Pedaling Parson

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 ...

June 17, 2017 Lander was a great town to stay in.  It had restaurants and an active downtown area.  Most of the towns that we end up staying in have less than 1000 people in the whole town. After eating a good breakfast in a nearby restaurant, we left our motel at about 7:30.  It was cold this morning with an overcast sky.  We did not see the sun very much today.   The wind was almost nonexistent when we started.  Traffic was very light.  It did not take long and we began to climb.  It seemed like we spent a lot of the day climbing.  One hill we climbed was over 10 miles long.  We had several 2 and 3 mile climbs.   Several times we stopped just to see where we came from.  You could see for 50 to 60 miles.  The sights were amazing.  At one point Jeremy said, “we are absolutely in the middle of nowhere.”  That seems to have been the case over the last 1200 miles.  We are so rem...

June 16, 2017 It sure was a great sight when Jeremy pulled into the hotel before 6:00p.m. last evening.  From the Jackson airport to Dubois, he had over a 14-mile average.  With the 26-mile climb to an elevation of over 9600 feet, that is amazing!  Eric Yoder, I would like to see you do that.  After a pretty good night of sleep, we were up early, and headed out for breakfast.  We walked about three blocks to a small café where locals seemed to congregate.  The breakfast was good, but the conversation was great.  Dubois is a restocking town for hikers on the Continental Divide Trail.  The locals talk about the fact the Togwotee Pass area is the most rugged of the entire trail.  The trail goes from Bannf, Alberta, to the Mexico boarder.  I ran into a few hikers the other day, and they seemed to be from a different planet.  Riding bike for over 3000 miles is one thing, hiking that rugged trail is another.  We le...

June 14, 2017 What a day!!   We left Moran Junction about 8:00 a.m.   It was pretty cool, and clouds covered over the tops of the mountains.   Every now and then, the sun would peek through the cloud cover.   From Moran Junction, we had 26 miles to the top of the Togwotee Pass.    There are few services in those 26 miles.   In fact, there are few services from Moran Junction to Dubois, where we are staying tonight.   We began climbing almost right away.   The grade was not significant, yet it soon warmed you up.   We would put on layers of clothes, and then we would take off layers of clothes.   The weather was sort of confusing.   In fact, at one point we road through sleet/snow which was really cold. About ten miles in, the climb really started.   We did not realize that the worst of the climb was in the middle.   We had over 6 miles of over 6 percent grade.   At the 16 mile marker we stopped at...