Days 30-39

Day 30
Today me and Neal road from Denver to Fort Collins CO. It would have been a great day, but we spend the whole night on a bus. We were coming back from a wedding and funeral that Neal and I needed to attend. It was a nice break from riding and the wedding was beautiful. The ride to Fort Collins was ok, but Neal almost got hit by two cars. I am not sure if its his fault of not, I never seem to get close to cars but he manages to a lot. I am not sure it its coincidence or not. Once we were in Fort Collins we stayed with Neal’s friend from Henderson Nebraska. Later in the night Josh, Sam, and John came down from Boulder CO to visit for a while. It was nice to see them. After a while we all went out to a bar and had a couple of drinks before me and Neal crashed hopping to get enough sleep before we rode up to WY the next day.

Day 31
Today was rough after our late night last night. On top of not getting much sleep, we had to climb over 3,000 ft to get to Laramie WY. One our way to WY we were told that the states unofficial motto is “Wyoming, where men are men and sheep are scared.”

One of the hardest climbs of the day was also in a construction zone where they had just put fresh tar and gravel on the road. As the cars would drive by they would fling rocks at us, it was a most unpleasant ride. However WY is quite beautiful. The rock formations are incredible and the wildlife is everywhere and not scared of you. So we get to take a good look at dear and pronghorn. Today I also broke 200 hours of riding on this trip. That’s quite the mile marker for me. The first time we stopped in WY to get some water was at a fire works shop. The old man inside who owned the place was wearing a side arm, some kind of semi automatic pistol. I guess he was expecting trouble from the sheep.

Day 32
Today was a day of bad decisions, or maybe just one really big one. We tried to ride 100 mile on I 80. Not the smartest thing Neal or I have ever tried. We got going late in the day but made good time for the first 25 miles. Then I got a flat. It took three tries to find and patch the hole. We could not find what was causing the leak. It took over an hour for us to get back on the road. The last time I was pumping up my tier a guy pulled up in a truck and jumped out to see if we were ok. He was a cyclist and had some stuff with him. It was nice to have a standup pump to pump up my tier. Then the man gave us two patch kits for free and went on his way. It was quite nice of him. From that point on things got no better. A truck drifted off the road directly across from us. We were quite happy his truck pulled to the right and not the left because we would have been in trouble if it had. I had another flat later in the day and the climbing didn’t get any easer. We were fed up with the day. About 30 mile from our stopping point we hit a real stiff head wind. We were peddling as fast and hard as we could and still couldn’t get going faster than about 7 mph. we went another ten miles before stopping to take a break. While we were taking a break we met a woman doing road construction. She offered to give us a ride the rest of the way to Rawlins where we were staying that night. We gladly said yes. On the way we talked about WY and how hard it was to ride here. She told us it was a good thing we took a week off for the wedding and funeral because the week before there was several blizzards. After we talked about how hard it was to ride in the wind she told us that, “Rawlins is like the Devils asshole, it blows all day long.” Once we were in Rawlins we stopped at a church and asked if we could stay there the night and were rejected, but there was a church up the road so we stopped and asked there. The pastors brother in law had done the trip a few years before so he had more compassion and sympathy for us and he let us sleep in the church office. It was very kind of him. He and the associate pastor said in a very polite way, “our advice to you is to get out of this state as fast as possible.” We took his advice.

Day 33
We took off at a late start again, which always bothers me, but Neal is not a morning person so I have to get used to it. On our way out of town there were five huge mule dear in a grave yard that just looked at us as we got off our bikes and took photos of them. Then we got going again. We crossed the continental divide for the first time and took a photo of it. While we were stopped I needed to “use the rest room” but there was none and there was no traffic, so the continental divide sine hade to due. Neal took a photo of me. At that point we had unwittingly started something. We road a few a while longer and crossed the continental divide again, and again I needed to “use the restroom”. Neal took another photo of me. We kept riding and eventually came to “Split Rock” a natural marker for the Oregon Trail. It was something to see where all the settlers camped and spent a few days to rest. WY is a tough state to get through and I would imagine it was harder back then. At the look out I broke my cleat again. This is the second set on this trip. I was not happy, so we limped into Jeffery City where were going to stay for the night. It was a weird little town. It had 5,000 people living in it at one point, but now only has 50. So there are enough houses and buildings for 5,000 people but almost none of them are being used. They are all boarded up and run down. There was a nice park that was all overgrown that me and Neal slept in. The town had one bar in it and that was it, so me and Neal ate there and spent the evening chatting with the bar tender. She was a nice woman who told us all about the town. It boomed during the cold war because of a uranium mine there but it was sense been shut down because there us not such a demand for uranium any more.

Day 34
Today we got on the road quite early after eating breakfast in the bar we had been in the night before. We road to Sweet Water, a little dried up town down the road about twenty miles. At the junction there we found a rest stop and took a break. We talked to a man riding his motorcycle across the country and when he found out what we were doing the first thing out of his mouth was, “I have done nothing.” I think he was impressed with himself for doing his trip on his motorcycle until he ran into us. In a way I liked sealing that from him (yea I am that sinister). The rest of the day was cake. We had over 37 miles of down hill in the next 50 we rode. It was great. We got into town and the bike shop in Lander was most helpful in fixing my bike. We got all ready to go again and did our laundry. Then we road out to a private camp ground that was run by an elderly couple on an Indian reservation. We called first and so they made us dinner and on our way out we picked up a pound of cherries so we had a good desert. The woman who ran the place was a conspiracy theorist, so it was lots of fun to talk to her. It was kind of like being home in a way. She told us about the Indians and the government and she also had her own theories about eschatology. Good times. Neal and I ended up sitting up for a while and talking about what comes after this trip. There is a lot of that some times. Nether of us know what will happen a year from now and we really don’t have a clue. I am trying to go back to school and he doesn’t know what he is trying to do. We eventually went to bead and slept well.

Day 35
The night before we had asked the woman for a wake up call and she laughed at us and said there was no way she was waking us up in the morning. But I was woke up to her screechy voice yelling, “This is your wake up call.” out her back door. It was nice of her. We would have over slept if it was not for her. We packed up our stuff and went in for breakfast. The woman made us French toast on home made sour dough bread. It was simply the best French toast I have ever had. We even ordered a second plate full, it was just that good. We eventually got on the road. This is when we stared climbing the Togawee pass. It was a killer. On our way we met a couple riding east doing the same trip in reverse order. The woman was from Cuba and the man was from Peru. They were a wonderful couple, she was a poet and he was a free lance web designer. She was beautiful, I wanted to tell the man just how lucky he was to find a woman like that that would do this trip with him, but I figured he already new. We climbed all day and still when we stopped we were more than 30 miles from the top of the pass. We camped in Dubois WY that night. When we pulled into camp we found another couple going the same way as us. They were also incredible people. They only do contractual work for six months at a time so they have time to do things like this trip, they also don’t own a house or car so they are freer. I must admit the life style seemed really appealing. They had just got done living in the Antarctic. The man ran a marathon 10,000 feet up on an ice shelf in 3:45 and won it. I couldn’t imagine that. He told many stories about the cold and how his boots clanked like they were iron when he would come in from working outside while he was down there. He also talked about the penguins marching and the ice melting. We eventually went to sleep at 10:40 after we lost track of time and hopped we would be ready for the last and hardest part of the climb to the top of Togawee.

Day 36
We got up early and were on the road by 8:00, a decent starting point. We summated before 12:00. It was a hard climb. The summit was 9,658 and we crossed the continental divide for the lat time (Neal got another picture of me). The climb was long and never seemed to end, though the sights were breathtaking. When we reached the top there was a lot of snow all around us. There was not as much as Neal and I had hopped for, but that was probably a good thing. We met a woman who was driving a polite car for her husband who was going to his 50th class reunion and riding his bike there. It was incredible, I am 22 and the climb was hard for me, I cant imagine how tough that old man must be. She gave us some water and we sat and ate lunch and enjoyed the highest point of the trip for a while. When we were about to get going again we looked down the pass and notices some one coming up on a bicycle at incredible speed. At first we didn’t think he was touring, but then we noticed he was toeing a bob (trailer for ones bike). We watched him sprint the last 400 yards to the top of the mountain and when he got to us he pulled over and said, “what’s up guys” he was not out of breath. We were absolutely dumbfounded. We asked him if he had done the whole pass at the speed and he said, “yea, I just really hate to stop on a pass.” I would not have believed him, but we watched him sprint the last and hardest part of the pass and not be out of breath. Again I say I have never seen anything more incredible in my life. Once we started down the road there was a sine that said, “6% down grade next 17 miles” it was a beautiful thing. We road down the got our first glimpse of the Grand Teton Mountains and they are absolutely amazing to see. Once we got down to flat ground we stopped and ate lunch and met our server who was a woman in her mid twenties and rather attractive. She was a cyclist and wanted to know if we needed a guide to our camp ground. We sure did, so we sat around until she was off work and then she went out to the van she was living in and changed into her biking shorts and started riding with us. She was an incredible cyclist and some one good to talk to, she helped us plan our rout to Idaho Falls and took us by some stores to get some supplies and she had a parks pass so we didn’t have to pay to get into the park. It was great. As we arrived at the camp sight I could not unclick from my peddle and I fell flat on my face in front of our guide, Ally, and Neal. We all had a good laugh. We camped at Jenny Lake right at the base of the mountains and boy did we stair in awe for a good long while. At the camp round we met a man named Erin who knows the group of golfers my grandmother golf’s with in Florida. That was quite unexpected. Then I took a swim in a lake that was nothing but glacier run off, it was the coldest water I have ever been in, but well worth it. We sat up and watched the light fade on the mountains as long as we could before we fell asleep that night.

Day 37
Today was basically a day off, but I got up early because I jut had to go out and take some photos of the Grand Tetons. It was a magical morning. I was amazed at the beauty of the mountains. There was one other woman up taking photos and I got to talking to her. She said something that troubled me. She said, “the sun rise is not all that spectacular today.” I had to think, here we are in Teton National Park and this woman would say the sunrise was not all that great. What does it take to pleas some people. When I was our on the Gulf of Thailand a year ago one of the people with me watching the sun set said, “its not that nice.” Now again what does it take to pleas some people. It’s the place, the moment, the fact that each sun set/rise is different that makes it so splendid. Its such a magical place, who cares if there is a lot of color in the sky, its so much more than that. Any ways I had a good time playing photographer for an hour before I went back to bead. When Neal woke up we thought about riding around the park and looking around for a while but then we decided that we were probably in the best place we could hope to be, so we sat at camp and stared at the mountains all morning. It was simply splendid. That park is one that will go on my “must visit again” places along with Dalat Vietnam and Angkor Wat Cambodia. We eventually rode to Jackson, a 30 mile ride where we stayed with a Mennonite Your Way family (thanks to Natasha for finding all of these places for me to stay). We ate dinner and did laundry and went to bead. It was a good lazy day.

Day 38
We did our first century (100 mile ride) today sense Eastern Colorado. It felt good. It was mostly down hill along the Snake river which is at flood stage because of the spring run off. It was over all a great day to ride. We broke 40 mph several times on our way to Idaho Falls. We road past a reservoir and at the bottom of it there was a store called, “The Dam Store” so we just had to stop. On our ride we met a group of hippies who were riding their bikes to a “Rainbow Gathering”. They were quite interesting. They had a bunch of stuff packed on their bikes, camping gear, hiking gear, musical instruments. It was quite impressive how much they could fit on their bikes. However me and Neal think that’s probably why they get so many flat tiers and have so much mechanical trouble. We eventually made it to Idaho Falls. Once there a woman at the parks service opened up for us after she had closed the building so she could help us find a place to camp. It was very nice of her. She located a free campground for us on the Snake River that was on our rout and also went past a few shopping centers. It was really nice of her. When we got into town a bit further we stopped at a Chinese Buffet that was actually some what authentic. The people working there were first generation immigrants (at least I am guessing based off of their language skills) and they had the cutest five year old daughter who spoke good English and fallowed Neal and I around and asked us lots of questions about why we were dressed so funny. We didn’t really know what to tell her. The next stop was the shopping center where I found out I had gone bankrupt over the past few weeks. I had a credit of -3.50. I had to get that straightened out because I was supposed to have about $500 left. It was an issue. Thankfully Neal was with me and could buy me some food. We then went to the camp sight. When we arrived we had rode exactly 100 miles that day. We met a few nice people and a few rather strange people. The first guy we met was involved in a pyramid scheme and kept talking and talking and talking. Now I try and not be rude, but when you are tiered and some guy keeps telling you about something as dumb as a pyramid scheme you just want him to go a way. We ended up setting u[ camp while he was there and then I left to go and take a swim in the Snake River because there were no showers. While I was gone he looked at Neal and said while referring to my tent, “do you think we could fit in there.” Neal was glad he did not respond to rashly because the guy fallowed up with, “I mean we are pretty big guys, I don’t think ether of us could get into that.” Neal was relieved. Then there were two old people drinking and groping not far from us. It was enough to make one want to vomit. It really was disgusting; it was like two teenagers in a movie theater. They were also listening to late 80s early 90s love music that they were blaring from there SUV. All in all it was a good day and one I will remember for a long time.

Day 39
We slept in a little and then ate oatmeal before we packed up and took off. Before we left a woman in the park walked up to me and gave me a wooden nickel and told me it had always given her good luck. I took it and was thankful for the thought, though I don’t believe in luck much. We road almost all day and really didn’t run in to many people. We did find a few more cyclists who were riding across the country in the other direction. They had a pilot car that had all of their stuff in it. So they could do 100 miles in five hours. I was disgusted. Any ways their pilot car was a Mercedes SUV and they were sleeping in hotels every night. They had a bit more money than me or Neal. But that’s ok because we have lots of nice Mennonites take us in for free so it all works out in the end. We eventually made it to American Falls ID where I am staying with my first girlfriends aunt and uncle. Some times it’s a little awkward when they keep talking about her. I don’t think they know we have not talked in about four years so they act as if they think we are friends when in all reality we don’t even know one another any more. However they are the nicest people ever. They took us out to the lake where I tried to water ski. It was a great evening and now we are staying at their place to rest up for a day. They even made us a steak dinner. Its so much better thank camping. Phil, the father, went to Hesston College for a year so he and Neal have a lot to talk about. All in all it’s a great place to stay and they are wonderful people.