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Day 33 (Friday, July 23, 2004): As has
become our custom, we were at breakfast before
6:30 AM, and we were on the road at 7:20 AM. It
was raining as we rode out of the Cottonwood
Motel in Phillipsburg, KS, and we were suited up
in our yellow rain jackets. As had happened the
day before, the soft rain quit about 15 minutes
after we started to ride, and we had to stop to
put the rain jackets in our packs. However, the
sky was dark and threatened rain all day, and
the threat was carried out with a heavy rain
shower just before our breakfast stop at 10:45
AM in Norton, KS, that caused us to enter the
café wet and dripping water on the floor. The
second heavy rain shower occurred starting about
8 miles outside of Oberlin, KS, which was our
destination for the day. This last rainstorm
thoroughly soaked us, and we checked into the
Landmark Inn (a Victorian B&B in an old restored
bank building in downtown Oberlin) dripping
water and more than ready for a warm shower.
Along the road this day was some "country art"
that made good use of large rolls of hay. The
three pieces of sculpture that were spotted
represented the major characters in "The Land Of
Oz", a fanciful cricket with human rider, and a
large truck with an oversized load. Pictures of
these creations are posted in the picture
gallery for everyone to enjoy. I learned
something about Kansas mud when I was
photographing this country art: When I stepped
off the roadway onto the wet (remember, it had
been raining) bare soil that was the shoulder of
the road, my bicycle wheel picked up an enormous
amount of mud and so did the soles of my shoes.
Most of this mud did fall off before the end of
the day thanks to the rain that we rode in
during the day, but it was a mess to be dealt
with for the next few miles of riding.
About 15 miles from Oberlin, we met three
touring cyclists coming towards us. These were
the first touring cyclists that we had
encountered on this trip, so I crossed the road
to talk with them. The group was composed of
three college students (one man and two women)
on a summer vacation tour. They had started in
Seattle, WA, traveled down the Pacific Coast to
mid Oregon, crossed the middle of Oregon through
Bend, down to the Rocky Mountain National Park,
now traveling east to meet up with the Lewes &
Clark Trail which they would follow as far as
possible as they travel back to Washington State
University in Spokane, WA. This is what I call a
real vacation. Our mileage for the day was 64
miles bringing our total mileage for the trip up
to 1,948 miles.
Day 34 (Saturday, July 24, 2004): We
stayed the night at the Landmark Inn (a B&B) in
Oberlin, KS. This Inn was created by the
restoration of a Bank Building built in the late
1800's, and it was restored and furnished as a
Victorian hotel: Stay here if you ever have an
opportunity to do so.
Breakfast was not served until 7:30 AM so we did
not get onto the road until 8:10 AM. The streets
were wet with the rain that had fallen during
the night, and the dark sky threatened more
rain. As we wheeled onto US Rt. 83N, we were met
by a strong headwind directly in our face. To
compound the problem, the temperature was only
about 50 degrees F, and the forecast was for a
high of only 59 degrees F (this is 30 degrees
below normal). Of course, our way for the day
was to be through the usual Kansas (and soon to
be Nebraska) rolling countryside with its long
uphill climbs and seemingly short downhill runs
which with the strong headwind required pedaling
downhill to keep up our usual road speed of 10
to 12 MPH, and struggling to get up the hills at
any speed.
We arrived in McCook, NE, at 11:00 AM, and had
to make an important decision: Do we go on the
60 miles to North Platte, NE, or do we stay the
night in McCook to rest up and hope for a
favorable change in the weather (Note: It is
interesting that weather comes in day long
increments. This is very apparent when you are
doing a long tour by bicycle). It was one or the
other since there was no place to stay between
these two towns. We decided to stay in McCook
which gave us time to shop for Peter's special
groceries, repack our sag wagon, and do
maintenance on our bicycles: All of which were
important. Our mileage for the day was 28miles
giving us a total mileage for the trip to date
of 1,976 miles.
It is noteworthy that Gary was interviewed by a
reporter for the McCook (NE) Gazette. Someone
had called this reporter telling her that there
was a strange bicycle on the road coming into
town, and that she should go out and find out
what it was. This reporter was a bicycle rider
who had just completed a triathlon, so we had a
great conversation. Her story should be on the
internet at http://www.themccookgazette.com/
after July 26.
Tomorrow we have a difficult 60 mile day going
from McCook to North Platte with many long
hills. We will do fine if we do not have to face
headwinds so we are hoping for the wind to shift
to the south (unlikely) or to die down. You will
learn what happens in tomorrow's comments.
Day 35 (Sunday, July 25, 2004): Our
overnight was at the Best Western Motel in
McCook, NE. On checking in we learned that the
town's water supply had a high level of nitrates
(contamination from the cattle feed yards and
fertilizers applied to the corn and other
agricultural crops), and we were advised to
drink only bottled water. Farmers resist the
changes needed in their practices to reduce the
nitrate levels in the ground water, and
ultimately the consumers of the food products
involved will have to go up. However, the
changes must be made for the sake of the health
of the community.
We rode out of our motel at 7:30 AM. The sky was
dark and threatening rain, and the temperature
was cool (near 50 degrees F). The good news was
that there was no wind. The bad news was that
our route was north on US Hwy. 83, and this
route is very hilly. Also, there were no
services (I.e. restaurants, motels etc.) until
we reached our day's destination in North
Platte, NE, which was 65 miles away. Peter had a
particularly difficult time because he had
contracted a slight case of diarrhea and he had
not slept well the night before. Irene and our
sag wagon saved us with lunch supplies that we
enjoyed at a small park in Wellfleet, NE
(population 76), that had a table with benches
and a port-a-potty. While we were eating, we
were visited by the park's neighbors and the
town's Mayor Paul who wanted to know all about
our bicycles. The friendly conversation that
ensued made for a very pleasant lunchtime stop.
Our destination this day was North Platte, NE.
The final 10 miles of this day's ride brought us
into the most urban environment that we have
been in since we left Topeka, KS, 5 days
earlier. This meant riding over Interstate Hwy.
80, riding through a 1/2 mile of road construction
where all traffic was forced into 2 lanes with
no shoulders, and into the town center through a
series of traffic lights to our Best Western
Motel at the corner of US Route 83 and 30. We
arrived at our motel at 2:30 PM. Our mileage for
the day was 65 miles brining our total miles for
the trip to date to 2,041 miles.
A note about wildflowers: Wildflowers are not as
abundant in Nebraska as they were in Kansas, but
they were very interesting. The most abundant
wildflower on our route was the Kansas sunflower
which we tried to ignore. More interesting were
the beds of prairie coneflowers that lined the
road just beyond the reach of the mowers that
ply our American highways. There was also a
purple flower that was beautiful, but whose name
is unknown to us: Can anyone supply the name of
this flower?
We had only been at our motel for 15 minutes
when Irene's cell phone rang. It was Tammy Haley
checking up on our progress. We had a long
conversation, and I can say that having a friend
like Tammy is pure gold.
Finally, I want to thank the people who made my
bike whole and roadworthy again in Baldwin City,
KS. I am speaking of Diane Blake of Victory
Bicycles, Jim and Jimmy Spillane of Whitney
Bicycles, and Ray Rittenhouse - the Indiana
Tiring Man. My 54" Whitney/Victory ordinary
bicycle is going strong and I do believe that it
will take me to the end of our ride across
America.
Day 36 (Monday, July 26, 2004): We
stayed the night at the Best Western Motel on
the corner of US Route 83 and 30 in North
Platte, NE. After a very continental breakfast
at the motel, we wheeled out onto US Rt. 30
heading west at 7:45 AM (CST). It was sunny and
cool promising to be a great day for riding.
However, once out of town we encountered a
slight wind from the south which was not a
problem until about two hours later when the
wind picked up speed and shifted to a southwest
direction that vectored to a headwind that was
strong at times. On top of this, the road to
Ogallala, NE (our destination for the day), was
a constant gradual uphill pull which added to
the headwind, and tired us out early in the
day's ride.
About 10 miles into the day's ride, Peter
mentioned that it looked like we had not
traveled very far. The road was almost straight,
the upward pitch of the road was very gradual
and uniform, the wooded area along the South
Platte River was on our left, and fields of corn
and alfalfa were on our right; and this scene
went on for 20 miles or more. The birds
interested me in that they were of the type that
seemed to nest on the ground instead of in trees
as is more common in the East: I recognized
several grouse, and possibly some quail, but
most of the birds were strange to me.
US Rt. 30 is a very special transportation
corridor. It is the route of the first
transcontinental highway that was called the
Lincoln Highway, and it has always been a major
route for transcontinental railways. And, in
this area US Hwy. 30 also follows closely the
route of the pioneer's Oregon Trail and the
Mormon trail. The reason for this concentration
of transportation routes is the relatively low
(easy) pass through the Rocky Mountains that
lies directly west of us: At least this is our
understanding. We will let you know our opinion
of the easiness of this route through the Rocky
Mountains after we have made the passage on our
ordinary bicycles.
I called Paul Brekus, and Jeff Nye and Nancy
Dobbs, tonight, and they will try to get time
off to ride with us on Thursday (July 29) when
we will be riding the 60 miles from Kimbel, NE,
into Cheyenne, WY. We do hope that they can join
us for as long as their time allows because it
does make our ride all that more special.
Our riding day ended at 1:00 PM (MST) when we
rode into Ogallala, NE. Our mileage for the day
was 50 miles bringing our total mileage to date
up to 2,091 miles.
Having ended the day early, I went to the
Ogallala Library to use their computer to send
my comments and pictures to Karen Turner , the
Master of The Wheelmen Web-Site, for posting to
our "Ride across America" web-page. The staff at
the library were most helpful, and I am hopeful
that the material needed to update our web-page
is now in the capable hands of Karen without
whose help our website would be a shadow of what
it is. (Note: Normally, I am using AOL email to
send updates for our web-page to Karen. However,
this requires that AOL have a local phone number
to connect to in the towns that we overnight in
so that I will not incur long distance phone
charges. For the past week, we have been riding
through countryside in which AOL has no phone
connections making it impossible to get the
information to Karen by this means. If today's
use of the town's library computers was
successful, I will be able to keep our web-page
more up-to-date in the future.)
Day 37 (Tuesday, July 27, 2004): We rode
out of the Grey Goose Lodge in Ogallala, NE, at
7:40 AM to begin our day's ride. After crossing
the train tracks (a defining feature of most
towns on US Rt.30 in this part of the country)
on a high bridge, we turned left onto US Rt. 30
to begin our day's journey. The day was sunny
and cool with a light wind blowing from the S to
the SSW. We climbed all day long; gradually most
of the time, but steadily.
As mentioned in earlier comments, in this area
US Rt. 30 closely follows several pioneer trails
including the Oregon Trail, the California
Trail, the Mormon Trail, and the route of the
Pony Express. We observed several historical
markers that explain parts of this rich history,
and we took a few pictures to remind us of what
we were riding through. Another feature of US
Rt. 30 is the dereliction of many of the small
towns that prospered when this route reigned as
a major transcontinental highway named the
Lincoln Highway. The towns are still there with
water towers to announce their presence to
approaching travelers, but much of their
formerly thriving roadside businesses are
evidenced only by abandoned buildings that are
falling into ruin. The main cause of decline in
these small towns was the coming of Interstate
80 that closely parallels US Rt. 30, and that
takes most of the traffic nowadays. The plus is
that these small towns are quieter with little
traffic, but the downside is that most of the
business generated by the traffic has gone to
new establishments that have sprung up alongside
the Interstate highway.
We saw three young male deer today (they all had
a single fork of horns) feeding alongside the
corn next to the road. The first one jumped up
when we came along and ran across the road into
the thicket on the other side of the road. The
second pair of young bucks ran a short way along
the edge of the corn when when they say us, and
then they stopped, stood still, and watched us
as we wheeled past. It is likely that Thomas
Stevens would have fired a few shots from his
pistol at these animals, but we felt fortunate
to have had the opportunity to see these
beautiful animals in the wild.
It is summer, and time for road construction.
This day's ride took us over about 20 miles of
roadway that is under construction/improvement.
The new roadbed was exceptionally smooth, but
there was no sign of shoulders being
constructed. When we inquired about the absence
of shoulders on the newly reconstructed US Rt.
30, we were told that shoulders were not being
added to this road because most of the heavy
traffic was now being carried by Interstate 80
eliminating the need for shoulders on this road.
It is true that we had no problems with traffic
as we rode westward on US Rt. 30 using the right
side of the right lane to ride in.
As usual, many people approached us during the
day to ask about our bicycles, and we were happy
to take the time to talk with these people.
There is no doubt in my mind that Wheelmen do a
significant amount of educational work for the
benefit of the public when we are out with our
bicycles.
We arrived in Sidney, NE, at 3:00 PM having
ridden 66 miles bringing our total mileage for
the trip to date up to 2,157 miles.
Day 38 (Wednesday, July 28, 2004): We
stayed at the "Sleep for Le$$" motel on the east
side of Sidney, NE, and we rode out of this
comfortable place onto the old Lincoln Highway
at 7:50 AM. Riding through town early in the
morning was pleasant and easy, but once outside
of the protecting buildings of the town, we were
attacked by a strong wind from the north that
vectored into a forceful headwind from our right
side.
We stopped to rest about 12 miles out of town at
a historical marker that told about a large US
Army Depot that had existed in the area during
WWII. A reporter from the "Sidney News" drove up
and we had a very pleasant half hour interview
with picture taking. This reporter asked more
than the usual number of technical questions
about our bicycles so we are very interested to
find out what will appear in print (we were
promised copies of the relevant newspaper).
After three hours we had traveled only 20 miles.
We stopped in Potter, NE, at this time for
lunch, and we were engaged by virtually the
whole town with friendly questions about our
trip and our bicycles: A picture of Peter and
Gary with a group of about a dozen children
illustrates the happy situation. This town of
about 100 residents was built in the early 20th
century as a base for maintenance of the
railroad. When Thomas Stevens passed through
this place in 1884 there was probably only a
railroad maintenance shack with one, or at least
only a few, persons stationed there. However, it
was the railroad with its maintenance shacks at
regular intervals that Thomas Stevens used to
sustain himself on his historic ride across
America.
After this long lunch (about 12:00 AM), we hit
the road again only to face the same strong
headwind on or steady climb up to Kimball, NE,
our destination for the day. Peter was riding
rather slowly at this point so Gary went ahead
in order to get to the library in Kimball in
time to use the Kimball Library computers. Gary
finished the day's ride at 2:00 Pm and Peter
came in at 2:20 PM (he must have speeded up
after Gary went ahead). Our mileage for the day
was 38 miles bringing our total mileage for the
trip to date up to 2,195 miles.
Day 39 (Thursday, July 29, 2004): Wheelmen
Paul and Barbara Brekus (from Denver, CO)
arrived at the Day's Inn Motel in Kimball, NE
(the motel that we were staying in), at 11:00 PM
the night before so that they could join us for
this day's ride. We were all up in time to
partake of the breakfast that was promised by
the motel at 7:00 AM. This breakfast proved to
be cellophane wrapped bakery goods and coffee
made a pot at a time for about 20 waiting motel
guests. We were all in a good mood, and the
disappointment about the scanty breakfast
offered did not dampen our spirits.
Peter, Gary and Paul wheeled out of the motel at
7:50 AM onto US Rt. 30 heading for Cheyenne, WY,
riding their ordinary bicycles. About 4 miles
down the road we met Wheelman Jeff Nye (from Ft.
Collins, CO) on his Eagle high wheel bicycle.
Jeff had driven up early in the morning in order
join us for the 20 mile ride to the Wyoming
border. Barbara rode in the sag wagon with
Irene, and these Wheel-ladies enjoyed themselves
visiting and ministering to the riders at sag
stops that averaged about 5 miles apart.
When we got to Pine Bluff, WY, on the border
between Nebraska and Wyoming, we stopped for a
real breakfast, and Jeff said his goodbyes as he
turned to ride back to his car. Peter, Gary, and
Paul mounted their ordinaries and rode onto
I-80W continuing on toward Cheyenne. (Note:
Bicycles are allowed on the Interstate highways
in Wyoming because there are no alternative
roads in most cases.) Riding on the Interstate
Highway provides some interesting experiences.
First, there is the heavy traffic with a high
percentage of large trucks whizzing past at 70+
MPH. The shoulder was usually about 5 feet wide
which gives the bicycles plenty of room, but
these shoulders have grooved rumble strips every
few feet that tended to shake our bicycles to
pieces. Luckily, the design of the rumble strips
changed after about 20 miles to a line of
grooves in the pavement that runs parallel to
the roadbed, but which leave about 3 feet of
flat surface outside of the row of grooves for
bicycles to run on.
The road climbed gradually all day, and the wind
came from the S-SW which vectored into a
headwind that varied from mild to strong during
the day. Whenever we came to the top of a butte
we could see for miles in every direction, and
there was nothing to see but grassy plains that
sloped gradually upward from east to west. This
vastness had a special beauty of it's own, and I
thought about Thomas Stevens riding his ordinary
bicycle over these grassy plains when the only
roads were wagon trails.
As we approached Cheyenne, US Rt. 30 separates
from I-80, and we rode on US Rt. 30 through the
center of the town of Cheyenne to get to our
Best Western Motel on the west side of the city.
Cheyenne was having it's Frontier Days Festival
so we had to pay a hefty premium for our motel
room and be thankful that we had a room at all.
Our mileage for the day was 63 miles bringing
our total mileage for the trip to date up to
2,258 miles.
While Irene and Barbara were out retrieving the
Brekus car, Paul solved some of Gary's computer
problems, and he provided Gary with some
software needed for the Wheelmen Meet in 2005:
This was a very productive interlude in a busy
day. Paul and Barbara stayed in Cheyenne long
enough to have dinner with us making for a
fulfilling ending to a great day of camaraderie
and ordinary bicycle touring.
Day 40 (Friday, July 30, 2004): Gary and
Peter rode out of the Best Western Motel in
Cheyenne, WY, at 7:50 AM after stopping briefly
to take a picture of the giant decorated cowboy
boot in front of our motel (these were all over
town for the Frontier Days Festival). We
followed US Rt. 30 out of town and onto I-80W
for another fun day of riding on the shoulders
of the Interstate highway. This day was
memorable because we climbed steadily for the
first 30 miles of the day's ride from an
elevation of 5,000 feet to the top of the pass
on the route to Laramie, WY, with an elevation
of 8,640 feet. This pass was the highest point
on the old Lincoln Highway: The Lincoln Highway
was established in 1912, and it was the first
transcontinental highway in the USA. To make the
climb just a little more difficult, we faced
headwinds that increased in intensity as the day
went on. At the top of the pass, there is a
visitor center with a large statue of Abraham
Lincoln, and a story board that tells the story
of the old Lincoln Highway. Our long climb was
rewarded by a steep descent (5 miles of a 5%
downhill grade) into Laramie. We arrived at our
Comfort Inn Motel in Laramie (our destination
for the day) at 3:00 PM. Our mileage for the day
was 44 miles bringing our total miles for the
trip to date up to 2,302 miles.
Day 41 (Saturday, July 31, 2004): We rode
out of the Comfort Inn in Laramie, WY, at 7:50
AM to begin our ride for the day. We followed US
Rt. 30 through the historic downtown and out
into the countryside heading west. The first 18
miles were wonderful: The road was nearly flat,
there was no wind, and the countryside was
awesome because of it's expanse (grasslands as
far as the eye could see with almost no human
buildings of any kind.
Our road followed the route of the Union Pacific
Railroad which is the route that Thomas Stevens
followed when he rode across America in 1884. At
one point Gary laid his bicycle on the side of
the road and walked the 200 yards across pasture
land to the railroad to take pictures of the
railroad and the path alongside the railroad
that Thomas Stevens may have rode over 120 years
ago. Fortunately, a train came along during the
picture taking episode which provided an
opportunity to get a very special picture. One
or more of these pictures will be found in the
picture gallery associated with these comments.
Another special feature of this day's ride were
the large number of antelope that we saw grazing
on the rangeland near the road. These graceful
animals were often in small herds of 8 to 15,
but single bucks and does with as many as three
fawns were also seen. Irene who was confined to
driving the sag wagon only saw a few of these
animals confirming the advantages of doing this
trip by ordinary bicycle.
About 10:00 AM the wind began, and (you probably
guessed right) it was a headwind. To make our
ride even more challenging, the route became
rather hilly. We stopped for lunch in Rock
River, WY, at 12 noon, and the wind picked up
while we ate to become a major force. Our ride
after lunch was characterized by a battle to get
up the hills and maintain our headway against
the headwinds. By the time we got to Medicine
Bow, WY (our destination for the day) at 3:00
PM, we were more than ready to call it a day.
Our mileage for the day was 57 miles, and our
total mileage for the trip to date was 2,359
miles.
We stayed at the restored Virginian Hotel that
was built in 1911 when Medicine bow was a
bustling prosperous frontier town at the end of
the railroad. It is also the hotel that author
Owen Wister made famous by his novel "The
Virginian". This is the fourth historic hotel
that we have stayed in on this ride across
America, and we hope that there will be more to
come. Not as many amenities, but comfortable and
more interesting.
Day 42 (Sunday, August 1, 2004): Before I
forget again, I want to record for the record
that yesterday's ride from Laramie, WY, to
Medicine Bow, WY, was all above 6,800 ft.
elevation and most of it was above 7,000 ft.
Apparently, we are fit because this elevation
did not seem to have an ill effect on us.
Also, more can be said about the windiness of
the part of Wyoming that we are passing through.
We took our diner at the Virginian Hotel in
Medicine Bow, WY, and we meet two gentlemen who
were in the wind machine (electricity
generation) business. They operate multiple wind
machines in the area, and they were unhappy
because the wind that day only got up to 30 MPH
whereas their wind machines need winds of least
38 MPH to get up to full generating power. We
wished them well with their project, but we also
hoped that we were out of the area before the
winds got up to the speeds that they were
wishing for.
We got up early hoping to get most of our
mileage in before the winds picked up (usually
about 10:30 AM we were told). This allowed us to
wheel out of the Virginian Hotel parking lot,
and onto US Rt. 30W, at 7:00 AM. The road was
rather hilly, but the country through which we
were passing was beautiful in it's bigness. I
have said this before, but it is very impressive
high up on the saddle of an ordinary bicycle.
And the wildlife seen was amazing to us city
dwellers: We saw at least 50 antelope in
different herds and small groups, rabbits
including a jack rabbit dead on the road, a
rattle snake, some grouse, and a coyote. The
coyote was part of a drama in nature that was
being played out: The drama started with a herd
of antelope about 100 yards on our left that
seemed to be running toward us (which seemed to
be very strange), and then we spotted a coyote
in full pursuit. We do not know who won this
race, but all involved were magnificent in their
wild run to destiny.
By 9:00 AM the wind had picked up to where we
were feeling it's force, and, you guessed it, it
was a headwind. The wind got so strong that Gary
had to walk up one hill which was the first time
that this had happened since the first hill that
Gary encountered when we entered Kansas. At
about 10:30 AM after 35 miles of riding, our
road joined up with I-80W, and our riding
conditions changed abruptly: The traffic
increased at least 10-fold, the roadbed was
smoother and the grades up the hills were less
steep, and there was no wildlife evident.
Conclusion: Interstate highways are great to get
from A to B in a hurry, but take the side roads
if you want to see, and enjoy, nature and the
countryside.
We arrived at the The Lodge in Rawlins, WY (our
destination for the day), at 2:00 PM (our legs
were very tired). Our mileage for the day was 57
miles, bringing our total mileage up to 2,416
miles.
Day 43 (Monday, August 2, 2004): First,
a few comments about the pictures sent with
yesterday's comments. The first picture shows
Peter and Gary as they are about to start the
day's ride leaving from The Virginian Hotel in
Medicine Bow, WY. The other pictures were taken
by Irene from the window of our sag vehicle:
These pictures show Peter and Gary riding on
I-80W about 10 miles from Rawlins, WY, which was
our destination for the day.
There is one important correction to the
comments for Day 42. An encounter between a
coyote and a small herd of antelope was
described. We have discussed this incident among
ourselves at great length, and we have concluded
that the coyote was really a mountain lion.
Obviously, we cannot be absolutely sure whether
it was a coyote or a mountain lion, but we feel
that the deciding factor was the loping way that
the animal was running. Does anyone reading this
have advice on how to tell the difference
between a coyote and a mountain lion when they
are about 500 yards away and running very fast.
Our Ride Day 43 began at The Lodge in Rawlins,
WY. We anticipated a short 40 mile day so we got
slept in till 6:00 AM, and did not start our
ride until 7:45 AM. It took about 20 minutes to
ride across town and to get onto I-80W, and we
sailed along with no wind until about 9:00 AM
when the wind (a headwind again) picked up to
make the hills steeper and the flats seem like
they were mild hills. But, by this time, the
wind was expected and the day seemed normal: It
was warm but not hot, and the road (I-80W) was
hilly but highly graded so that we had no
serious impediments to our progress except the
perpetual Wyoming headwinds.
About 15 miles out of Rawlins, we crossed the
Continental Divide at 7000 feet of elevation.
I-80 crosses the continental divide a couple of
times in the next 100 miles going west from
here. One of our pictures shows us at this place
with the Wyoming expanse ahead of us.
In yesterday's comments, I said that no wildlife
was to be seen when traveling the interstate
highways. Well, to prove that there are few, if
any, absolutes in life, Gary was riding down
I-80W trying to ride a straight line so that he
would not get hit by one of the 18-wheelers
whizzing by, when he spotted 6 beautiful
antelope on a hill near the road. Feeling that
there was nothing to loose, Gary stopped his
bike, whipped out his camera, and got several
great shots of these magnificent animals before
they leapt away over the hill. Gary's picture is
in this day's gallery of pictures, but nothing
can compare with actually seeing these graceful
animals at home in Wyoming.
One of Irene's relatives remarked that the
pictures were great, but there were not enough
of Gary (Gary is the primary photographer on
this trip) so she tried to rectify this by
taking a few of Gary riding, standing, etc. Now
that responsibility is fulfilled.
We are in a part of the country where places to
stay are limited so that trip planning is
important. We had planned to stay the night in
Wamsutter, WY, which was only 40 miles from our
start point (Rawlings), but the next town with
accommodations was Rock Springs, WY, which was
105 miles from our start point. This would have
worked out except that when we got to Wamsutter
we found that all the motel rooms were taken
(all 30 available rooms were taken by
agriculturalists who were having meetings and
railroad people who were there to do remedial
work needed because of a recent train wreck
nearby). We fast formulated an alternative plan
which was to ride 20 miles further to Table
Rock, WY, put our bikes on the sag van, and
drive into Rock Springs for the night. Tomorrow
we will drive back to Table Rock, and continue
our ride from here to make our ride across
America a continuous ride: This expediency was
adopted with some misgiving, but sleeping in
tents alongside the road without a real meal
seemed like an even less desirable choice.
We arrived in Table Rock, WY (the terminus of
our day's ride) at 3:30 PM. Our mileage for the
day was 60 miles bringing our total mileage for
the trip up to 2,476 miles.
Day 44 (Tuesday, August 3, 2004):
This day stated with a ride in our sag wagon
from Rock Springs, WY (where we spent the
night), back to Table Rock, WY, which was the
point where we ended yesterday's riding day and
loaded our bicycles onto the sag wagon for the
49 mile trip to our night's resting spot. Upon
arrival in Table Rock, we reassembled our
bicycles and we were on the road (I-80W) at 8:40
AM heading back to Rock Springs on top of our
ordinary bicycles.
After 3 miles of a slight downgrade going into a
flat grade, we began a 7 mile uphill slog with a
heavy headwind. You may recall from my comments
of two days earlier that the wind machines in
Medicine Bow, WY, require 38 MPH winds to get up
to full generating power. Well, I am sure that
they were up to full power this morning. By the
time we reached a rest area at the top of the
hill, we were ready to collapse. However, Irene
and the sag wagon was parked at the rest area
with refreshments, and it only took about 15
minutes and some bananas to get us going again.
The strong head wind continued throughout our
riding day, but we are now accepting this as
normal. The main effect of this wind is to make
our normal 50 to 60 mile days seem like 80 to
100 mile days under more favorable riding
conditions. Special sights and encounters
included passing a large open pit mine on the
hills on our left, and a meeting with a lady who
had stopped in a pull-over to take our pictures
and hear the story of our trip. Whenever we
stop, we are generally approached by people who
have seen us on the road and want to know more
about us and our bicycles, but this was a
special encounter because she had approached
Irene first to get the basic information, and
then she had walked 200 yards up the road so
that she could get a good picture of us on the
road as we passed by. Also, she had a story
about the Kodak company and stolen technology
some 80 years ago which intrigued Peter (he
worked for Kodak Ireland for over 40 years).
We passed no restaurants this day, so our
sustenance on the road was taken entirely from
our travel bags and from our sag wagon. I
thought of Thomas Stevens who, according to his
account of his ride across America in 1884,
carried very little food or drink on his
bicycle, but depended on finding sources of
these essential items along the way. In fact, I
have been thinking a lot about Thomas Stevens as
we ride across Wyoming close to the route that
he followed in 1884: The difficulty of our
crossing increases my awe at his accomplishment
at a time when human amenities were few and far
between.
To get to our motel in Rock Springs, we had to
ride through about 3 miles of serious road
construction. All traffic was confined to the
two lanes normally used by the west bound
traffic only, and there was precious little room
left over for a shoulder and bicycles. To make
matters worse, rumble strips that ran the entire
width of the shoulder (no way to escape them)
appeared once again. We made it through this
gauntlet safely, but it certainly was not a fun
part of our ride.
Our riding day ended at 2:00 PM when we rode
into the Day's Inn in Rock Springs. Our mileage
for the day was 49 miles bringing our total
mileage for the trip to date to 2,525 miles.
This means that we have less than 1,000 miles to
go before we reach the Pacific Ocean at Newport,
OR (if my estimates are correct).
For those who are following our trip, we have
decided to take a slightly different route from
Little America, WY, to Twin Falls, ID, than is
given in our proposed route. From Little
America, we will leave I-80W and go north-west
on US Rt.30W through Kemmerer, WY; Pocatello,
ID; and on to Twin Falls where we will rejoin
the route that I had originally laid out for
this ride across America. The change is based on
conversations with Barbara Brekus who grew up in
Pocatello and who knows the roads in this area.
She tells us that we will not miss the fun
riding through a lot of high hills, but the
route is shorter, it is more scenic, and there
is far less high speed traffic. Also, please
note that we will be traveling through territory
in which we will have no possibility of an
internet connection with the service that Gary
is using. As a result, there will probably be no
updating of our ride comments until we reach
Pocatello, ID, which will be 4 or 5 days from
now. As always, we appreciate your good wishes
for our safety on the road.
Day 45 (Wednesday, August 4, 2004):
We (Peter and Gary) were up, had breakfast at
our motel (the Day's Inn in Rock Springs, WY),
and were ready to ride out onto the highway at
7:20 AM. This was the opening day for the Sweet
Water County Fair, and everyone was talking
about this event which was reputed (by the local
people) to be bigger and better than the State
Fair. In any case, the trick bicycle riders that
were to perform at this event were checked into
our motel, and we stopped to have our picture
taken in front of the trailer that carried their
ramps, bicycles, and other gear. Then we went
over to the breakfast room to show our bicycles
to the guests and staff that had inquired about
our ride across America. By 7:30 AM we were
finished with these preliminary matters, and we
rode out onto I-80W (Bus) that took us through
the town and out onto the main interstate
roadway heading west.
We passed through Green River, WY, at 8:15 AM
which was too early to stop and shop for a book
on the history of the Union Pacific Railroad at
the Beans and Book Shop, so we continued on our
way with only a short stop to talk about out
bicycles with a local resident in a pick-up
truck that had chased us down. Riding through
the town of Green River enabled us to bypass the
dual tunnels with narrow roadbeds that carries
the I-80 traffic around the town.
We had considered ending our day's ride at
Little America, WY, which is only 47 miles from
Rock Springs, but this was an unusual day in
that we had tail winds all morning. We arrived
at Little America at 11:00 AM, and we were still
fresh so we opted to ride on to Diamondville/Kemmerer,
WY, which was 47 miles further along our route
(there were no intermediate possibilities for
overnight accommodations). We ate lunch at
Little America and we were on the road again by
11:45 AM. We had traveled only one mile when our
luck changed abruptly.
First, Peter's rear tire flew off the rim as he
was climbing up a gradual incline in I-80W: The
wire that was internal to this tire had broken.
Irene and our sag wagon with all our repair
materials had gone ahead to a point 10 miles up
the road. Gary tried to call Irene on his cell
phone, but we could not be connected because
AT&T Wireless does not have service in this
area. It turns out that even though we were
denied a cell phone connection, Irene could hear
Gary's voice, and Gary was explaining the
situation even though the silence on his phone
lead him to believe that Irene was not
connected. Gary jumped on his bicycle to race to
find Irene, and Peter was left to patch his bike
with bailing wire found on the roadside, Gary's
pocket knife, and the rubber tiring that had
come off his rear wheel. Gary found Irene and
the sag wagon about 1 mile up the road: She was
returning to the site of the breakdown based on
what she had heard on her cell phone. We quickly
fastened Gary's bicycle to the back of the sag
wagon and drove back to where Peter was
struggling forward with his makeshift repair: He
had fastened the rubber tiring onto the rear
wheel by wrapping bailing wire around the rim
with the tiring in place (please see my picture
for clarification of this fabulous temporary
fix). When we found Peter, he had traveled about
1/4th mile on his "repaired" rear wheel, and he
was so proud of his handiwork that he wanted to
continue riding with this contrivance to see how
far it would go before breaking again. However,
Gary and Irene convinced Peter that he must
repair his rear wheel properly so as not to
cause further delay to our ride. I am happy to
report that this entire affair delayed us for
less than one hour and that Peter's repair job
is holding up splendidly.
Second, our tail winds swirled around and at
different times became wind from our left side,
strong headwinds, or weak tailwinds. I have
developed a theory about these Wyoming winds:
The sky is always full of big beautiful clouds,
and there is a 10 to 15 degree F temperature
difference on the ground depending on whether
you are in the shade of a cloud or exposed
directly the bright sun. These large temperature
differences that are constantly playing across
the countryside, that is mostly desert with very
few trees, causes air to rush from cooler areas
to warmer areas. Certainly, when large dark
clouds appear in the sky, the winds get stronger
(sometimes with almost gale force), and they may
come from any direction. These winds have
certainly played a major role in our progress
across Wyoming more so than in any other state.
We were told by our motel keeper tonight that we
will not be bothered by these winds once we
cross over the border into Idaho.
We learned from a storyboard at a rest stop that
the Wyoming winds together with the omnipresent
sagebrush play a critical role in the lives of
the antelope, the grouse, a large herd of elk,
herds of wild horses, and other wildlife in this
state. The sagebrush (see a picture of sagebrush
with yesterday's pictures) is the staple food
for these animals, and the wind ensures that
snow in winter is cleared from patches of this
sagebrush ensuring that these animals have
enough to eat even in the severest weather. So,
sagebrush is good, and the wind has its good
points.
A third observation is the amount of military
vehicles that we have seen moving on the
highways. During the time that we have been
traveling on I-80, we have met and talked with a
group of California National Guardsmen now on
active duty, we have been passed by three
military convoys, and we have been passed by
dozens of large trucks carrying new military
vehicles to some destination. The implications
for all this military activity are scary to me,
and I only hope that all Americans are thinking
about the implications of the course that our
country is on.
About 2 miles from Little America (after fixing
Peter's rear tire), we turned north off of I-80W
to follow US Rt. 30W as it winds northwestward.
All afternoon we struggled with winds coming
from different directions as explained above,
and we also had to contend with several long
uphill pulls as we pushed on to arrive at our
day's destination in Diamondville, WY , at 4:30
PM. You can be sure that we were very tired at
the end of this riding day. Our mileage for the
day was 84 miles bringing our total mileage for
the trip up to 2,609 miles.
Day 46 (Thursday, August 5, 2004):
We rode out of the Energy Inn in Diamondville,
WY, at 7:20 AM. Our first stop was 1 mile down
the road at the Busy Bee Restaurant in the
center of Kemmerer for our breakfast. Across the
street was the Mother Store of the J.C. Penny
Company. When you think about a nationwide chain
of retail stores starting in a place like
Kemmerer , a town with a population of about
400, you realize that it is possible to go from
humble beginnings to riches in America if you
have a good idea, the know how to make it work
in the marketplace, and some luck. (The same
story has played out more recently with Sam
Walton and the Wal-Mart stores).
After breakfast, we followed US Rt. 30W out of
town, and we found the riding to be relatively
easy because the road was fairly level and there
was no wind from any direction. This route
follows the old Oregon and California Trails,
and you can see why the pioneers who were
emigrating chose this route: It is relatively
flat although there are real hills on either
side of the road, and a stream flows in the
bottom of the valley through which the trail
passed making it easy to get water.
About 10 miles down the road we came to a
turnoff for the Fossil Butte National Monument.
We parked our bikes, climbed into the sag wagon,
and drove 4 miles up a side road to an
Interpretive Center. Fifty million years ago the
middle levels of this butte were the bottom of a
lake that contained many species of fish,
turtles, crocodiles, etc., and was located in a
rich, moist environment that supported
luxuriant, and varied, vegetation. The wealth of
fossils in the middle strata was discovered in
the nineteenth century, and a significant
portion of the fossils in museums in the world
(especially fish fossils) have come from this
area. This National Monument is worth a visit is
you are ever in the area.
During the hour that we were visiting the Fossil
Butte National Monument, a strong wind from the
west had come up which made out travel very
difficult until our route turned northward at
Sage, WY, when it became a strong tailwind. We
traveled the last 19 miles into Cokeville, WY
(our destination for the day), with ease thanks
to this wind. In fact, the tailwind made riding
our bicycles so easy we were tempted to continue
on to the next motel stop (Montpellier, ID)
which was 31 miles further down the road, but we
decided against it knowing that (a) the winds
can shift and they usually do, and (b) there is
a big mountain to cross between here and there.
We ate our lunch on the road out of the sag
wagon after about 25 miles of riding.
Storyboards at this pull-out on the road
explained that this was on a major migratory
path of the Wyoming mule deer herd. It also
reminded us about the importance of Wyoming
sagebrush as a food material for these animals
(especially in winter). To help me remember all
this, I took another picture of sagebrush that
grows everywhere that we have been in this
state. (Note: For those who do not know the
sagebrush plant, it is a shrub that grows about
waist high, and it needs only 7 inches of
rainfall in a year to survive.)
Irene had booked us into the Valley Hi Motel in
Cokeville. When the proprietor heard that we
were riding high wheel bicycles from the 1880's,
she called the local press so we ended our
riding day with an interview and Peter did some
trick riding for the camera.
We finished our riding day at 1:00 PM in
Cokeville. We rode 46 miles this day bringing
our total mileage for the trip to date up to
2,655 miles. The rest of the day was spent
resting, sorting out our gear, and reviewing the
maps for details relating to the remainder of
our ride across America.
Day 47 (Friday, August 6, 2004):
We spent the night before this ride day in
Cokeville, WY, which is a small town with a
population of about 200 persons. A new Flying J
Truck Service Center has been built across US
Rt. 30 from our motel (the Valley Hi Motel) with
a restaurant where we ate our meals. After
dinner (about 7:00 PM) we sat on the swing set
in front of our motel and watched the sunset
which was spectacular with an abundance of large
moving clouds, a full rainbow in the east,
lightening in the south, and great rays of
sunlight coming from the west as the sun sank
below the horizon: The show was certainly much
better than TV.
After the evening sky show, Gary was playing
with his laptop computer, and he found that he
could connect with the internet from the Flying
J Truck Stop via WIFI . We learned that all
Flying J Truck Stops and affiliated Truck Stops
have this service available for truckers (and
anyone else who subscribes) across the country.
We are not only a globalized society, we are
also a computerized society.
Our ride for the day started at 7:50 AM as we
rode out of our motel in Cokeville and onto US
Rt. 30W. The air temperature was cool, and the
road was almost flat. There was no wind. After
one hour of riding (11 miles) we reached the
Idaho border, and a small green marshy valley
that provided the emigrants following the Oregon
and California Trails some special difficulties.
We were thrilled to see a large number of
Canadian geese here as well as 5 sand hill
cranes. To make it even more exciting, we saw a
fox that ran back and forth alongside a fence
only about 20 yards from Peter and Gary as they
rode along on the highway. As soon as we had
crossed this small valley we encountered a long
(over 2 miles) steep (about 4% grade) hill.
Peter and Gary both rode up this hill, but Gary
was really hurting by the time the top was
reached.
We found the countryside in Idaho to be quite
different from Wyoming. In Idaho, the hills are
more pronounced, there are more and bigger
streams and rivers, and the terrain tends to be
more varied. Gary stopped at one point to take a
picture of all this, and two mule deer that had
been grazing near the road began to run up the
hill: A picture of the hillside with these two
deer is included in the pictures for the day
along with a picture of the road alongside a
small river that we were following at this time.
A picture of some thistles growing alongside the
road is also included: Gary has been looking for
some thistles to photograph all this trip, and
he finally found some in Idaho.
As was pointed out in previous day's comments,
US Rt. 30 in Wyoming and in Idaho closely
follows the old Oregon and California Emigrant
Trails. On this day's ride we passed more than a
dozen story boards that give interesting facts
about these trails, and a few of them were
photographed for inclusion in the picture
gallery accompanying this day's ride. There is
also a large museum dedicated to the history of
these trails in the town of Montpellier, ID, for
anyone interested in more details.
We ate lunch at 11:00 AM in Montpellier which
was at the half way point on this day's ride.
After lunch we had one more big hill to climb
(Fish Creek Hill), but this was not as hard as
the big hill that we climbed earlier in the day.
The remainder of the ride was through valleys
that were sometimes wide and sometimes narrow,
up and over small hills, and generally in sight
of either a river or a stream and mountains of
varying heights. All of today's travel was on a
road that was over 6,000 feet elevation. The
wind came up in the afternoon, but it was almost
always from our left side giving our forward
motion little resistance.
We arrived in Soda Springs, ID (our destination
for the day), at 2:15 PM. This town is known for
its captive geyser that is managed to erupt (a
100 foot high column of water) every hour. Our
mileage for the day was 60 miles bringing our
total mileage for the trip to date up to 2,715
miles.
Addendum for Those Interested:
a. Our Daily Routine: We set the alarm for 6:00
AM, and we rise from bed promptly. We wash our
faces and dress, pack our clothes in plastic
bags, and go out for breakfast (breakfast is
taken at the motel when available or at a nearby
restaurant). After breakfast, we pack our
belongings and put them into the sag wagon or on
our bicycles. We then mount our bicycles and
ride out onto the highway (this is usually
between 7:30 and 8:00 AM). After about 25 miles
(2 1/2 hours of riding), we stop for lunch at a
restaurant or eat out of the sag wagon if a
restaurant is not available within 5 miles
distance. After lunch, we ride until we get to
our destination for the day. Our destination is
generally dictated by the availability of a
place to stay within a day's riding distance of
40 to 60 miles: Our objective is to ride an
average of over 55 miles per day for the total
trip, and we are trying to ride into and out of
our accommodation for each day. Upon arrival at
our destination, we shower, wash our riding
clothes and hang them out to dry, and Gary sets
up his laptop computer so that he can write his
Comments and enter the day's digital pictures:
All this is forwarded to Karen Turner for
inclusion in our web-pages on The Wheelmen
web-site (see below for details). We eat dinner
at a local restaurant, and return to our motel
so that we can be in bed by about 10:00 PM at
the latest (Peter is generally in bed asleep by
9:00 PM).
b. Daily Maintenance of our Web-Site: Gary did
four things before starting this Ride Across
America to enable the daily updating of a
web-site dedicated to our ride: (1) He bought a
lap top computer, (2) he signed up for AOL so
that he could connect with the internet in most
cities across America, (3) he set up a personal
web-site through Comcast. Net (Gary's primary
internet service provider), and (4) (most
important) he enlisted the assistance of Karen
Turner, our Wheelmen Web Master. The original
concept was that Gary would update his personal
web-site directly each day, and Karen would post
pictures sent to her via AOL and provide a link
between these pictures on The Wheelmen Web-Site
and Gary's Personal Web-Site. The AOL connection
was to be made by plugging into the phone line
in the motel room each night, and connecting
with AOL (and the internet) by dialing the local
AOL phone number. As it turned out, using Gary's
personal web-site using AOL to connect with
Comcast.net did not work well, so Karen agreed
to manage our "Ride Across America" web-pages as
part of The Wheelmen Web-Site. This arrangement
was worked out early in our ride, and since then
Gary composes comments after each day's ride and
he attaches the digital pictures taken during on
that day. These comments and pictures are sent
to Karen on the same day that they are put
together via AOL if there is a local AOL
connection in the town that we are staying in.
If no local AOL connection is available, the
comments are saved until such time as we do stay
in a town with the required connection.
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