Over the state line and into Colorado. The first person I met just yards from the line was a Nebraskan who gave me a bar of Hershey’s chocolate!

Another good day, 50km. I stopped at the Creekside Tavern in Wray  for a bite to eat.

 As I was parking Nirvana I got talking to a friendly woman called Jane. It’s great to be back in Colorado. I couldn’t hold back my excitement. I promised myself the largest steak I could find but tonight steaks were not on the menu Instead I had a burger and fries. When I went to pay I discovered Jane had already paid my bill!

I went across the road to a small city park. There was a small pedestrian bridge which was in a quiet area. It was a nice evening so I pulled Nirvana under and tucked in under my tarp and sleeping bag for a good nights sleep.

I awoke early to the sound of several emergency vehicles; ambulances, fire engines and police cars making a huge din. There was a dense fog, later I learnt there was a bad crash out on the highway. I decided it was best to let it clear up so it was 11.40am by the time I got going.

My late start was made up by the ferocious tail wind I had. It was easy all the way to Yuma. It was another nice evening so I ended up tarping down behind the Baptist church a little west of town.

On and on I ran. The weather is now very nice. Just a short while ago I was running in the snow, now there is a fire lighting restriction in effect due to the lack of precipitation. in this area.

Stopped in Akron for the night, flashed the Magic Letter  at the Akron Motel and got a $70 room for $25.

It’s 9pm on Saturday night and the town is dead. A local told me here first came here 20 years ago and the place was buzzing. It seems the town planners are too old school. I was told they turned down several opportunities to bring business to town. Even Wal-Marts. Ok Wal-Marts gets a bad rap for driving out local business but here there are no local business.

” Why would they be so anti business? ” I asked.

” Because they want the town to die… They are so set in their ways. ” I was told.

The Colorado prairies were more of what I expected prairies to be.. Flat, flat, flat. I felt like playing the Who’s classic song on my ipod, ‘ I can see for miles and miles.. ‘ PLAY

Nebraska’s prairies had many rolling hills and some people even told me about the hills on their prairies, wondering how I was going to manage!

” Hey I’m Rocky Mountain bound… It’s not a hill… It’s a mountain… ”

Sunday I ran onto Brush, a town I once lived in for about a year in the mid 1990′s.I hardly recognized the place.

The beef industry is hugely important to Brush and nearby Fort Morgan, both towns have a population of only a few thousand.

Dozens of farms provide cows to the local beef plant which in my day was the main source of employment to the Mexican population. Today there is a huge influx of Somali refugees. I have been told the two don’t get on and there are huge tensions between them. I saw my first burqua since leaving Ireland.

I had a very good friend called Gilbert when I lived here. I tried contacting him before arriving but as he didn’t bother too much with computers I just drew a blank. So I went over to my old apartment on Custer Street as Gilbert was the son-in-law of the owner of the complex. Gilbert was the maintenance man there.

I couldn’t remember the owners name even though she was once my landlady. I was not even sure if she still owned the complex.

I was just about to knock on my old door number 2 and ask the current resident. Just then a young man came out of another apartment and jumped on his motor bike and told me her name is Shirley. Yes that rings a bell! He gave me Shirley’s number and I rang her. She just happened to be around the corner at the post office and came over. So I followed her in her car to Cameron Street, about a 5 minute run. Gilbert was working on refurbing another of Shirley’s properties, a 3 bedroom house for his daughter.

So Gilbert phoned Sarge another of our friends who worked with us on Highway 36, a waste disposal plant we helped to construct.

It was great to back catching up on the gossip with old friends. Had I not have met the man on the motor bike I probably would have just shrugged my shoulders and run out of town, funny the way things work out!

Sarge told me a relative of his had just gone to work on the oil rigs up near South Dakota that very day. He has no oil rig experience and is going to get $27 an hour, 12 hours a day, seven days on, can’t remember how many off, they also get $100 a day ‘ show up ‘ money! Some of the rigs a bit closer to the Canadian border get $200 a day ‘show up ‘ money as it is so cold there.

Gilbert got me my first construction job at the Brush power plant. He also got me a job on the rigs, I only lasted there a couple of weeks but that’s another story!

Next day I took a rest day and hung out with John Savoy, another buddy I had lost contact with. John had rented a unit next to me down on Custer Street. He has now retired from the railroad, got his own place paid for and enjoying life even if still listening to the same Ozzy Osborn and Motley Crue music!

That evening I finally got my steak. Went over to Diggers Diner with John. The owner, a runner came out and ended up chatting to us for a couple of hours. He recorded an interview and our dinners were on the house

After all the goodbyes it was 11am before I left Brush. Also got delayed by what else, breakfast! This time John’s ex workmate, think his name is Dan paid for it. John is impressed and wants to hang out more with me till he realizes he would have to run! It seems I have a good fifty percent of my meals paid for! Gets kinda embarrassing!

Then I only got 5 miles down the road and got stopped by a guy called Richard, a reporter for the Fort Morgan Times. He wanted me to go back to his office for the interview but as that was another 5 miles away it would have been dumb. I did the interview in his car and then he did his snapping on the road. Away after another 45 minutes delay. I didn’t really mind as Fort Morgan was the first place I lived in here. READ ARTICLE HERE  I remember arriving, getting off the Greyhound bus and saying just as Jim Carey did in the movie Dumb and Dumber… ” I thought the Rocky Mountains would have been a bit… well rockier! ”

Truth was I didn’t really think too much of it, I remember looking at a map and saying ‘ Fort Morgan altitude 4,220 feet. ‘ And coming from Ireland I said… ” Yes dem are mountains! ” But this is in the  Colorado prairies!

My first job over here was as a copier repair technician which was what I was trained as. That job didn’t quiet work out…But that is a laugh for another day!

Despite the late start I still manage over 50km/31 miles and sleep in a forest. It’s a bit colder here now as I am getting closer to the mountains. I had to get up in the middle of the night to put another sweater on.

West of Wiggins I got stopped by the State Patrol. He ran a full background check. getting a bit annoyed by this as I thought one had to have committed a crime or such before such a check. Two miles later another police car pulls me over. This time it’s an unmarked car. I get talking and he is a nice guy. He tells me he is Irish. He has a typical Irish name. I told this officer that I just got checked out two miles ago.

” So did he say you are good to go!? ”

” I guess, if he let me go! “ I said.

” Have you got an id? ”

I start taking my passport out and then the officer tells me I don’t really have to show it to him as it’s a free country! But it’s up to myself if I want to. I put my passport back in my pocket. He gives me his card… So I will quote him in the future. For a short while I was seriously worried about Colorado becoming a police state.

I ask him to inform the Colorado State patrol about my run across the state and he says he will mention it to his dispatcher.

I stop in the Kersey Inn for a late lunch. It has been about 30 miles since the Wiggins gas station, which makes it one of the longest service -free stretches of my run so far.

For some reason I wheel Nirvana into the restaurant and park her beside my table. A Mexican waitress called Anabel asks me for an autograph and pays for my lunch!

Then I run towards Greally which is a city about the same size as Belfast or Limerick. I have been proud of my success so far at avoiding cities. The only large ones I have run through are Portland, Maine, Albany, NY and maybe Springfield, Mass.

Normally when I get close to a city or big town I change over to running with the traffic at my back as opposed to towards the traffic. The problem with running towards traffic in major built up areas is that the road often widens, separates, so you cant see turn off signs.

Entering Greally I left it too late to change sides and the result was I ended up running down ramps with oncoming traffic coming too close for comfort with little or no shoulder. It was a hair-raising experience to put it mildly.

Eventually I made my way out and after an hour called it a day photographing mile marker 105 which I will return to in the morning.   58.7km/36.5 miles for the day.

I texted my friend Chris Brown who lives in nearby Loveland to pick me up.

Chris was once my boss, owning his own construction company but has always been a great friend. We always got on like a house on fire.. Great to catch up on all the news and gossip of all our mutual friends here in Colorado.

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