There’s no such thing as a decent nights sleep on this tour. The evening of day 67 was no exception. Another tremendous storm hit the overnight stop outside an old post office in Coolidge just after 11pm. This continued through the night at times that I was too weary to remember. It was like being in really bad turbulence at 37,000ft at times in the RV. It was great. Poor Deb got an absolute soaking when she had to close the main door. Thomas just slept through the whole thing. Neither of them heard the train at goodness knows what time. I’m going to miss storms and trains when this is all over.
As I got ready I inspected my feet. My left one had taken on new damage. There was a spectacular flap of skin right across my mid foot. “That’s going to cause some issues soon” I thought.
Taking advantage of the new time zone (mountain time) the team had me fed and driven to the start line by 0545. That was very good considering I’d managed just a little over 5 hours sleep.
The tunes were in full flow during those early miles. I felt like I was in a really good place. Self talk and looking forward to a new state helped massively. As did the tunes featuring Johnny Cash and the like.
Quite a lot of cyclists, all wearing the same kit, went past me as I made my way towards Coolidge.
There wasn’t much to see in Coolidge. This mural did make me smirk however.
Sadly, I passed a deer that had been knocked over at the 7.5 mile point. It was a beautiful creature. I paid my respects with my now customary “Sorry Bow Wow” and a nod of the head. Such a shame but that’s life I suppose. I later found out that Deb and Thomas had driven past it before me. They saw it and thought I might have a bit of a breakdown (as per 2 days ago with Brownie). Deb tried to talk Thomas into dragging the poor animal off the west bound hard shoulder. Jokingly I think. They need not have worried.
After a little over 8 miles, I made it to the end of my time in Kansas. I’d been in this state since the end of the day of June 19th. It was approximately 440 miles from Drexel in the east to the Colorado state line in the west. That’s quite an epic.
There was just time for a quick photo then off I went again.
I’ve seen huge flocks of birds on a couple of occasions today. They hang out around bridges that run over a creek. It’s brilliant to be in amongst them.
I got to Holly, Colorado at mile 12 and saw further evidence that I was in state number 10 on this tour.
I met the team in Holly just after they’d finished in the laundromat. Thomas made me one of his amazing wraps. I had hoped to take a picture of him serving it but he was having a bad hair day. His words not mine. You’ll have to make do with a picture of the wrap.
As I left Holly I spotted a ranch entrance. I haven’t seen a decent one for days.
I met the team at mile 20.5 for some cold tuna/pasta. It went down much better than yesterday’s hot effort. I had a 20 minute tactical snooze. It consisted of 10 minutes of snooze and 10 minutes of checking how much snooze time I had left.
I got back out and spotted an unusual sight at the side of the road.
A little further on I spotted something at the side of the road. It was a plastic Nemo fish. I immediately messaged the team and told them “I’ve caught a fish”.
I said that it will go well with wedges and medicinal peas (remember them?!).
I asked Thomas “Can I do a facebook live of me handing you the fish? You close your eyes and I drop it in your open hands?”. An absolute “no” was his reply. Because of that response and also his bad hair day we’ll just have to rely on AI to show us “what I could have won”.
Meanwhile, Deb and Thomas had managed to get a free waste dump and water refill at End Of The Line RV park in Granada, Colorado. That meant that they could have a shower. To say they use the water in the RV sparingly is an understatement. Mind you, if I knew they were going to be so good at finding water then I’d have longer showers myself.
I met the team at the 27 mile point. It was just for a water refill. I went over to the RV to give Thomas the “fish”. It was in my clenched fist. The look of horror on his face was a picture. He was in the passenger seat and when he saw me approaching, he locked the doors. Hilarious. I slowly revealed the plastic Nemo fish to him and his eyes just rolled. I fell about in hysterics. Oh how I laughed.
At mile 29.5 I needed a bit of a reset. My left foot was hurting badly. I got in the RV, took my shoes off and elevated my feet for 10 minutes.
The small break worked a treat. That, together with the incentive of avoiding some nasty weather kept me going. I was in all kinds of pain in both feet. I just had to push forward however.
And push forward I did. At mile 34, I received a message from Deb asking if I wanted a burger for tea. “Hell yeah” was my reply. As a result, mile 35 was the second quickest of the day.
I finished the day on 35.2 miles. It was a new tour best. From a fitness point of view, it was very straightforward. Mentally, it was quite a challenge from mile 20-30. My poor feet really felt it. There’s a load of new damage. Several blisters. Flaps of skin ready to come off. All of the usual good stuff.
We ended up having a tremendous burger and fries. It was at a place called BJs in Lamar, Colorado. We didn’t know how to order initially. Then we were told to use the telephone on our table. It was like deal or no deal with Thomas acting as Noel Edmonds to phone our order in.
I had to get Thomas to help me get back to the RV after we left the burger place. Goodness only knows how my feet are going to recover in time for tomorrow’s effort.
TUNE OF THE DAY (1): The Gambler - Kenny Rogers (2) Hurt - Johnny Cash (3) Devil's right hand - Johnny Cash
Continued thanks for the donations for St Benedict's Hospice. If you think my efforts are worthy of a donation as I travel across the USA, please visit my JustGiving page:
https://www.justgiving.com/page/rungeordierun2025
