Another long train journey over (19 hours this time!), we stepped out into the crisp Denver air, Matt still in shorts though perhaps starting to regret it! It had recently snowed.

Denver was nice enough, a pretty little place, but our main purpose for being there was to see Angela. Sadly this was not to be! We tried to hunt her down but our lack of foresight in the matter of bringing a phone number meant it was futile.

We stayed in the Hostel of the Rockies which was 8 blocks away from where it should have been and would have been more accurately named the Hostel of the Rocky Horror Show. It was dire even for our budget tastes! Made us feel quite proud of our DIY disasters at home by comparison. The darkness, dirtiness and general creepiness of all inhabitants was not helped by the fact that it was Halloween and horror movies seemed to be the choice of the day.

We had some nice wanders in Denver, upgraded to another branch of the hostel which was in the owner's house. Bizarre! Very friendly but slightly unnerving to find all cupboards full of her belongings..rather like staying with a welcoming but frightening aunt you never knew you had. We even left with a pot of homemade apple chutney (Father Townsend, be proud).

Matt was very pleased with a night we spent in a restaurant/bar run by ESPN, the sports channels. As we ate we watched a total of 13 screens all showing different games, and had our own private leather booth with it's own screen. Oh the joy of a country that shows basketball on TV!

Without Angela we rather felt that Denver's best was missing so we made arrangements to head south - in a free car! AutoDriveaway does exist and is a very splendid arrangement! Thelma and Louise eat your heart out (without the ending hopefully!).