Glenwood Springs, CO. Now this was a nice place to spend a few days. The sulphorous hot springs were long used by the Ute Indians as a place of relaxation, as were the subterranean steam baths, set deep in anceint caves.

Some of the Wild West's most colorful characters have left there mark here, notablly Dr John R "Doc Holiday", famous for joining forces with Whyatt Erp in the OK Corral (see photo below). Also buried here is Kid Curry, a member of Butch Cassidy's gang.

I spent 3 nights at the local YHA (hello to Clare and all the troops!) The second day I hired a fully-suspensioned mounatin-bike and took it back country behind the big mountain range, only to get lost and wind up some old fire trail. The views were incredible, and the solidarity was even better! Coming downhill was fun - especially after pushing by bike up the incredibly steep hills for 6 hours. I must admit I was not steady on my wheels, and there a few times the front wheel would dig in and catapult me into kingdom-come. It was just like being a kid again. Fortunatly no major injuries (apart from a bruised ego and sore ribs from laughing too hard), but thanks for your concern anyway ;-)

The second night I met Alison, a mountain climber from the Bluies. Poor Alison hardly had time to put her bags down before i dragged her off on a 3 hour hike to the top of a nearby ridge!! We soon because hiking and drinking buddies, and the next day we hitched a ride with Scott (Keep Away from The Light ;-) to Aspen. Before we knew it, we were trekking up a road to an old silver mine. What a climb - the view from the top of the mounatin at 3905m was out of this world. Truely breathtaking. And i have thousands of photos to prove it!! And to think that we would have missed this view if we had caught the bus! Hey guys - I am still waiting for the photos to come back - so hang in there. I'll send em asap!

It was then ontoD enver by slow train again. 3 hours late, i didnt arrive into Denver until 12pm, leaving me bugger all time to find a place to stay. And if it was't for Scott and Sheila I think i'd be sleeping at the station. I met this awesome couple at Glenwood Springs station and quickly began swapping stories of beating our little brothers up and getting the subsequent belting with various cooking implements!!! I ended up grabbing a room at their hotel which although cost a load, it gave me a nice comfy bed and a HOT CLEAN SHOWER. Yee haw. Money well spent.

Unfortunately it was a rushed farewell for us on the day of our departure. Scott, Shiela and myself had prepared ourselves for a "full-buffet" breakfast only to be confronted with a few muslei crumbs, cold coffee and some stale bread. We battled through breakfast and conversation (I was rapidly losing my voice after screaming from the top of the 4000m rock the day before), and figured we'd catch the early shuttle to the airport rather than kick around in an empty hotel lobby. It was then I read my plane ticket - it was not a 3:00pm departure as I thought, but a 10:30am take-off. The ride to the airport was fun, especially after Scott happily told the other commuters about my plight - all funny for those not involved! But anyway, missed the plane, got rebooked easily, and arrived into Washington 45 minutes late.