Well, what a crazy time since I headed back into the states, it's been non-stop and so much to mention but I feel this blog will not do it justice as there is too much to write and not enough time.

The beauty of being in Central America was making so many friends to meet along the way so the next part of my travels is just about driving from place to place meeting new friends I've made and collecting my superb mates from the UK, it's been an awesome couple of months.

So I was very sad to say goodbye to Central America, in some ways if Emma, Winky, Lynsey and Ed had not arranged to come and meet me in the states, I would have been very tempted to stay in Central America till I needed to fly to Fiji, but them coming was also a blessing as I missed them so much and I have seen so many more of the amazing sights of the US.

I had a bit of a culture shock when I arrived to Guatemala but you soon become accustomed with how things work and the life out there but I would never of guessed that I would suffer a 2nd culture shock coming back into the States. Luckily I'd met a really cool Canadian guy in Honduras and we were on the flight back together so he helped me keep it together when we got into Miami as I was pretty much having a panic attack about being back. Everything was moving so fast, it was all massive, shiny, new and impersonal and I got bloody lost in the airport. 3 months of catching local buses and never having a clue where I was headed and I never got lost, 10 minutes in Miami airport and I couldn't find the ruddy bus stop!!!

I knew I was back in the states when it became apparent that finding a cheap hostel in Miami was near impossible. I had arrived back during Spring break time so everything was booked or mega expensive so I decided to try Air bnb and managed to find someone who had a big garden and had lots of tents for us to crash in. Was a perfect place to stay, weather was lovely, showers (never again will I take for granted the absolute pleasure of a hot shower after 3 months of cold water) and bathroom outside and not far from South beach. I didn't spend too much time in Miami, enough to watch all the people at South Beach posing on the beach and to witness the youth of America being loud and drunk on their spring break, was all a bit too much for me.

So decided to head to the Everglades on the West coast of Florida, this is a national park with a massive abundance of wildlife and wanted to go and see the swamps. I found a hostel which was exactly like being back in Guatemala, tree houses, hammocks, a gazebo full of cushions to hang out in and really friendly staff and felt instantly relaxed. I spent the next day in the park, walking all the board walk hikes, looking at alligators, birds and all the variety of trees they have there. It's a great place to visit and if I ever come back with money I want to give one of the air boats a go, or a swamp trek, all looked like great fun, but far too expensive.

After this visit to the Everglades and pretty much for the rest of my time in the US, I went visiting people I met and I've had some crazy, mental and awesome times.

The first bunch I went to see where the Eckerd college girls. I met Amanda, Lauren and Ally at Arcas when they came over during their winter break from school. They live in St Petersburg just outside of Tampa on the West coast of Florida and it's a lovely city. It was glorious weather and the weekend involved college parties (which was like being in an American movie and I felt extremely old), going to the beach, food markets, lots of beer and snorkelling in some fresh springs with underwater caves. Had a great weekend and saw so much of St Pete and would love to go back there sometime but hoping the girls will come and join me somewhere along the way when they have finished their studies.

After Florida I took a mega drive across quite a few states to get to New Orleans in Louisiana. Here I was meeting Dave who I had met in Utila when I was diving there, he was completing his Dive Master so had come diving with me as I was a newbie. I knew he had headed back to the States to see his son so we arranged to meet in New Orleans. Well what another crazy few days we had there, as soon as we arrived that night we headed out to the famous tourist street of Bourbon Street and it was Paddy's day. Well the night involved lots of bars, bands, drinks called hand grenades and fireballs. As you can imagine I got absolutely wasted and was eventually led back to the hotel at about 6 in the morning. We had made friends with some local girls who had taken us to a bar until the early hours and kept plying us with booze, was an awesome night. The next day didn't start until the afternoon as I felt terrible, Dave's remedy was just to carry on drinking but I couldn't handle it. So we walked around New Orleans, saw some street performances and then headed to an awesome southern restaurant called Jacques Imo's café for some real 'Nawlins food' and then ended up seeing a brass band playing in the bar next door. The next day I got my tarots read (well when in New Orleans) and headed to Frenchman street, this is where more locals go for good music in every bar, playing all day and again head some awesome music. Also before we left, we went to Marie Laveau's Tomb (the voodoo queen of New Orleans).

So after New Orleans I headed with Dave to Memphis where his son lives. Memphis is a lovely and strange place, there is lots of poverty and then awesome huge houses all on the same street. They have got a lot of projects to improve the city but it's slow progress but it's an interesting place to visit. First night we saw Taj Mahal playing and the music continued. My time in Memphis was a much needed rest after the past couple of weeks of booze, but we still got to see more music and drink some more. I even ventured to a super church on the Sunday and wish to never experience that again. I was curious about the religious zeal a lot of America seems to have and considering I had listened to many religious radio stations along the long drives (there sometimes was no other choice) I thought I would want to experience a church first hand. So a super church is a massive modern building that looks like a shopping mall on the outside. Inside it's like a huge concert hall, it has upper and lower tiers, balconies to sit on and view the stage area. On the stage area there are massive screens so that everyone can see the Christian Rock band and the preacher at all times. There are huge TV Camera's in the aisles so that the whole sermon is broadcast on TV. So I sat at the back away from everyone and it slowly filled up. The band was really good, except I wasn't fond of the songs they were singing but had to appreciate the set up. Then the sermon started, so before I offend anyone, I am not religious but am very curious about religion and can appreciate why people seek religion in their lives but for me, I find it impossible to believe and follow and this experience further enhanced my feelings. So they started off with some good thoughts to everyone about not judging each other, or being horrible to each other but then pretty much contradicted all of that by saying that if people were not Christian they were not really living a life and didn't have any sort of purpose in their life. It then followed on about sickness and being healed and that people are only sick for a few reasons, that they may have sinned in their lives, so its punishment, that they can be an example of god's power if they are healed or they might have demons inside them!!! So they then laid hands on each other to heal each other! Again I stayed at the back and didn't let anybody touch me as I was starting to get freaked out and angry at the same time. Also the money being thrown about and asked for was incredible. Considering at one point he was talking about vanity and desires of things you don't need as being sinful and they all drove brand new cars and were actually having some construction on the building for more screens to added to the stage, I was baffled and horrified all at the same time and decided to leave quite swiftly before I started talking to someone and offend them.

So to balance things out, we headed into Memphis and the famous Beale street. We went to the Peabody Hotel where they have ducks swimming in the fountain and a little ceremony for the ducks to walk on a red carpet to the elevators where they went to sleep for the night in their penthouse apartment. We then went to an Elvis tribute band and sang along to Elvis songs for the rest of the night! More normal for me than going to church!!!

So after 6 days of chilling out in Memphis I suddenly realised I needed to start hauling ass across the states as I had to meet Winky in about 4 days in Vegas which was still a long way off. So I was recommended to visit Austin in Texas first. So after about 10 hours driving I get to Austin and I'm booked into a hostel for a couple of nights. So I had good intentions originally and was going to have a quiet night the first night and go out the 2nd night. However, I am rubbish at saying no and change my mind so much. So I met loads of awesome people sitting in the common room, another guy from the UK, a couple of American guys, 3 from Oz and a French man who were all heading out that night to watch a band on 6th Street where all the bands and music are. So we all headed out on the bus and the band was superb, the drinks were flowing and never ending and the stupid antics started. Was such a great laugh and have no idea what time we finally made it home. So the next day I was feeling yet again a little peeky and decided to go for a walk around Austin. It's a beautiful city and would have loved to have spent more time there and again recommend this place to everyone to visit, for good food, music and atmosphere and the people are really friendly. That night we then again headed to a local place to watch an Orchestra play radio head's album, I can't even describe how good this was, at one point everyone was silent totally caught up in the music. If you ever want to listen to it, they are called Mother Falcon and they were covering the Ok Computer album, you can find the album to play on this page http://loser-city.com/news/deep-cover-mother-falcon-perform-ok-computer-in-its-entirety-on-march-26th-and-27th , it's unbelievably beautiful!!

But the drinking and music didn't stop there, we ended up going back to another bar/club that was having a motown night, so more drinking and a hell of a lot of dancing carried us through to the early hours. We also had an awesome taxi driver who took us and collected us from this venue, he blasted the music and took us on a tour so we could sing to the music even more on the way there and home, he thought we were hilarious, maybe as we were so drunk and he ended up with a massive tip.

So yet again I was starting a massive trip with a stinking hangover and a mega drive ahead of me on minimal sleep, standard behaviour now! So the next day involved driving across Texas, New Mexico and into Arizona, having a massive panic attack when I got to a customs stopping and thought that I was crossing into Mexico without knowing (which I wasn't) and crossing a lot of desert. It was beautiful scenery and I was on route 66 for some of the way as well and can understand why it's a scenic highway. So I crossed 3 massive states, 2 time zones and covered 950 miles to get to Phoenix where I was able to have a shower and then crash and burn.

Up early the next day to head to Las Vegas to pick up Winky!!! I was so excited for this next part as I hadn't seen these friends for 9 months and I couldn't wait to squeeze them all. So I got to the airport early with my sign and collected Winky, a few tears were shed and then we had the fun drive through Vegas. The 2 and half miles to the hotel took about half an hour as traffic was crazy, as it always is in this busy city.

I was so happy to see Winky and she had treated us to a couple of nights in Treasure Island in Vegas, we had an awesome room with a view of the strip and I had my friend with me, what more could I ask for!

So Vegas involved a lot of walking around, trying to find somewhere that served something else other than burgers to eat (impossible), seeing the sights, a bit of gambling and a lot of drinking on the last night (can you see the recurring theme here??!!). We ended up in the bar attached to our hotel which involved a lot of stupid signs, crazy concoctions of drinks and some flirty Mexican's. So the night ended with about 2 and half hours sleep, a buffet breakfast where the copious amounts of orange juice saved our lives and a couple of Canadians following me out of Vegas, like I knew where I was going!!! We popped to Hoover Dam to see if we could find Megatron (Winky had never seen Transformers so the quest was a little one sided) and then headed into the desert for our long and hung over journey to San Diego. We played stupid games in the car to keep up from focusing on how awful we felt and were in San Diego by early evening!

So we stayed in a lovely little hostel that provided dinner and night time entertainment but our first night was a bit of a write off. The next day involved a lot of walking around San Diego and we found an awesome park to chill out in for the afternoon. We went to sit on the grass in the Rose Garden and I must have found the only wet patch there, I was soaked through, much to Winky's amusement!! That night was Taco Tuesday so the guys at the hostel took us to a local bar/restaurant where there was cheap taco's, booze and karaoke. We managed to get 9 of us on stage to sing a Blink 182 song and pretty much the whole bar ended up on stage with us. Awesome night.

The next day was the day to pick up Lynsey and Ed. This didn't go as smoothly as planned! The drive into LA was horrible, far too many cars and no idea where I am going is a recipe for disaster. It ended up with me driving round the airport for ages looking for a parking space while Winky ran in and got Ed and Lyns before we lost them to the mass crowds! This is about the time the game of car tetris started to be played, 4 people, luggage and a copious amount of crap I had picked up on the way to be fitted into my boot, but Ed the tetris champion managed to get it all in there. Again I was all emotional to see Lyns and also felt like we hadn't been apart for 9 months when we saw each other.

We headed to Santa Monica for the first night and it was lovely, lovely beaches, lovely little town with awesome shops, were we all ended up buying the same brand of flip flips (the guy in the shop must of thought we were crazy as we all went in one after the other to keep buying them) and just walked along the beach to Venice beach and saw the muscle beach and people learning to tight rope walk. In the afternoon we headed to Malibu for a posh seafood dinner where I was ashamed for the valet guy who had to park my car when all the others there were quite flashy.

That night we headed to Santa Barbara up highway 1. This is where all the celebrities are supposed to live, but we didn't see any unfortunately, lots of money in this place and again a very nice stop along the way. So I had been told to take highway 1 along the west coast for its scenery and it was an excellent recommendation, driving along the cliffs and beaches, we saw elephant seals sunbathing and the park Big Sur, we managed to see the sun set over the ocean before heading to Monterey.

So the last person to come and join the gang was Emma and we were collecting her from San Francisco, we got her and managed to squeeze her and her bags into the car and headed to the hotel. At first we wondered where on earth we were staying as there were homeless people digging around in the bins and looked like people lived there, but turned out to be really ok. We all headed out to a Peruvian restaurant for dinner and a few drinks as this was Ed and Lyns's last night with us. The next day we went for a wander to see the Golden Gate Bridge and sample food at a local farmers market, a brilliant last day before I dropped them off at the airport. It was horrible to say goodbye and didn't want them to leave, sad times.

The next day the 3 amigos headed to Yosemite National Park, again beautiful scenery, waterfalls everywhere and nature all around. We were staying in a posh sort of cabin/tent there and we managed to do a walk in the afternoon of the first day and then a massive hike up the tallest waterfall in the US the next day. That was hard work but well worth the view though and such a laugh with the girls. We then had a bit of drive back to San Fran but already knew the way by now. We then went and explored San Fran the next day, went to Alcatraz, walked along the wharf's and took in the sights. San Fran is a beautiful city with so much to see and would love to go back there and explore more. The next day was supposed to be spent in the Golden Gate Park but unfortunately was spent in the hotel car park as the battery of my car had died, which meant the central locking wouldn't work and I didn't have a key for the door. So we had to call in a locksmith the pop the locks which took so long to do, but luckily it was a nice day and we were just sunning ourselves in the car park. The funniest thing was the locksmith asking me out for a beer that night…..

So this was the day that Winky left and again it was emotional to see her go and didn't want her to leave but I can't expect all my friends to live a lavish lifestyle like me! That night Emma and I went and saw Bastille playing down the road, awesome gigs, shame about some of the plebs in that place though!!

So the road trip continues with Emma the next day, we headed to the Sequoia forest and Kings Canyon where the trees are over 2000 years old and so massive. We even got to see a bear running across the road on the way out. We then headed south to Death Valley. I wasn't sure what to expect here as it's in the desert but was the most beautiful thing I had seen, so much diversity in the landscape and wildlife, it was wonderful. We spent a couple of days exploring this and truly loved this place. Finally we headed to the Grand Canyon and wow!! The first time you see this place it's just really hard to comprehend how old and big this place is, we stayed for sunset the first day and the colours off the rocks were phenomenal and the next day we walked all along the south rim to all the different vantage points. Only problem with the Grand Canyon is the amount of tourists and it's accessible to all people of any walks of life so it can be a little frustrating trying to get round larger people who are struggling with the 200 metre walk to the view point!!!!

We drove through Utah which is a stunning state, surrounded by mountains, clean with some lovely little towns and headed to Salt Lake City, the home of the Mormons. This was one of the cleanest and friendliest looking cities I've been to, they had flowers growing everywhere, it looked all fairly new and was a huge sprawling city but the centre had a small town feel. We went to the Mormon visitor centre to learn a bit about the religion, which didn't seem too bad but just a bit unbelievable to me in some ways and then strangely enough stumbled across a comic con. From one strange religion to another. It was awesome though, people dressed up as their favourite comic hero's or star trek, star wars characters, and all sorts of merchandise being sold while actors from your favourite shows were there to sign autographs for you, was so happy we had stumbled upon this as I always wanted to go to one!

Again it was time to reluctantly say goodbye to my last friend but I wasn't alone for long, I said goodbye to Emma at Salt Lake with a heavy heart and then drove to Denver in Colorado to meet Tess who I had met at ARCAS and gone to Belize with. Had a great weekend in Denver, again a beautiful city with so much to do, surrounded by mountains for skiing, hiking and all sorts. This weekend involved a lot of music, drinking, snowboarding, picnics and a block party. It was a fun packed weekend with awesome people, didn't want to leave this place.

So the next few days I was actually on my own for a bit and headed to Yellowstone National Park and saw all the hot springs and geysers. I got snowed on the entire time I was there but again was beautiful and due to a lot of this park still being closed for winter it was quiet with not many tourists there.

My final stop before heading to Canada was to head west again and go to Portland in Oregon. A lovely city with outside food stands everywhere, lovely little shops, surrounded by beautiful country side. I however got incredibly soaked the entire day but found plenty of cool places to hide out in while the rain did its thing. I then took the country roads heading back to Canada to where this car journey all began. Back to Cawston with the Mutch family, it was like coming home!

Reg (my car) being left safely in the hands of Peggy, I am now back in Seattle getting ready for my flight tomorrow to Fiji for the next part of my adventures.

I want to say a massive thanks to my friends from the UK coming over, you don't know how much that meant to me, and I love you and miss you even more now. I also want to say a huge thanks to all my new friends that joined me or let me stay along the way, you've made my adventure even more fun by letting me share a bit of your world with me. Thanks again to the Mutch family who I miss even more every time I leave them, even though I know I will be back again. Thank you all for everything x