Up at 6am this morning…the concrete floor in the church was hard last night even with the air mattress. 65 this morning sunny and no wind….let’s hope that holds out for a while.
7:40am and 13 miles in the sun is shining but it’s cold…fingers too stiff to type this. Feel like I’m in the twilight Zone out here…. every time I come over a rise in the road I just see more road for miles and miles—not many people live in this part of Wyoming—just a lot of cows and antelope.
Stopped at Sweetwater Station rest stop to fill my water bottles and get a little break from the wind. It started blowing just before 8am coming out of the west and I’m headed west—I posted a pic of the flags at the rest stop to give you an idea just how hard the wind was blowing. This wind is killing me…..it is completely draining and demoralizing….I feel like I’ve been fighting it since Kansas. Makes me want to look for the nearest airport, get on a plane and go home. Give me a thunderstorm any day over this wind. Ok, complaining over….I have to keep reminding myself that it’s all part of the experience…no one said this was going to be a walk in the park—and it isn’t 🙂
51 miles in stopped at twin pines RV park for some much needed refreshments….sneakers bar, cheese and crackers, V8, and Diet Coke. Feeling rundown and sapped of energy…the wind is really sucking everything out of me….but I will not let it beat me!!!
In Lander Wy….a nice town. Checked into the Pronghorn Inn (seems everything out here has pronghorn or antelope in Its name) at 1:30pm. Stopping here for the day for three reasons….one, there is nothing between here and Dubois 75 miles away and I can’t do 75 more miles today, two I’m really tired—need to recharge by batteries, and three I saw this hotel as I entered town and the thought of a comfortable bed, some rest, and a hot shower tonight was just too much for me to pass up.
Going to take the afternoon to relax, hydrate, take a nap, do some maintenance on my bike, and recharge. I didn’t sleep well on the concrete floor of the church basement last night.
I ate a late lunch at a bar in town—turkey sandwich, fries, and order of hot wings. Then went to the bike shop across the street (amazed it was open on Sunday) and bought a new pair of socks to replace the pair I’ve worn holes in, and a pair of comfortable full finger gloves to replace the useless ones I have.
Went back to the hotel and took a shower, washed my cloths (getting pretty good at washing my cloths in a sink 🙂 and took a great two hour nap then got up and cleaned/oiled my bike chain and peddles—my clip-in peddles have springs and moving parts in them that have been squeaking for the past couple days and have been annoying me, so they needed a good cleaning and oiling.
About 6:30 went to the hotel restaurant and had the worst meatloaf I’ve ever eaten in my life—tasted and looked like it came straight out of a cheap TV dinner…you know, the old school kind with the aluminum foil you put in the oven (not a microwave) then peel off after it’s done without burning yourself. Ate a couple bites and hope it doesn’t make me sick. I love cracker barrel meatloaf so had that in mind when I ordered—bad choice!
Went to the gas station/market across the street and picked up orange juice, V8, Diet Coke, and a turkey sandwich for breakfast tomorrow. Plan to hit the road early tomorrow hopefully feeling like Lance Armstrong again…this afternoon I was feeling like a little whipped puppy 🙂
My plan for the next two days are to make it to Dubois tomorrow—75 Miles and probably a lot of the same scenery as the past few days—just miles and miles of road with mountains off in the distance. Currently, I’ve dropped back down to about 5,300 feet. Tomorrow will be climbing all day to Dubois at around 7,000 feet, so will be a tough day….especially if the wind decides to punish me again.
Then the day after tomorrow my plan is to make it to Colter Bay Village…that should be a big change in scenery for the better. Colter Bay is by Jackson Lake at the Grand Teton National Park….should be some stunning scenery. I’ll have to climb over Togwotee Pass at 9,658 feet to get there.
Wednesday, I’ll enter Yellowstone National Park and haven’t figured out how I’ll work my way through there yet—I’ve heard traffic is a nightmare, but we’ll see….not sure where I’ll be spending 4th of July night, but will be traveling through Yellowstone during the day of the 4th.
Felt tired and beat at the end of the ride today, but feeling much better now having the afternoon to recover and relax a bit. Here’s hoping for a good day tomorrow—the weather is calling for a high of 86 and sunny all day, so should be good.
