Day 5 – Pagosa Springs to Trinidad – 217.7 miles

What a huge day for the Flying Scotsman! He nailed 3 huge mountain climbs, including Wolf Creek, an  8 mile vertical monster. Mickey worked very hard, and was very rugged up given the climb finished well above the snowline in the thin air at altitude. We were very proud of him - he is a real tough sod!

The team was really pumped with the effort he put in, and Greg could claim he did hill reps at altitude by running a number of short sections with Mickey to keep him company and supply food, drinks, and great motivational speeches! We were all in awe of the stunning scenery and snakelike road with snow, switchbacks ascending rapidly from the mountain floor.

Mickey seemed to enjoy the rapid descent, rugging up further to protect against the cold wind at speed and with tyres pumped up to within an inch of their life. The road flattened out at the Rio Grande river and town of Southfork, and we all agreed we’d love to come back. Stan’s thinking of getting an investment property at South Fork, but will re-do his sums when we said we will all come and camp on his floor with all of our friends, for free, for big chunks of the year!

Ripley’s Believe it or Not have also been called after Dave, Mickey and Greg needed to visit nature well away from the road and as the last person to visit nature, Greg discovered one of Dave or Mickey passed a banana skin doing a “No.1”.  Hmmmm.

The big mountains opened out into highland plains and big wide ranges. We passed through a number of small towns at speed as Mickey enjoyed a great tailwind as a reward for the tough climb at Wolf Creek. We even passed a hotel where the rooms had giant windows, which all faced a giant outdoor screen – yes a Hotel Movie Theatre! You stay in your room and watch the big screen out your window. We also passed Boogies Café, with take-out or dine in. We all passed on that one!

As we approached alongside the Great Sand Dunes National Park, Celine thought she’d test the sand out by parking the car in the sand and getting it bogged. Perhaps best stick to your hairdresser car Celine!

Mickey took on another big climb and it really took it out of him and he needed a good rest with food and a quick 30min sleep. He was a little disoriented but after rest and working through any concerns the team had, decided to push onto the next climb, the last of the day. Mickey work very hard and was smart in tackling the mountain in sections at a time, resting when he needed to and taking on board plenty of food and drink from the MicRooCrew whom were always only metres away. He was simply fantastic.

There was a quick descent into Trinidad, a town in the mid-west of the USA -  famous for it’s steel drums, great beaches and fast bowlers???? On the descent  Dave had a bear run across the road in front of the RV, and saw a skunk, as well as claiming a bob-cat sighting. Mr Wildlife!

Trinidad was a welcome relief after a long hard day for Mickey and the MicRooCrew. Mickey had taken the mountains of Colorado,  done extremely well and could now relax at lower altitudes. He bounded into the RV after midnight with a “Hi Ho Mr Wallace”, demonstrating he was in good spirits.  We now have a routine at the end of the day where we write on a small whiteboard a selection of messages of support and motivation from home and leave it in Mickey’s room for him to read as he collapses into bed.  He went to bed exhausted but with a big smile, with increasingly less soreness on his bum, less soreness on his feet and all-over.  We were really happy for him and it lifted the whole team.