Day 20 - Last Day in WY - Casper to Lusk

This morning we left Casper, with some of the best selection of ladies' cowboy boots we've ever seen, and headed east down the road 107 miles to arrive in Lusk, Wyoming, a small town of certain Wyoming charms of its own.

In between the two, we found images of the wide, wide open spaces that Wyoming has to offer.  Here's a couple of shots from the day.

Upon arrival, our first stop was the B-Q Corral, right next door to our Stage Coach Motel.  We did actually "drive in" for "Good Eats and Cool Treats" as advertised.  Our options were to order from the call-in at the drive-in stall, or go to the walk up window.  We revived ourselves after the ride with a great large chocolate milkshake, so thick we had to eat it with a spoon.  Cool Treats, indeed!

Our walk to the downtown area revealed this bronze sculpture outside of the Carnegie-endowed library.  "Best Buddies".

Last but not least, a visit to the Stagecoach Museum, which featured this vintage carrier, complete with luggage and period nattily dressed mannequins throughout the display.   We also saw a display of 47 types of barbed wire, a buffalo skin wrap, and a T-Rex bone that was excavated not far from the town.

Tomorrow we are riding 92 miles to Hot Springs South Dakota, our fourth state on this ten state and one Canadian province journey.

Day 19 - Recovery

After riding for nine consecutive days (713 miles), we enjoyed a low key rest day of laundry, bicycle cleaning and seeing the recently released Lone Ranger movie.  The following picture shows our three support vehicles--two of the vans have large trailers attached--for hauling our luggage and spare bicycle parts across the country.

During our walks through Casper, we saw several interesting sculptures....

Tomorrow we are back in the saddle going 106 miles to Lusk, Wyoming.

Day 18 - 120 Miles on the 4th From Riverton to Casper, WY

We were all decked out in our red, white and blue, ABB jerseys to celebrate the 4th of July with a stream of patriot-colored bicyclists as we made our way over 120 miles of mostly desolate landscape from Riverton to Casper.  Long shadows filled the side of the highway as we made our 6:30 am departure, striving to beat both the heat and the possibility of intense thunderstorms later in the afternoon.

 Morning morphed into afternoon, with clouds connecting and in cases forming thunderclouds which we were lucky enough to miss.  Part of the reason for swifter travel was the forming of lines of bicyclists, each one taking turns at the front to break the wind for the others.  After the front runner's turn, he would move to the back of the line to recover in time for the next top shift.  I was relegated to the back of the line in a permanent position.  My short stature provided little or no break for the rider behind me when at the front, so I was protected by a wonderful, kind group of "domestiques".   We averaged 17 mph for the entire trip! 

There was one photo-op on this route, at mile 75.5 we made our way over to Hell's Half Acre.  A deep canyon developed in a form similar to the Grand Canyon or Yellowstone, it was beautiful in its scope, depth and color striations.

It has been confirmed that the Native Americans used to drive massive herds of buffalo into the canyon for slaughter, thus the name.

View of the canyon, taken from behind the barbed wire that encompasses it.

Upon entering Casper, we traveled along a lovely bike path that paralleled the North Platte River, which was full of families rafting down the flowing current for the holiday.  Here's a picture of the river, taken on the fly - imagine rubber rafts, kiddos, parents and dogs in and out of the water.

Lastly, as we ended the day with another pasta buffet at our Ramada Inn, we had to say goodbye to several of our riders, who could do only one or two legs of the trip due to constraints.  Here is a father-son trio of Jay, Brad, and Keith Butler who came from Ohio and Indiana to do the Northern Rockies segment.

We will also miss Ronit Sussholz from Netanya, Israel.  Ronit  joined her husband, Phillipe, for the first two very vigorous segments of the trip through the Cascades and the Tetons.  It was her first long-distance bicycle trip, and she did so very well.  Phillippe will continue on, but we will miss the smile and humor that Ronit added to our group.

Today is Day 19, and it is Rest Day in Casper.  A chance to sleep in a little, do laundry, and have some "Ahhhh" time to ready ourselves for another 106 mile ride tomorrow to Lusk Wyoming.

Day 17 - Triple Score! Tailwinds, Downhill, Cooler Temps

Leaving DuBois WY with a fond farewell, we were immersed in the beautiful painted hills as the sun peeked out over the canyons and illuminated them with light.  We began our 80-mile journey on a mostly downhill path of beauty as we made our way to Rivertown, WY.

Making our way along the Windy River, the red rocks and scenery were like having Good Morning America delivered to our handlebars.

A downhill flyby showing fellow cyclist Fred from Ontario, Canada, against a red rock wall..

We dodged some very heavy showers with lightning by stopping often to take pictures.  This shot, just outside of Riverton, shows the 12,725 acre Ocean Lake Wildlife Habitat Management Area.  The color of the lake was an aqua blue, quite the sight in mostly arid Wyoming.  The lake was formed in the 1940's through use of irrigation flows to a natural  sump.   Doesn't sound exciting, but it is teeming with wildlife and recreational opportunities according to Wikipedia!

The population of Riverton exceeds DuBois by about 10-fold, and is filled with every fast-food chain known to man.  The other loss of leaving DuBois was about 3,000 feet in elevation.  Whoo-Hoo for extra oxygen, winds at our backs, and clouds to hold down the temperatures.  A great day,one which our guides termed a "Riding Recovery Day"!

Have a Happy 4th!  We will be spending ours riding 119 miles to Casper in our red, white and blue jerseys.

Day 16 - Over the Continental Divide

Today we left the beautiful Teton Mountains and Jackson Hole, WY, to travel up and over the Continental Divide.  Another gorgeous sunny day, with highs in the upper 80s.  Here Don & I start the day under an arch of antlers - mostly deer and one moose in the center - in in the main park in old downtown Jackson Hole.

We had so many gorgeous shots of the Grand Teton Mountains leaving this morning, we finally decided on this one that also includes a foreground shot of the Snake River.  We tried to recreate the same shot Ansel Adams shot from this spot in 1941, and it turned out pretty well, but the growing trees have obscured parts of the river from when Mr. Adams did his first shot.

Leaving Jackson Hole, we saw a gorgeous cast bronze sculpture of a herd of bison, the sculpture being  life-sized, at the front of a gallery.  We decided the picture we took below, of real bison grazing in the open range, would be a better addition. 

The climb out of Jackson to the Continental Divide took us up a little over 3,000 feet and over 55 miles.  When we reached the summit, Greg took this shot of us.  We didn't have the shot of Greg on his camera to share, so Greg will have to do that later.  It felt really great to be on top of the divide, and it was truly interesting how the prevailing winds shifted from tailwinds on our ascent to headwinds upon our descent.  That descent, by the way, was pretty much better than anything Disneyland has to offer.

What could be better than a picture of Greg at the Continental Divide?  A picture of Greg descending from the Continental Divide!  Way to spin, Greg!

Lastly, we send this to you tonight from our motel in the small town of DuBois, Wyoming, pronounced "Du Boys".

Day 15 - Hello Wyoming!

Today was filled with drop-dead gorgeous views as we left Idaho and rode into Jackson, Wyoming.  The three shots below are all within Idaho showing the Snake River and our first peek of the Grand Tetons

 However, we did have to endure 15 miles of newly paved chip seal road (it had just been paved the day before).  Newly paved chip seal is brutal on tires and bikers due to its roughness and constant vibrations.  It also did not help that the day was already getting quite warm. and we were riding into a strong headwind.  Our riding companion Greg commented that it was a "trifecta of bad riding luck: new chip seal, strong head wind and going uphill."

We entered into Wyoming after having already ridden 71 miles.

We were immediately confronted with the Teton Pass - a six mile climb of over 2,000 feet, which of course featured an 11% grade for over two miles near the very top of the climb.

At the summit, we had another breath-taking view of the Jackson valley--as shown by the following picture of Greg--and a 5 mile descent with a 10% grade.  We all had to do plenty of braking to keep from colliding with the cars that were in front of us!

For those of you that may want greater detail of today's ride, we took a picture of the elevation profile handout from today's ride.

We have now ridden over 1,000 miles on this journey.  Tomorrow, we will be riding through Teton National Park and trying to avoid any buffalo that may be in our path.

Day 14 - Pocatello to Idaho Falls

 It was a beautiful day in southern Idaho, and we were greeted at morning light with little wind and roads along open fields of wheat and potatoes. Don took a series of three pictures of a wheat field in the process of cutting for harvest. The parallel rows of freshly cut wheat created a beautiful pattern in the morning fields as we passed alongside.  The mountains of Wyoming in the distance stayed in the distance, and we had a relatively flat and pleasant ride today for our 65 miles between the cities.

 Our route today often took us alongside the Snake River.  At this stage of its journey, the Snake is rather wide and calm.  This shot was taken at one of the few spots that had rapids to break up the smooth river's surface.

We arrived at our destination of Idaho Falls just before noon today, giving us time to take pictures of the namesake of the city.  The current falls are the result of a hydroelectric project that is owned by the city. Here is a shot of the falls with the Mormon Temple of Idaho Falls in the background.
 

 Lastly, here is a shot of the falls taken from the park just across the street from our hotel.  Though temperatures were in the upper 90's, the rushing waters and gentle breezes gave some needed respite when sitting on a park bench along the river.

Tomorrow - we climb, climb, climb to the top of Teton Pass, then descend down into Jackson Hole, Wyoming.