June 20 (Meet. All. The cyclists!)

I don't know how many cyclists I've passed that have told me that "The wind will be in your favor up ahead." LIARS. The wind is sentient and knows all and sees all. It ensures that NO ONE gets it in in their favor. Today was no exception. Headwinds and crosswinds all day.

Bill PSA:

Speaking as someone with a lot more experience (like four weeks) than past Bill, grow up. The wind in my face that day was nothing much, but it was irritating to have it turn out against me again. And to be straight, by the time of this writing I think I've had 5 days with tailwind - days where the wind was at my back for more than 30 minutes at a time. I think at June 20th I'd had 2 days.

So anyway, let's get the boring stuff out of the way first. There was pretty stuff to see on the road, as always.

 

Onto the people! I passed a huge number of cyclists on today's ride, and all of them in the area where the mosquitos swarm you! There was a couple riding a tandem - trailer combo.

 

An old Aussie who kept calling the mosquitos "mozzies" in between curses as we tried to have a roadside chat.

And a couple from I forget where. Its been a while.

I talked with a few of them at length, and even recorded many of their names, but the notebook where such details were recorded has been lost to the ages due to water damage.

Now the mosquitos I mentioned were hellions. No amount of bug spray would deter them, if you stopped, 15 would land on you at once, and some of those assholes were keeping up with me as I went 13 mph down the road! It was also close to 8 PM – when the bar I was counting on getting dinner from would close – so I was riding hard for a good hour or so.

And I did make it. In fact, when I got to the bar, I met three more cyclists, old pro's at touring as it were. All of them had tablet computers, something I wish I had brought. (I wouldn't be behind on blogs if I had a tablet for one.) Well we were talking over dinner when who should walk through the door but Nate! He was one of the three who pulled that 110 mile day at the bike in the day before I...lost...my wallet. It was great meeting him again, but apparently I won't get to see the siblings. They have been biking like bats out of hell, and passed me days ago. Ah well, I'll live.

 

The four of them were going to camp in an abandoned field (the place was a ghost town), but I opted to press on. There was a near full moon at the time, and I wanted to take advantage of it. And I wanted to get the hell away from the mosquitos. I was planning on getting at least to Muddy Gap, but my head lamp was dying, so I just pulled over at the side of the road halfway and pitched a tent. #HoboStatus

P.S.

I had picked up a flask a few days earlier, I thought it would be fun to have some scotch on hand...not realizing that scotch usually comes in bottles far too large for a flask. So when I arrived at this bar I was willing to spend a little extra just to have some. I won't say how much was spent (too much) for how much alcohol (too little) but the thing that enraged me many days later was that he gave me Jameson. I had thought Jameson wasn't scotch, but I didn't have my glasses on and couldn't read the bottle, and he assured me it was. It's. Irish. Whiskey. The bastard lied to me.

June 19 (The (pure) rest day)

I spent most of today walking my bike around town rather than riding it, because it wouldn't really be a rest day if I was riding. Or that's how I rationalize it; I think, by this point, I'm walking just to make yesterday's hellacious ride be for something.

 

In any event, I started the day (after breakfast) by spending many many hours in the library. I did write a few blog entries, but I honestly spent a lot more time catching up on all the websitesI usually follow, but haven't been able to of late. (In my defense, each one of these blogs takes 30 minutes to an hour, and it gets exhausting writing more than 3 at a time.)

 

I got my care package from the parents in the afternoon with the credit cards! Woohoo. Just to put this out there, I made it all the way to Lander without using any of the extra money gifted/lent to me, just to prove I could. (I didn't need help was the point.) Then I got my bike looked at at the local shop, and got the broken bits repaired. Ok enough, boring part over.

 

Here's the interesting bits of the day. While at the bike shop I met an old man who has literally ridden almost all of the AdventureCycling routes. He must have been 60 at least, but it sounded like he was still touring! He gave me a little advice on getting down from St Louis to Mississipi, something called the Natchez Trace Trail. I'll be looking it up when I get closer to the Central US.

 

 

I met three other (currently) touring cyclists today - of course going in the other direction. One was a Scot, and I...think...the other couple was Belgian... or Dutch?? Of some country who's language sounds similar to German anyway. Here's the thing though : the couple brought their 2 year old daughter on the tour! Apparently they don't make good time because she needs to be taken out and walked every 20 miles or so, but still! Its a damn impressive way to juggle wanderlust and parental responsibility. So the three of us ate dinner together and had ice cream afterwards, while talking about our current tours, their past tours, how they manage to take long trips like this and still have a job, etc.

 

 

 

 

All in all today was great!


Note from the editorial assistant (July 26)

Bill asked me to ask a question of Richard & Patrick.  He has had his Brooks saddle since somewhere in Wyoming and it's still not broken in.  He has used a whole container of mink oil on it and says another rider has told him that it's starting to break in.  He'd like to know if you have any ideas / advice on something he can do to move the process along.

Thanks!

June 18 (For the sake of the (pure) rest day!)

Today was...rough. I had intended to ride my first full century to get to Lander; that is where my new credit cards were being shipped. I wanted to get there today, the cards would arrive tomorrow, and I would have the perfect excuse for a rest day. Even just a little less and I would have to ride tomorrow, and I much prefer to not ride my bike at all on my rest days. I figured that with most of the terrain being downhill to some extent, it would be trivial...*sigh*...wrong. Everything went wrong. And a lot of it was my fault.

I didn't wake up late today, but I did hit the road very late on account of the wonderful facilities at the resort. First, there was a buffet style breakfast. Sausage, bacon, blueberry french toast! I simply had to have some. So that put me back about an hour. Furthermore you could also use their showers for a song, so I had to use that too! That put me back about 45 minutes. So I left much closer to noon than I had intended.

Minor aside... I was chatting up the employees about my tour and somehow ended up talking to an older gent about WarmShowers. He seemed rather interested in it so I talked it up; we can always use more hosts! (Little hint to my readership, there!)  When I got up to leave, he offered me a bit of money to help me out on my tour. Since I was almost out of cash again I really could use the money, so I thanked him for his generosity. Then he gave me a brochure titled, "Have you found Jesus?" I didn't say anything about it, because he had been extremely kind, but I never understood that kind of thing. If I have come this far in life and, for whatever reason, don't believe in Jesus, what makes someone think a brochure will do the trick?

Anyway, the road up to Togwotee Pass was actually less constantly steep than yesterday, but the wind was doing its damnedest to make sure I worked for every mile. I think one time I actually made a 180 degree turn around a sharp bend in the road, and the wind followed me the whole way; no tailwind for me today. Eventually I did reach the pass, which apparently is also a part of the Continental Divide.

 

 

Oh, and I took a few more pictures of the Teton Mountains for you. I think I'll actually miss this scenery.

The ride down was GREAT...at first. Unfortunately it didn't take long for the road to level out, and that is what it was for most of the ride, level. So it wasn't as trivially easy to cover a century as I thought it would be, especially with the wind in my face most of the way. Scenery was decent though.

 

Many, many, many miles later I crossed into an Indian reservation, right as I was running out of water. I checked my map, and saw that Ft. Washakie wasn't too far out, and opted to push on until I got there. I even refused water from another cyclist coming down from there, I thought it would be fine....

Rolling hills. Miles of rolling hills rolling uphill. I arrived at Ft. Washakie when the sun had just set, and the only gas station in town was closed. Shit. I knew there wasn't camping on the Wind River Indian Reservation, and I didn't think I'd be able to make the last 16 miles to Lander without any water. So...I flagged down a car, and asked the lady if she knew where I could find some water in town. She was extremely nice, and offered to fill up my camelback and let me have the water in her bottle in the meanwhile. Her son even gave me an orange! Great people.

So I rode through the night to Lander. Not much to see in the dark, but I did pass an Indian casino!

And I finally made it to Lander...and collapsed in the public park. Woo.

June 17 (Into the Tetons...and out?)

I left Yellowstone today. I would have liked to stay longer but, with my funds running so short, I can't stick around and sightsee. Someday I'd like to come back and spend the week leisurely touring around Yellowstone, seeing all the sights at a relaxed pace.

 

I guess the Teton's are less popular than Yellowstone, for while the "Welcome to Yellowstone" sign had a freaking line of people for taking pictures, the Teton sign was neglected.

 

The first two things I noticed about the Tetons were the roads and the mountains. The roads were instantly in better condition, and had a larger shoulder to boot. (If memory serves anyway) In fact, as I rushed down one of the larger hills, there were five signs forming a poem flashing by on my right. I would have taken pictures, but by the time I realized what they were I was at the bottom, and just no. The signs said this.

We saw wildlife,

From afar,

Until we hit them,

With our car.

Slow down!

I also saw this GREAT message flashing on one of the electronic road signs:

 

 

 

The Tetons were absolutely beautiful. I really wish I had had the time to go down to Jackson, apparently that road parallels the Tetons and is magnificent. But I did still get some great pictures!

 

 

 

Finally, I passed one couple on my way out of the Tetons.

 

The Teton area was actually rather short, and I ended up leaving it today as well. Which just left Togwotee Pass... a short amusing aside on this. Togwotee Pass is almost a three thousand foot climb, and I was very much not looking forward to finishing it at the end of today's ride. In fact, while looking at my map this morning, I got into an argument with the cyclist I was camping with about where the real climbs were on my ride yesterday. She somewhat balked when I showed her that the three passes I had put behind me all dwarfed her tough climb that day. She had those three to look forward to.) And she was really taken aback when she saw the 3,000 foot elevation climb of Togwotee. Pride ++.

Anyway, I decided I wouldn't take the whole pass in a single day. There was a campsite halfway up, and I figured it wouldn't be too bad. WRONG. For about 9-10 miles, I continuously passed these signs.

Even though the sign looks like the truck is going down, I was very much going UP.  If you're not a cyclist and would like to understand exactly what this means when you're on two wheels, moving under your own power, here's a Handy Guide to Climbing Grades.

 

Add in the fact that there was standing water nearby – and whenever I stopped the bugs swarmed around me making me feel like a modern day Beelzebub – and you have a miserable situation. Constant harsh climbing and because of the bugs you can't even take a break. Arrrrrrrgh!!!!!!!.

I did eventually reach the lodge, and I did luck out there. The campsite was cheap, $10 a vehicle but, as bikes aren't reaaaaally a vehicle, (words of the front desk) I could stay for free. In fact, there was another cyclist named Matt at the campsite. Matt is doing a mountain biking tour of the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, and has put down some SERIOUS miles. We both started the same day, interestingly enough. But while I have put 1,200 road miles behind me, he has ridden 1,800 – across mountain biking terrain. Pride-

 

The sunset over the Tetons was spectacular.

 

P.S.

Can anyone tell me what these signs are for? I've been seeing them everywhere since I got out of the Tetons, and I have no clue what they are for.

 

 

June 16 (Old Faithful and other geysers)

I woke somewhat early today, in time to chat a little bit with the other cyclists in the hiker-biker area. I have since forgotten their names and what we talked about, but I do have this picture of them!

Shortly into today's ride I met another touring cyclist, and we did the whole side-of-the-road chat thing. (For anyone unaware, the usual thing two touring cyclists do when meeting is pull over to one side of the road and trade information. Topics range from formalities - where are you going, where did you start,etc - to the far more useful trade of road details. Many of the interesting places I have stopped were learned of in these roadside chats.) When I joked about how I was going to make it to Lander, Wyoming in three days on 60 dollars he became rather pensive and told me "I don't think you're going to be able to make that..." And then he gave me $20, on condition I pay him back via Paypal. Super great guy no!? (Check out his blog at Steve's Journal.)

In other news, there was much scenery to be had today. I got to see tons of Geysers and even got 5 feet from a bison!

I also got to see Old Faithful, which was...weird. I didn't really expect it to be the mercantile [please fix this, I dont't like the word. Something meaning stores-y] hub of Yellowstone, but there you have it, stores everywhere. Old Faithful was kinda unimpressive too. I mean, yeah, its reliable and all that. but the eruption was rather unimpressive and only lasted 4 minutes...

...However...I was just sitting around relaxing for a while in front of Castle Geyser when THIS happened.

       

These much larger geysers have time intervals at which they can go off, in Castle's case I happened to be sitting in at just the right spot of that 2 hour block. It was much larger, and just seemed to keep going and going, which is when I heard the radio of a nearby watcher go "Castle is a Major, I repeat, Castle is a Major." I just had to ask.

She told me that a "Major" is an eruption in which all of the water in the geyser is let out, even the steam. As a result, the geyser is much more predictable in it's next eruption; they know exactly how much water was left inside when it finished - none. Furthermore, that means that after the geyser is finished shooting water it goes into a steam phase, which she thought was much more impressive. I would have to agree.

I also crossed the Great Divide a grand total of three times! Every time I saw other people there taking pictures and helped them get their whole family in the picture in return for taking a picture of me.

 

 

 

When I finally pulled into camp for the night I met up with another touring cyclist and pulled into a nearby campground. We traded information, apparently she was doing a shorter bike tour focused on beer: she was essentially riding from brewery to brewery, sampling their wares. She even had a flask mounted to her bike! Styling!

Later another camper pulled up - a fisherman and the three of us spent the night talking around a campfire. (When we managed to finally get one to light by using wood gathered by another set of campers) All in all it was a good day!

P.S.

Some pictures of Yellowstone, the good...

And the bad? (This devastation was caused by a massive forest fire many years ago)

Bill PSA:

So I've been reluctant to mention the fact that I actually name my bikes before to anyone – it seemed kinda embarrassing. Which is why I am going to publish this on the internet, for EVERYONE to see. Makes perfect sense. Anyway, this touring bike was recently (at this point in the trip) named, so I figured I'd tell you all what I named my bikes and why.

I'll start with my Cannondale. My CAAD9 5 is a lightweight racing bike, upon which I am able to hit simply beautiful speeds and, when everything goes right, it simply feels like I am flying across the road. Of course, that is only when everything goes right. She is extremely temperamental. If I'm not pedaling just right or I haven't taken good enough care of the bike recently she gets finicky and starts to act up. In this I have always viewed her as something akin to a (stereotypical) girlfriend (metaphor you jerk friends of mine) – she is very high maintenance, requires a lot of attention, but yields incredible rewards when you do your part right. As such, her name is Alae Ventosa, Latin (fem.) for Swift Wings.

In contrast, my Trek 520 touring bike is sturdy, tough, and able to take a beating. I pull a trailer with an extra 40-50 pounds of weight, ride it over mountains, through dirt and gravel roads, and put down 60-70 miles a day. I don't have the time to take adequate care of it, and some of the supplies (notably degreaser) are to heavy to carry altogether. Despite all his, the bike trucks on; I have had no major breakdowns thus far on my trip. When something does go wrong, it is never so terrible that I cannot keep riding until I get to the next bike shop – sometimes days away. Yes, he doesn't go that fast, but he is sturdy, and I view him as an ally thus far on the trip. As such, his name is Amicus Valens. Latin (mas.) for Strong Comrade.

Please don't mock me too much for this guys. (You know who you are)

June 15 (Into Yellowstone)

 

Note from the editorial assistant on July 13:

Somewhere around July 2nd or 3rd, Bill dropped his phone and broke it.  He just got the replacement phone a day or so ago.  He's going to try to get caught up with his blog entries in the next few days.  I think Bill can reconstruct/recreate the maps from June 15 till he lost the phone.  If he can, I'll update this entry when I get the map.  We're not sure whether he can manually enter data for the phone-less days. 

In the meantime, he's very backed up on writing any posts.  This one has been sitting around, waiting for me to finish it, for several days.  But after this, he'll have to find some time to sit and write. 

I am trying to keep the U.S. map at the top of the blog pretty well up to date with his actual progress.  He is supposed to arrive in St. Louis this evening, where he'll visit with  Dr. Mark and Mardi Manary from Project Peanut Butter.  He hasn't seen these wonderful people since he volunteered with PPB in Malawi during his gap year between high school and college! They should all have a nice time catching up with each other.

By the way, if you're enjoying Bill's TOURING TERRAPIN blog, you might want to take a look at his Away In Malawi blog that he wrote when he spent his eight months in Africa...

____________________

I woke relatively early today, not wanting to be a burden on my impromptu host. I only talked to him for a little while before I headed off to see Travis' shop – and get my promised shower.

 

Meeting Travis was quite fun. He explained to me that because he had responsibilities - a job, kids - he could not go on a cross country bike tour like me. As such, he opted to sign up for WarmShowers and live vicariously through the cyclists he hosts! He was practically throwing food at me to take on the road, and the shower felt amazing.

I also tried my hand at instant hot plate pancakes this morning, to middling success.

I tried to keep today's ride short to compensate for yesterday's hellishness. As such my ride was a short 30 or so miles into Yellowstone National Park and its outlying town, West Yellowstone.

 

Funny thing about my stay in 'West', as they call it: I managed to receive my spending money (Western Union money transfer) and also spend most of it in the span of about an hour. You see, I've been looking to get a pair of Shwalbe Marathon Plus tires to replace my Bontrager Hardshells that were starting to wear out; I've been hearing that the Shwalbes are the best tires out currently, and that the Marathon Plus is the most puncture resistant of the lot. (I'm all about not getting flats) However, Schwalbe is a foreign brand, so not many retailers carry them, and I wasn't too hopeful that the bike shop in West would carry them. I asked just for kicks though, and they had them! So obviously I had to buy them, right? And there went almost a hundred dollars of my specially wired cash.

Past that, I entertained myself for a while – about an hour – at the Welcome to Yellowstone sign by taking family group photos with the sign. No cameraman left out of the picture if I could help it! One father even gave me five bucks because he was so happy to have the whole family included for once! (I couldn't exactly refuse him with my new found poverty.)

Finally, when I pulled into the hiker-biker site at Madison Junction I got to talk to a pair of Yellowstone regulars, two cyclists who often ride into Yellowstone on their bikes and see the sights. I heard from them that I was actually lucky that I didn't make it to Yellowstone last night; apparently, there was a major storm passing through and they had to suffer through sleet and hail! You see how lucky I am? Imagine what could have happened to me had I been stuck in the hail and sleet last night!