Glad you found your cat. I have 2 stories:
1. Years ago we had a yellow tabby named Taffy. She was an outside cat only. We had to go away for a few months so hubby could train for new job before moving to another town. We left her enough food for the time we were gone hoping she would be OK. When we returned to actually move we could not find her to take her with us. On the last trip to the house we sold, hubby tried one more time to find her and went to an old barn just down the road from our house and stopped and called her and waited. Just as he was getting into the truck because he did not think she was coming back, he saw her coming out of the woods. We had her at our new home for 4 years until we moved to FL. We gave her to a friend of my daughters who lived on a farm and she stayed there until she died of old age.
2. My current cat, Bailey was an indoor/outdoor cat for many years in Orlando. He would go out at night and be home in the AM. At one point he would not come back in the AM but would eventually show up later in the day or next AM. Then he did not return for days. I finally gave up, thinking he had been hit by a car or in a fight he did not win. I threw out his bowls and gave his leftover food away. Then after 14 days he showed up in the AM just like always---fat and sassy as ever. He has stayed home ever since and now seldom goes out of doors. He had one fight too many and almost lost his life and cost 1000.00 to treat his infections. So at age 14 he is a lazy, fat house cat!