Day 65 - Grant Village, Yellowstone National Park, WY

today FINALLY brought reasonable riding conditions, cloudy with generous breaks of sun and light winds. very nice for riding into Yellowstone National Park. a real morale booster !! awoke today with some lower-back pain, nothing too bad, but not sure where that came from.....  not too many miles today because of the frequent stops for photo ops. absolutely beautiful country and scenery in the park, easily the visual highlight of the tour ! I'll let the (soon to be posted... ) pictures speak for themselves.

we had intended on camping in grant village, but were not allowed by the park rangers due to 'unusually high grizzly bear activity'. didn't need to be told twice on that one !!! had to take up an absurdly expensive room in the village (read that, federally-run place...), but Dana, the discount goddess, made it more palatable.... we picked up pasta and veggies at the village grocery, so we cooked up a fine dinner of pasta primavera down by the lake along with some beers and wine that we kept cold in the snow. NICE!

finally, a fun and rewarding day with the weather and scenery!!

today: 42 miles
to date: 3502

crossing the Continental Divide in Yellowstone National Park, WY

Lewis Falls, Yellowstone National Park, WY

still alot of snow in the high country on the way to Grant Village in Yellowstone National Park

Teton Mountains across from Jackson Lake

Day 64 - Colter Bay, Teton National Park, WY

today's ride from Dubois started out with cloudy skies, chilly temps and you guessed it, more headwinds. we headed out towards Teton National Park; the ride included a pretty long climb over Togwatee Pass, which would bring us back to 9658'  in elevation. light rain kicked in not long into the ride, not doing much for morale, as far as the weather was concerned. as we moved up onto the climb, temps began to drop as the light rain came and went. we began to reach elevations where plenty of snow remained, seeming much more like winter than early June. while my body was staying fairly warm with my wool layers, I wasn't prepared with sufficient winter-conditions thermal protection for hands and toes, and the cold air began to create serious issues. by the time I caught up to Dana at the summit of Togwatee Pass, we were having real concerns with cold and numbness; temps there were in the 30s. good thing neither of us experienced a flat up there because I would not have been able to do anything about it. we headed on down the descent toward the Tetons when we came across a (closed) lodge whose employees were readying the place for summer business. Dana and I stopped in to take refuge from the cold, and the folks there were kind enough to start a fire (yes, in JUNE !!) for us to thaw out. we laid out all our wet clothes to dry while we waited for Josh, who arrived soon after. once we warmed up, we headed out to finish the descent, the bottom of which brought us more rain for the last 10 miles to colter bay, where we planned to camp for the night. with the rain and clouds, our views of the approaching Teton peaks were obscured considerably.  we got to the camping area, set up camp and went to the laundry/shower facility for a hot shower to warm up and dry our wet clothes (again). we were not too pleased to be charged $3.75 for a shower on top of the campground fee. GRRR. welcome to a federal facility. with dry clothes, we went across the street to the restaurant for a not-so-happy hour beer. we had picked up some pasta and veggies that morning to cook for dinner, and the restaurant manager was nice enough to let us cook outside and eat inside, so that was cool. headed back to settle in for a sleep in the light rain. a tough cold day. really wishing for a day of decent conditions for a change....

I experienced some bike issues as well during the day. it seemed the new brake pads I installed in rawlins were of a rubber compound not at all suited for wet and cold conditions; the rear pads wore almost completely down during the ride today, which made the descent from Togwatee Pass especially worrisome. made it down to colter village safely, but with white knuckles... will have to replace them at the next bike shop location in West Yellowstone....


today: 70 miles
to date: 3460

enjoying a late beer while drying and thawing at Colter Bay, Teton National Park, WY

Day 63 - Dubois, WY

The Debacle of Debois

today's ride, quite simply, was the single hardest day of cycling in my 15 years of riding. stiff headwinds ALL DAY of 20-30 with gusts that left me stuggling to maintain 5 mph much of time, and requiring hard effort to pedal downhill on descents that should otherwise have been sweet coasting. deeper into the ride, the otherwise very boring wastelands of Wyoming finally offered some scenic rockscapes for some good photo ops. the push into Dubois took all I had physically and left me emotionally drained and frustated. a very tough day, but I felt good about grinding it out. today's ride was as hard on me as any of the 5 Ironman triathlons I've done. MUCH harder work with a loaded touring rig than a road machine !!  really feeling negative abouth the Wyoming experience, thus far....

today: 77
to date: 3392

on the way to Dubois, WY

Day 62 - Lander, WY

a sunny morning and a fine breakfast at the split rock bar & cafe. faye must be a morning person because her demeanor was far friendlier. winds were once again very uncooperative, mostly stiff headwinds, so we were looking at another tough grind, today toward lander, WY.

the landscape in wyoming thus far has been quite unimpressive, and the population centers boring and forgettable. with the daily harsh winds that require pedaling downhill to maintain speed (which is quite demoralizing after a while...), Wyoming is not doing anything for me at all.

the final stretch into Lander offered a bit more visually pleasing landscape and finally some diminished winds, and the town itself a more active and appealing welcome. so, with the traditional happy hour of local microbrews and a yummy pizza, Wyoming finally offered some redemption to an otherwise poor impression.

today: 66 miles
to date: 3315

camp in Lander, WY

Day 61 - Jeffrey City, WY

awoke to a cloudy cool morning with light SW winds. planned a 65+ mile route on hwy 287, on which we will stay into montana. the route was generally (and mercifully) flat, with a few very gentle climbs. as we rode along, we came upon a young man named Adam from Maryland who was WALKING across the United States !! we stopped to visit with him before moving along. Dana and I enjoyed some nice taiwinds and descents up until the 45 mile mark before making a turn more towards the NW which gave us a nice healthy dose of, you guessed it, stiff headwinds. we grinded the last 22 miles into Jeffrey City, WY. this place is a former uranium mining town turned ghost town. I mean, GHOST town. seemed like a place out of a Stephen King novel; lawn sprinklers going off in deserted fields of tall weeds, a school seemingly deserted but landscape somewhat manicured. strangely empty town. nothing at all here but a bar with whose owner had a scowling and surly way about her. she served us beers grudgingly.

after setting up camp, Josh and I found a bunch of wood to make a camp fire, so that with a dinner of garlic mashed potatoes and orzo with tuna made a decent ending to an otherwise lukewarm day ....

today: 69 miles
to date: 3249

split rock bar & cafe, the only sign of life in Jeffery City, WY

this is Adam, whose coast-to-coast walkabout left me feeling like a slacker for being on a bike ! very impressive trek !

Day 60 - Rawlins, WY

late wake-ups, tired bodies, a flat on dana's bike and stiff winds all contributed to a decision to take the day off in Rawlins.

dana got us an amazing deal on a hotel room to share. she has been routinely awesome getting discounts at camp sites along the way.  so, for her efforts, she gets the Priceline-Ain't-Got-Nothin'-on-Me Award.

i took the opportunity to day to perform bike maintenance on all of our bikes, including changing out brake pads and cleaning drivetrains. for that, i'm giving myself the tour Grease-Monkey Award.


today: 0 miles

Day 59 - Rawlins, WY

another sunny and chilly rocky mountain morning. winds were mellow so we got going before things got nasty again like yesterday. made our way to Saratoga for a stop and a dip in the hot springs, and I mean hot!! after, had a fine tail/cross wind for about 20 miles until we reached I-80, on which we would ride (legally here..) for 20 miles toward rawlins. well, as I say, if you wanna play, you gotta pay, and pay we did. we turned into a headwind as nasty as yesterday's, 20-30 with gusts. Dana and I took turns pulling to share the work. Josh was bringing up the rear on his own; he is carrying his gear on a trailer vs. panniers, so he can't ride as fast. good thing this headwind stretch was only 20 miles, because it wore us out. reached rawlins to find just about everything closed. sucked. found our campground and a bar open nearby for a place to eat. nothing impressive about this town. nothing open, near the interstate and train tracks, meaning noise all night. looking forward to the next destination as we progress toward the tetons and then yellowstone.

today: 73 miles
to date: 3180

hot mineral springs, Saratoga, WY

hot mineral springs, saratoga, WY