As the day was going to be very long, I wanted to be on the
bike at sunrise. I hit the road by 5:20am with temperatures in the 60’s
already. The issue which caused the long ride was the lack of facilities to
camp. The midway point would have been Jeffery City, WY which had no camping
options and only a Baptist run Hostel-like facility. So, I set my mind that we
would just combine two riding days into one by riding 100+ miles at a time.
Over the course of the day, I crossed the Continental Divide two times and had
a total trip climb of 4,604 feet in elevation. The first climb was a 5 miles
long at 6% grade…slow and steady is my speed. Please understand that this is
very desolate country with sage brush as the primary vegetation. There are no
trees to speak up and obviously no shade, which was especially missed as the
day heated into the 90’s. The first pit stop was at a rest area in Sweetwater
Station, which was again a road intersection at a “ghost town”, and I could
fill my water bottles. But, I did meet some interesting people at the rest
area. There were three young people who had stopped and were asking me about my
trip. I found they had been camping in the desolate area studying lizards. No
kidding! They were very excited about it, …but lizards? As, I was pulling out
of the rest area, two West bounders were approaching the stop. Steve was from
the United Kingdom and the second fellow was from the Netherlands, I did not
understand his name. They were two of 10 cyclists with the Adventure Cycling
Associations sponsored annual TransAm ride. Steve said they were heading for
Landers and had to be part of the 4th of July parade in town. He was
giving me a little grief as to why he had to celebrate Independence Day when
the Americans beat them in the war. The fellow from the Netherlands chimed in
to say, that was a lot of years ago. Well, we talked some more and I headed out.
The balance of the 10 riders were passed down the road, but one was willing to
stop. Russ was from Bowling Green, Ohio and he did not chat too long but seemed
in a hurry to catch the others.
At 84 miles, I finally found a small gas station from which
I purchased 2 liters of water and a Gatorade. Now, only 40+ miles to go…yeah!
After leaving the pit stop, the road joined another state highway and got very
busy. In a couple miles, I met Marlene from Holland who was also a TransAm
rider. She was planning to stay in Jeffery City. I tried to tell her what I
witnessed about that town but she determined. Shortly after visiting with Marlene, I was pedaling along and …Boom! A very large motorhome pulling a car had a blow out of the driver-side front tire about 10 yards ahead of me. Rubber flew everywhere! In the next 5 seconds, I was wondering: “Will the rubber come flying at me? Will he lose control and swerve into my lane and hit me? Will another car swerve to miss the rubber all over the road and hit me?” I stopped and froze as I watched the fear in the driver’s eyes as he fought to keep control and the vehicle went on by me. He was able to pull the camper safely to the side of the road with a trail of rubber behind him about 50 yards long. Praise God that I was safe! Seeing he was safely off the road and that he probably had a cell phone and he had a pull behind vehicle, it was time to move on before other cars started to throw rubber in my direction.
The balance of the day was uneventful, except it was hot, there were more climbs and the last 30 miles were grueling! It did not help that at 112 miles into the ride, I had to climb over the Continental Divide again. Well, I finally made it to Rawlins and rolled into the RV World Campground at a little after 5:00pm. Needless to say, I was exhausted and probably dehydrated. There were joyful looks in the eyes of my wife and parent-in-laws as I arrived. After some fluid intakes and a shower, I was good as new…well pretty close. Due to combining two days of riding into one tomorrow is a day off.
Kim’s Corner: The
drive today was also a lot of slow uphill climbing with pulling the camper. There
was very little to look at, with only an occasional group of horses or cattle.
What they were eating, is a mystery! There were some pretty red rock mountains,
plus the famous split rock mountain. It was a landmark spot for settlers and Indians
in years past to mark where they were on the Westward trails.
Split Rock Mountain
Safe Arrival at the Campground
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