glasses whilst walking on all fours out on the street. Almost straight away the change in temperature was evident. Like yesterday our site in Moab was right in the middle of town, and after setting up camp, we headed out to the nearby Arches National Park to be dropped off for a series of small walks of a mile or so. Sadly Zoe’s hip was still playing up so she ... read more

After waking up after a really good night under the stars, there was no rush to breakfast and then pack and load up, as we were heading into Durango for a spot of breakfast, whilst Becca was taking to hospital. She had picked up some altitude sickness in the previous couple of days, and wasn’t feeling any better. As a nurse, Tanya insisted on going with her, so after dropping us of at a restaurant Todd tooks the two to hospital. Whilst taking in one of the games of the day’s World Cup action we had a break from the norm and had a decent breakfast before walking along the main stretch of the town to the post office where our lift would be meeting us. As a stop of whilst Todd returned to pick up ... read more

We left Carlsbad early to make our way further into New Mexico, heading for Santa Fe. It was a long journey, but the views were coming back again. That was the only problem with Texas. Too much open space with nothing around for miles and miles apart from other vehicles. When we stopped for lunch in the middle of nowhere we persuaded Todd to go into an American roadside diner - another experience to tick off that list. We all managed to get seats at the counter and placed our orders, and soaked in the atmosphere of the diner. When the food eventually arrives, we all scoff our faces before hitting the road again. Our next stop was in Roswell, which seemed to get Mark all excited about the aliens. Whether he was serious or just ... read more