June 18,2017

We left the Hilton, at Jeffrey City, at 5:50 A.M.  For some reason both of us were awake a little after 4:00 in the morning.  I suspect it had something to do with the accommodations, as well as the texts that I received at 4:00 A.M.

The first 17 miles were as peaceful as anything I have ridden so far.  There was no traffic and the wind was nonexistent.  It was cold though.  In fact, we looked like Eskimos when we left.
Since the Hilton did not provide breakfast, we stopped several times to eat some bars that we had.  At about the 17 mile mark, the wind was all of a sudden in our face.  Wind in the face of a bike rider is like an evil spirit; you can't see it, yet you can sure feel it.  We battled the wind for the next forty miles.  In fact at times all we could do was about 8 miles an hour.  I kept thinking we have 67 miles to cover, and at that pace we will be on the road a long time.


We had two major passes to climb today.  In fact, we crossed the continental divide twice.  The first climb was over 10 miles long with a 4 percent grade.  The second climb was 5 miles long, with part of it being over a 6 percent grade.  I stopped several time to catch my breath on that climb.  With the climate being dryer than before, I have struggled a bit with the elevation.


At one point today, Jeremy said, “we thought we were in the middle on nowhere yesterday. Wrong!  Today we are in the middle of nowhere.”  It is really difficult to put into words how remote we are.  All we saw today was mountains covered with sand and scrub brush.  We did get pretty close to pronghorn along the way. In fact Jeremy was within 50 feet of a pretty good size pronghorn. 
Tonight we have a great motel in Rawlins, Wyoming.  David Troyer, a friend of mine owns and operates several Choice Motels, has given me the ability to stay in any Choice Motel at significantly reduces rate.  That has been such a gift on this trip.  Otherwise, we might need to find something similar to last nights accommodations.

Tomorrow is a big day.  It will be the longest day so far.  We are still trying to figure out which is the best route to take.  We could take the interstate, which covers 97 miles, or we could take 30 which covers 124 miles.  The intestate seems to make sense, yet you can expect to have flats.  Either way it will be a tough day.


It is good to be alive!

for some reason this picture didn't come through



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