Coast to Coast Bicycle Adventure: Saturday, June 30, 2012-The Grand Tetons are GRAND!

Yellowstone NP (Grant Village), WY to Moran Junction, WY (56 Miles)

In an attempt to beat the traffic, especially the Mega RV’s, I left early even though the temperature was 34 degrees. The plan to beat the traffic worked pretty well as I pedaled out of the Yellowstone and into the Grand Teton National park. Wonderfully, the majority of the traffic was going into Yellowstone, opposite my travel. As the day progressed, I gradually had to shed layers because the day warmed into the 70’s.

As usual, I stopped at the “Welcome to the Grand Teton” sign to take a picture. As I was stopping, a young couple was getting out of their car and were going to take a picture by putting the camera on the hood of their car. I offered to take their picture if they would take mine. That is how I met, Tobias and Pia. They are from Denmark but were in the USA on what turned out to be a 3 year internship in San Francisco, CA. The work ended, so they decided to drive their car cross country to see the USA and fly back home from New York. Further down the road, I met Jim from Maryland who was cycling the TransAm route on, what appeared to be, a mountain bike. I did not get to talk too long as he was trying to catch someone. I peddled with him for a little distance, then I had to pull over for a "pit stop" and he went on.

As for the view of the Grand Teton mountain range…unbelievably breath taking!! They rise some 13,000 feet into the sky with snow still on the peaks.

Traffic gradually increased as continued East. Just before reaching the stop for the day, I caught up to TransAm cyclist, Dan. He was a young fellow from Oakland, California and planned to find a job on the east coast once he got there. As we were pedaling together, the turn off for the campground arrived and Dan pulled in to refill his water. I offered to buy him a Gatorade or ice cream. He took me up on the ice cream. So we ate our treats outside and talked some more. I offered God’s blessings on his travels and he headed out.

We have a view of the Tetons from our campsite. While sitting outside we saw a bald eagle fly overhead and later a badger ran through our campsite. Plus, there are little gopher critters popping in and out of their holes in the ground. Another amazing day in God's Creation!