Scenery began to change and become greener, lots of trees changing colour to an amazing yellow. We steadily climbed up to 5000ft. Mountains surrounding us, some reaching almost 14,000ft with snow capped peaks. Mammoth every bit as beautiful as we remembered it. Made our customary stop at the Welcome Centre and have sorted out some hikes to do during the week. Weather was good today, reaching 26C, but temperatures have now dropped to -1C.

My body doesn't know what time of day or night it is. Sleep accompanied by the sound of the train whistle blowing. If there's a sound that typifies The USA that must be it. Anyway got some sleep. Days Inn. Typical American motel. They gave us breakfast though.

Arrived safely. Picked up car. Dark by this time. Just what you want! Rush hour in LA is horrendous. Got lost just trying to find freeway. But found it eventually by driving round in circles. Mad journey to motel, took two and a half hours instead of just over an hour. Hoping for a more relaxed journey to Mammoth tomorrow.

Good flight, all ten and a half hours! More movies than you could possibly watch. Plenty of legroom. Even got a view of Grand Canyon and Las Vegas. Still beats me how they can get such huge planes in the air, but they do. And our pilot managed an incredibly soft landing.

Arrived at Heathrow. Spent more time circling London than flying from Manchester. But arrived safely none the less. Would recommend Airport Angels to everyone. The lounges are a haven of peace and quiet. Free food and drink, newspapers and magazines, comfortable seats and sometimes spas and showers. Flight left on time!