Wyoming Recap

Hellloooooooo!

I've been missing in action for most of Wyoming (mostly because there are no cities in between the cities I'm traveling between to blog from), so, now that I'm a day away from Utah, I think it's time I finally do my best to recapture what has been going on.

Wyoming stands out to me for the landscape and the amount of people I've met or simply observed. This might be a long one, but it's worth reading for all the interesting people that I met.

The landscape has shifted from the bluffs of the Nebraska border, to the Laramie mountains, which I crossed through Morton Pass, to the valleys, the winds, the big sky (though that's apparently Montona's moniker says my hitchhike buddy from yesterday, more on that later), the Medicine Bow mountain range, to desert, to canyons. So you see, it's both a mouthful, and an eyeful of landscapes. Wyoming is gorgeous simply in the amount of landscape there is. If you counted verticle stretches of earth (That I happen to have to cover while biking over), the surface area of the mountains and canyons would add an extra Wyoming of beauty to the state.

On entering Wyoming, I stopped at Ricochet Cafe on the border. There I overheard an interesting conversation between old farmers with deep roots in the state. One of the farmers, with a deep scruffy voice, was arguing with another (while a third on air support didn't talk at all) about the second being a Democrat. The first guy with the deep voice really loved the sound of his voice (everyone in the restaurant noticed and commented). He talked loudly, not letting anyone else speak, and constantly returning to politics. After driving the democrat farmer out of the restaurant, he got a phone call, and eventually returned to politics again, haha. Anyways, I found his argument with the democrat farmer really interesting. I will only sum up the conversation from memory in short. He was saying that Democrats used to be a good party, but now they don't do anything. He asked the democrat farmer, "have you ever worked for a poor man?", and the farmer responded, "yes, but not long". The conservative farmer responds: "exactly, you don't ever want to work for a damn poor man. Nobody wants to work for a poor man. So that's why the democrats are fools. You need to support the employer" etc. etc. In essence he was arguing that big business should be supported, otherwise the workers don't benefit in the long run. What was interesting was the populist, farmers tone he took on defending the republicans. Then, further arguing that Obama is a scourge and hasn't done anything, he was arguing against "socializing medicine". The democrat farmer on the other hand wasn't very good at arguing back, seemed older, and mostly sat back and listened. He said, "welll, I don't know much about what they're doing, but they seem to be improving the healthcare system", etc." He eventually got up halfway through the conversation, tired of the republicans' evangelizing, and walked off. Then the republican got a phone call and made a joke about Obama- "you know what the difference between the Denver Zoo and the White House is? One has an African lion, the other has a lyin' African". Charming, huh? I think that sums up the conservative, rural Westerner.

My first day in Wyoming I found a campsite (few and far between in this state) in eastern-central Wyoming, because the wind, which mostly comes from either the south or the west here, was too strong for me to go to Cheyenne (in South Eastern, Wy). The campsite's water faucets didn't work! So in asking my camping neighbors about the situation, they offered me some water, and we chatted. They were from nearby, but one of the women went to Northwestern in Chicago. They told me about Nebraska's notorious hail. This woman's brand new car got $3000 worth of damage in 5 minutes when it hailed baseballs. Luckily, I didn't have to face the deadly ice bullets during my trip.

As a result of the crappy state park with no water, I had to bike on what was supposed to be my day off. I biked to Wheatland, WY. The first thing that happened that day was my run in with the bikers. Every year, Wyoming throws the Sturgis music festival, which this year brought in 4-500,000 people. Yes, about 500,000 motorcycles. And they were zooming past me on the highway ever few minutes on my route that day. So I thought it would be funny to stop at one of the bars serving breakfast that said "bikers welcome". I bike in with my bike, all the bikers staring, get some coffee and a cinnamon bun, and then start to make my way out. You see, most of the bikers are just wearing their uniform. After seeing so many bikers, the image of the Harley and leather jackets starts to feel pretty fake, like a bunch of teenagers going to a britney spears concert. And so 3 motorcyclists pull into the parking lot in full out gear. To me they looked like a bunch of doctors from Colorado that put on their leather jackets and chaps, sat on their harley's, and suddenly took on the image of the cool rider. They pull in, grim faced, revving their loud bikes. So, the first biker gets off his bike, takes off a helmet, revealing spiked grey hair and an earing, and says "awww, did you decide to take out the small bike today?" And his buddy adds, laughing, "are you headed to sturgis tooo?". And me, casually putting on my riding gloves and helmet, answer, "no. I'm doing some real biking". The third guy asks, where are you from? And I say, "Chicago. I'm headed to San Francisco". Then, I put on my helmet, giving them the cold shoulder as I ride off, and I patronize "You boooys have fuuun at Sturgis". I put them in their place;)

On the way to Wheatland, when checking my directions by the side of the highway, because I got momentarily lost, a car passed me and then stopped and pulled over to the shoulder of the highway. Out of the tiny Toyota with a bike in the back climbs an athletic, tall man in his 50s wearing biking gear. Marv Billings, recently retired, and "with a bucket list of things to do including riding across the country" was just coming back from his 50 mile morning ride, and, to my luck, he ran into me. Marv bikes a lot in the area, which he says (and I generally agree, except for the rattle snakes) is a biker's haven. This was near Lingle, WY. There are many roads converging here, and they're mostly little used highways that take you through Wyoming's mountains and bluffs in the area. He's right, it's great. Anyways, he directed me into town and told me of a shortcut route to take to Wheatland that would cut 30 miles, but had 8 miles of gravel (I later realized this was the route I couldn't find in the first place, causing me to stop and meet Marv). After eating lunch, I started biking towards the shortcut, and Marv passed me going the opposite direction in his car. 10 minutes later he catches up to me with his blind dog and watermelon!!! He decided he wanted to check out the shortcut he was sending me through, to make sure the gravel wasn't too bad. He was also interested in it for a future bike ride of his own. So he went ahead, up the mountain and came back, okaying the route. Marv was a really great guy. I really appreciate the shortcut, the chats, and the watermelon!! Watermelon!! Delivered to me on route! haha. Thanks Marv.

The ride was beautiful through the shortcut because I summited a bluff, but it was also rattle snake haven. You see, when I'm on paved highway with traffic and I see a snake, I feel like the snake is intruding on human territory, and I'm in my place. Going through the shortcut, I was on unpaved, empty road, with rattlesnake-perfect landscape, and a broken phone. So I felt like I was in their place. So I tried to get through wide-eyed as fast as possible.

When I got to Wheatland, I went to the free campground Marv suggested. There I met Bill and Jeremy. Bill was a retired environmental consultant. He first worked for Wyomings mining operations before he got sent to DC to work there. He said he saved up the money he earned in DC in a good retirement fund that allowed him to retire at 52. So he was traveling around with Jeremy, (his son???), a 36 year old nurse looking to go back to school. They were visiting Bill's mother in town. Bill had a lot of pride in Wheatland, because his family has a lot of ties there, and influence. The music pavilion in the park was dedicated to an aunt of his. Bill told me a lot about Wyoming (natural gas mining is making a come back here), and shared a couple of Coors beers ("as cold as the rockies").

From there, I crossed the Laramie mountain range to Laramie. While crossing through the mountains, I was passed by a pick up truck that I later ran into parked on the side of the road. The driver was taking pictures of the scenery, and he took some of me as well. We started up a conversation, and it turns out he's from Portland (cyclist haven- his license plate had a bicycle on it) visiting his sick brother. His son tried to bike across the country recently, but his trailer broke in Salt Lake City, UT, so he gave up and hitchhiked to the East Coast. He gave me a beer (Coors again, "cold as the rockies"), and promised to send me the pictures he took of me. I hope he follows through, because I don't have many, especially of me. The beer was just what I needed for the last push over the mountain pass, and I came out onto flat downhill road all the way to Laramie.

Finally, before yesterday I crossed over the worst of the Rockies for now (we'll see Lake Tahoe)! I went through Medicine Bow National Park in order to get to Saratoga, where Marv told me there's a free public hot spring. The cross over the mountains wasn't that hard! There were 2 miles of up and down, and then 10 miles of straight climb. I couldn't do it with my bike because it was too steep, so I walked it up. Then there were 2 miles of up and down, and then 10 miles downhill. The total ride/walk over the mountains took about 4 hours, 4 1/2 with photo taking. So much for everyone's gloomy cautioning. Saratoga was a cool little town because of the hot spring (which was great). It's open 7 days a week, 24 hours, and it's free. I would love that in my town. I soaked around for a bit, (it's really hot!), then went to find my campsite (this was 11pm). The RV campground on the city-by-city list I got when I entered Wyoming ended up not allowing tents. And I couldn't find any other campground/was too tired, especially from the springs. So, I found a dark spot behind a grocery store in the outskirts of town and just slept there for a couple of hours. Not glamorous, but there was a slight, disconcerting feeling of real freedom sleeping wherever I wanted to, looking up at the stars (they're gorgeous here, I've never seen so many).

I couldn't sleep after 3am, so I decided to get an early start to my day (yesterday). Yesterday, I wanted to bike 150 miles. From Saratoga, to Rawlins (40), then Rawlins, through desert all the way near to the border at Rock Springs. I got to a rest area 13 miles from Rawlins at about 5 in the morning and decided to eat there and take a nap. I did that, and went off to Rawlins. The landscape here was changing to desert-like hills. The wind. man. The wind was intense. There were signs for "strong winds" with windbags attached all over the highway (I had to take I-80). It was an unbearable headwind. When I got to Rawlins, I stopped for coffee, and realized I wouldn't be able to find the library in that town, so I would just head off to do my super long ride for the day. Then, sitting on the sidewalk drinking my coffee and eating my 2nd fruit pie, there pulls up a decked out pick up with a big trailer attached. Both the car and the trailer had a decal that said "Eddie Bauer- First Ascent". Whoever was driving that was a sponsored mountain climber.

This is the rig: Airstream First Ascent

It has a garage and a sound system to throw parties! He asked me how far I was going, and then went into the store. On the way out, he offered me a ride, haha. Now, I'm against asking for rides. I think that's cheating. But when I'm offered a ride across 150 miles of headwind in such an amazing ride, I can't say no. So I took the ride! I also got a tour, and it's a really nice set up. There's a propane fueled fridge! Solar powered, Showers, etc.

More importantly than the ride, I'm horrible with names, but I'm pretty sure the driver was Reggie Crist (It's hard to put real person to an image on a site):

Reggie Crist
Reggie Crist and the Airstream in action

You might be checking out the blog, and if you do, please correct me if I'm wrong. Sorry, like I said, I'm horrible with names, but I really appreciated the ride and the conversation. (Reggie?), from Sun Valley, Idaho (he was headed there) does first DECENTS- he climbs mountains and skis down them. And, if I've got the person down to the details on the site, a pretty well distinguished skiing history (US Ski Team, X Games Gold Medalist). He was explaining to me the lifestyle of being sponsored, which was really interesting. Basically, as he was describing with the touring rig, most trips are pretty spontaneous, and you have to convince corporate that you're taking it whether they like it or not, but that they'll get good footage in return. He's also working on a ski company with some pretty great sounding ski-design ideas. Ultimately, he got me to Green River, because we missed the Rock Springs exit talking. Thanks for the ride and the hospitality! Definitely worth remembering.

And that's where I am now! I should head out soon, I want to get to Kemmerer tonight, and Utah tomorrow! Nevada by Monday?? San Francisco, I'm coming.

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