Airport

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Another 3 days to catch up on as we head south west through the Rockie Mountains.

From Medicine Bow we did a short but lumpy 58 to Saratoga - another 1 horse town but with a thermal spring as the main (only) attraction.  For reasons we can only guess at the town has a sodding great airport with lots of smart business jets.  While in town I took a bath in the horse trough and ended up spending the night in jail.


For our next delight we rode to Walden, Colorado.  Our joy in crossing another state line was significantly blunted by the fact that virtually every one of the 67 miles was uphill and we had fair old headwind.  To make matters worse we experienced our first rain of the trip, with accomapmyimg low temperatures.  For me it was probably the hardest day yet (at 6' 4" I am really not optimised for headwinds!).  The high point of a pretty low day was seeing Bald Eagles sitting on telegraph poles along the sides of the road.



Walden turned out to be yet another 1 horse town and, whilst everyone got fed, haute cuisine has yet to make it there! 

Today was much easier, despite being 78 miles and with a pass that topped out at over 9500 feet.  After several weeks at altitude we are all so full of red blood cells that they leak out of every orifice and make a horrible mess on the carpets.  The day started cold (gloves, coats, overshoes) but the 32 mile climb was almost a pleasure, and the 17 mile descent on the other side genuinely WAS a pleasure.  Even a short shower in the afternoon couldn't dampen our spirits


We are now in Kremmling which may have 2 or 3 horses and........another ruddy great airport.  If anyone knows why these tiny places need jet runways please drop me a postcard.

Tomorrow is a very big day in every sense of the word.  We will climb for 67 miles to Hoosier Pass......at over 11500 feet it is the physical high point of the trip.  Gulp.


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