MAKING A COUPLE OF PASSES
Next day I ran up Trout Creek Pass, elevation 2,848 m / 9,346 ft. It had been a lovely day running down Red Hill along US 285/20.
What I remembered and loved so much from living in Colorado were the beautiful blue skies I woke up to every morning. It did not matter if it snowed all night or it was in the middle of winter, by 8 am the sky was always clear blue. None of that dreary grey sky we get all the time in Ireland.
I also remembered working in construction here. I was working on a log house decking. It was December and the fields were full of snow. By noon I would be working in a tee-shirt, so intense was the sunlight due to the altitude here being closer to the sun. But the down side was that once that sun dropped behind a mountain just after 3.30pm there was a sharp decrease in the temperature in just a few minutes. I camped in San Isobel National Park at the top of Trout Creek Pass.
Back on the road just outside Johnsons Village I met a cyclist from Galviston, Texas who was on his way north for some good weather.
On his two pannier racks he had small blue crates into which he put his baggage. He had them secured to the frame with a couple of locks and chains. He also had an aerodynamic windshield with flashlights taped behind the shield as a make shift head light.
His name was Richard and he loved the fact that he could tell his grand kids.. ‘ This month it will be Montana. ‘
Though he was on the road for only a month he stopped to work for a week in Buena Vista pawn shop for $10 an hour. I think he had to pay $20 a night towards his motel.
” The man in the pawn shop is always hiring but for me a week is enough and its time to make tracks again. ”
Later I was stopped by Warren a retired prison officer, his wife Jenny and their son Mike. They had seen me a few times on the road in the last few days. Now that I was on their home turf of Naththrop they decided to see what I was up to. They gave me an invite back to their house for the night but first they had to go to Poncha Springs on business. No problem to me I loaded Nirvana into the back of their pickup and said I would see them in a couple of hours. Total strangers and I am loading my trip away into their truck!
I ran very hard for those two hours ending the day at 49km when my hosts came along.
April 18th, 2011 at 7:24 pm
Hi Tony,
Nice little article, enjoyed reading as usual. Take care Ann