The land from Riverton to Dubois, where we currently are, is seemingly straight out a Louis L'Amour novel, towering red cliffs and buttes, dry sandy scrub land, jittery prong antelope making an occasional appearance. Despite the romantic appeal of being in this region, romance was not present iin quest to go west, burning legs and mangled spirits awaited.
The first forty miles went by easy, Titus had given a 5 mile boost out of town and we enjoyed a long gradual decent into river valley. We knew that we would be climbing a few thousand feet today, but it would be over seventy or so miles, easy we thought. The wind was almost still allowing us to keep a good pace without much discomfort. Around 30 miles in, we noticed another biker. He pulled over to greet us and we had a good conversation for around 10 minutes. This man, I did not get his name, flew from Britain to cycle across the states. He started in Oregon in April. After saying our adieus, we cycled on. The terrain was quite desolate, save the small homes down long drives whose yards were filled with rusting cars and buses. We had water for about 40 miles, but because of the heat, we were drinking it fast. Luckily a gas station was up ahead. Seeing that it was noon, we ate ourselves full with gas station microwave burgers and burritos. Since I could not text or call jackie, I decided to do something I have only done a few times in my life, send a post card. I picked out the post card, bought a stamp ( one which the clerk was not sure would cover it), and wrote a lovely note detailing my day and how I can't wait to get home. I was proud that I was using such "outdated" methods, and felt somewhat nostalgic about using "snail mail". It was not until 20 miles later, that I would realize that for the post card to actually get to Jackie, an address was needed. When I thought of this, I figuratively kicked myself. At least now, the mail man has a nice post card and note to keep.
While at the gas station, the wind had begun to pick up. We had not noticed previously that the entire valley we were in was notorious for wind, particulary westerly winds coming down from the mountains. Th word "wind" was posted every where, from gas stations, to rest stops, to even the name of the river our path was following up hill. We not only had to contend with the wind, but also the climbing. While it was not steep, our legs and lungs could definitively feel it. Normally, relief could be had the crest of a hill, letting gravity do the work to bring you down. However, the wind was so strong that we would have to pedal down hill to even keep acceptable pace. quite aggravating. We countered this with frequent rest stops, manic and primal yelling, the occasional profanity ( applied to me at least) and constantly reminding ourselves how much worse the windy day in Nebraska was. In all, we climbed up to 7,000 feet to the town of Dubois. Pulling into town we found a restaurant and each managed to eat a personal 12 inch pizza. We found a campground, which is overpriced but at least has a shower and free WiFi, modern day necessities. A few lots down, some other guys are biking from NY to Homer, AK and making a documentary about the trip. I would like to chat with them but it is quite late now. Anyways, that is just a glimpse of what happened today. If you want complete picture of each day, just sit on a bike and imagine pedaling for hours and hours, and make sure to include random and chronic pains. Yes, it sounds more painful than fun, which at times it is, but that in my mind is the adventure, the meat of a living narrative. So long for now. Tomorrow we home to cross the continental divide which means hours of climbing. We hope to make it to Jackson, WY.
While at the gas station, the wind had begun to pick up. We had not noticed previously that the entire valley we were in was notorious for wind, particulary westerly winds coming down from the mountains. Th word "wind" was posted every where, from gas stations, to rest stops, to even the name of the river our path was following up hill. We not only had to contend with the wind, but also the climbing. While it was not steep, our legs and lungs could definitively feel it. Normally, relief could be had the crest of a hill, letting gravity do the work to bring you down. However, the wind was so strong that we would have to pedal down hill to even keep acceptable pace. quite aggravating. We countered this with frequent rest stops, manic and primal yelling, the occasional profanity ( applied to me at least) and constantly reminding ourselves how much worse the windy day in Nebraska was. In all, we climbed up to 7,000 feet to the town of Dubois. Pulling into town we found a restaurant and each managed to eat a personal 12 inch pizza. We found a campground, which is overpriced but at least has a shower and free WiFi, modern day necessities. A few lots down, some other guys are biking from NY to Homer, AK and making a documentary about the trip. I would like to chat with them but it is quite late now. Anyways, that is just a glimpse of what happened today. If you want complete picture of each day, just sit on a bike and imagine pedaling for hours and hours, and make sure to include random and chronic pains. Yes, it sounds more painful than fun, which at times it is, but that in my mind is the adventure, the meat of a living narrative. So long for now. Tomorrow we home to cross the continental divide which means hours of climbing. We hope to make it to Jackson, WY.
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