Come and Go After the Grand Teton Mountains

While we are riding for 9 weeks there are those participants who join the tour for one or more weeks and then leave us. Here are Erika, Laurie, Brian and Jim who we came to know well for the first three weeks before saying good-bye to them in South Dakota. Jim, Laurie and Brian were known for stopping and smelling the roses (actually the coffees) in each town. Some riders take off early and ride hard to arrive in the next location but others, like me, take considerable time to enjoy the beautiful land in the west. We wish these four friends good health and success as they return to Texas, Iowa and California. They stopped here for one last look at the Grand Teton Mountains in Idaho.

Morning Preparation - South Dakota

Week four has us in South Dakota's City of Custer. The air is dry, nights cool, and days warming to 80's. Here a Cycle America volunteer loads bikes on the top of one of the three large Ford vans used to transport everything. Many riders "SAG" portions of each day for a variety of reasons. The mileage is usually 80 or more per day and day after day riding takes a toll on riders. I sagged one day for 6 miles with another rider after we learned the lunch stop was about to close. I finished the 90 mile day after lunch. This was the day we climbed the Powder River Pass at 9,666 feet which was a climb of 30 miles at 6%.

National Monument at Devils Tower

Devils Tower is the National Monument featured in Close Encounters of the Third Kind by Spielberg several years ago. We camped just below the tower for two days while the weekly riders left from week two and we were joined by week three riders. The Tower is 900 feet high, 1000 feet across at the base and 200 feet across at he top. The structure was formed when the earth around it eroded away. Clouds hide the top of the tower frequently. Unlike my first ride across the USA, our KOA campground was quite green this time. In 2001 it was all brown from a severe drought.

Jamboree & Horses in Moorcroft, Wyoming

We happened to enter the Wyoming town of Moorcroft just mintes before their annual Jamboree Celebration featuring horse and buggies, horses and riders carrying flags, girls and ladies riding side saddle, antigue cars and more. Where we were situated for lunch happened to be right where the lead horses and riders carrying he USA flaf, state flag and city flag gathered to finished their part. The town people were so gracious to us and I got to speak to several who asked us questions while we asked them about the event. With no more than 12 in a graduating class, there were "class floats" for each year of graduation followed by class picnics in the park!

Leaving Wyoming and ENtering South Dakota

We have now left Wyoming and entered South Dakota but this photo is from the plains of Wyoming where we did get some tail winds enabling me to put the hammer down and move along at 20-30 miles per hour for a couple hours! One of the problems we are leaving behind is having to dress with multiple layers in the morning and peeling them off as the day warm. Now that are in S. Dakota, the winds will pick up but so will the day time temperatures. Morning temps are no longer 35 to 45 and are now 50-60.

Day time temps are 80 to 85. Skies have been sunny.

Beauty and Energy Abound Here

It is so hard to believe that this whole area was, and still is to a great degree, considered a barren waste land. Wyoming is home to elk, moose, big horn sheep and many other creatures but due to the low annual rain fall much of the area is covered with sage brush, grasses, and some hardy flowers. This is July in Wyoming yet the flowers are out like we had in April in Ohio. Oil, natural gas, and low sulfur coal are huger in this state and we have read that 60% of the energy used in the USA comes from Wyoming! There are over 100 miles of canals that feed irrigation ditches just so some vegetation can grow.

Sandy the Mechanic

My riding partner Sandy has become quite the bike mechanic. When we are in our home town of Hamilton we both tend to rely on our bike shops (Sandy's is The Bike Center in Oxford and mine is West Chester Cyclery) but out here we are very much on our own. In week one Sandy assisted a couple from Australia when their chain broke. He assisted another cyclist with a flat tire and here he has to repair his own flat tire after hitting something sharp on the road berm!