Day #20, Casper to Lusk WY

Today was predicted to be another long day, with 107 miles and a headwind. The strong wind did not arrive as expected and we dodged a bullet. I started out by myself at 6:30 am and caught the group of  Bob, Deb. Linda and Jeff. I rode with them the rest of the morning and we were flying at over seventeen miles an hour. They stopped for a long lunch and I headed on with John Nixon to do the last forty miles. It was slower and we had a little wind but we made it into Lusk about 2:15 pm. The city of Lusk was holding their annual Rawhide Day Parade and it passed right by our Motel. Tonight we had a pizza party at the motel for dinner, we devoured them in a matter of minutes and then walked over and had ice cream at the drive-in next door.

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Day #19, A day off in Casper WY

Lets see, what to do on your day off. Remember you don't have a car, you just rode 120 miles yesterday, you may not want to subject yourself to riding a bike, so you are limited to maybe a ten block radius from the hotel if you are walking. I managed to walk to a bike shop with Marian, Al and Warren, three quarters of the Braselton TX quartet, and bought a CamelBak to carry more water on the bike. Hung out with the guys for a while at the bike shop, went to lunch at the Wonder Bar with Max, Barry and Jeff and had a great burger and onion rings. Hung out at the hotel for a while and watched tennis on TV. In the evening I went to a Casper Cutthroats Baseball game with a TJ, Dave, Lauran and Marian. We had to explain a few things to Dave, one of the Brits on the trip, but he picked things up quickly. We will refer to him as a resident of Iowa for the rest of the trip. Its back to riding on Saturday and the forecasts are for wind from the east again, so it could be another hard day on the road.

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Day #18, Riverton to Casper WY, Wind can be your friend, but not today

We had 120 miles to ride today, you look at the map and the elevation profile the night before and start calculating how long you expect to be on the road. My estimates were way off due to the brutal wind we encountered starting around the first SAG stop at mile 30. We were generally headed up hill for those 30 miles and I averaged at least 15 mph. The winds kicked in and my speed began to plummet. During the second half the ride while going downhill I was barely able to average 12 mph. It made for a long ten hour day in the saddle, and many of us joked at dinner that we still felt like we were sitting on our bike seats. Some of the slower riders were caught in a hail storm as they approached Casper, they said it was quite an experience, and proved to be a big motivational factor as they sped to the Ramada Inn. There was one interesting attraction along the route today, "Hell's Half Acre", its a canyon that groups of Indians herded Bison off the cliff's to their death. I also saw a couple Antelope and was able to do  a quick draw of my camera and capture one in a picture. Well its a rest day on Friday, we will see what fifty bikers can find to do with a day off in the big city.

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Day #17, Dubois to Riverton WY

We left the cowboy town of Dubois before 8:00 this morning and were treated to a new flavor of scenery, Red Rock Mountains. We were all "rubber necking" and stopping for pictures as we cruised to the first SAG stop. Todays elevation profile was in our favor, as it was a gradual downhill slope, we had the added benefit of a tail wind for the first 30 miles, but the winds shifted as the day heated up to a headwind. We passed the site of a major Indian battle at Crowheart Butte in 1866 between the Shoshone and Crow on our route. There was only one town along the route today, Kinnear (population 44), so we were pretty isolated with very little traffic. It was in the 90's according to competing bank thermometers as we arrived in Riverton. I joined my riding partners for the day, John Nixon from Texas and Vern Johnson from Tulsa, and headed for the local Dairy Queen as we hit town about 1:00 pm. Luggage was already unloaded as we arrived at the Comfort Inn, so after a quick shower and a load of laundry, I am ready for another long day on Thursday as we ride 121 miles to Casper WY. We will have earned our second rest day of the trip in Casper.


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Day #16, Jackson to Dubois WY

The plan for today was to go even higher into the mountains, we would cross the continental divide at Togwotee Pass (9658 ft of elevation). First Richard Carey and I headed out of Jackson on a brand new bike path that took us into Grand Teton National Park. THE VIEWS WERE SPECTACULAR. Pictures don't do the scenery justice. I saw a small heard of Bison grazing off the road. We rode through the park and to our first SAG stop just outside the park boundary. There we loaded our bikes on the van for a short shuttle through some road construction, and then I continued on up the mountain with John Nixon from Texas. The gradient was not as extreme as yesterdays 10%, but the views were. Stopped at the top for some documentation photos and started down the other side. We had thirty miles of downhill, that I rode at an average of about 23 mph, on our way to the small cowboy town of Dubois. This place is right out of the 19th century or Cowboy movie set with wooden sidewalks, and hitching posts. Elk antlers as an architectural accent are everywhere. Not to mention, I saw the world famous Jackalope.

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Day #15, Lets be careful

Last night one of our riders (Mike White from Davenport Iowa) was taken to the hospital in Idaho Falls by an ambulance and later had heart surgery (quadruple bypass). He came through surgery OK, and his wife was on her way to Idaho Falls this morning. That is the third Mike to be injured on this trip. Today was supposed to be the "Signature Ride" of our trip, we would cross into Wyoming and over the Teton Pass (8431 ft) on our way to Jackson. 90 miles with 5000+ feet of climbing. We kept Mike in our thoughts and prayers as we rode up and over the mountain. I made it to the top and road every inch of the way. While descending down into Jackson, another of our riders, Thomas crashed, and broke his pelvis and sacrum. We all need to be more careful as we continue our ride. I promise I will. Tonights dinner was at Bubba's Barbecue in Jackson, the beef brisket was great and I finished it off with Pecan Pie w/Vanilla Ice Cream. We had a serious safety discussion at our map meeting tonight.

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Day #14, Pocatello to Idaho Falls

We started today at 6:00am with a hearty breakfast at the Best Western in Pocatello, we were joined at breakfast by both firefighters and families displaced by the fires near here. Breakfast was followed by a Bike Safety Check at 7:00. I had a loose spoke and gear cassette that needed attention which Bud and Mike took care of before the start of todays ride at 8:00. I rode part of the day with Ray Black from London, who is doing our ride in support of a charity, today the charity is holding a large bike ride in England to raise money, Ray will be there in spirit as he rides in Idaho. Ray also still owes me for doing his laundry one night early in our trip, I will let it go for now until I have a huge load for him to do. I also rode with Laural who also grew up in Michigan and graduated from Western Michigan University. Another Western grad is also on the trip, Mike from Florida, (who suffered a crash on day #2). What are the odds of three Western grads out of 50 riders? We were blessed with favorable winds today as we headed to Idaho Falls. We seemed to zig-zag across the country side, but the winds seemed to be at our backs 98% of the time. We stopped along the Snake River so that Al could take a swim, he assured us that he was an experienced cold water swimmer before he dove in. I finished todays ride with Mimi and Polly a couple of retired school teachers from Colorado and Richard Carey from New York. Richard is also doing the ride in support of legalizing gay marriage.

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