Day 5 (87 miles)

Today was all about great roads, until it wasn’t.  We started out fast going slightly downhill in smooth pavement.  Later the road turned to gravel, but still remained relatively smooth.  Later, the roads got more bumpy with washboard surfaces.  My bike was jiggling and I felt wetness (like rain) striking the back of my thigh. It turned out to be sealant from my rear tire. The sealant plugged the tire, but running across the washboards kept opening up the hole.  I inserted a couple tire plugs and gave the tire a few minutes to let the sealant cure where the hole was plugged. It managed to work so even though some sharp piece of gravel punctured the rear tire, it held up for the rest of the day. This was the longest day of riding we’ve had on the tour so far. 

Later we ran across a rest station and were filling our water bottles when the attendant came by and asked us if we knew anything about a bunch of boxes of baby food left at the rest area.  It turned out that the attendant was the brother of the bed and breakfast owner in the town where we are spending the night.  He recommended the Wild Bill’s bed and breakfast, then when we got into town, Paul was flagged down by the owner’s wife and she made sure we got to the bed and breakfast just fine. This family is working to keep this business going.  

Day 4 (31 miles)

We planned to make it a short day and end the ride at Pinedale to resupply in preparation for crossing the Great Basin.  The ride was mostly downhill and at a low level of effort.  Felt great to take it easy with a smile active recovery day.  We ran across Jerry in town and he told us he blew out a tire where we were purifying water with him a couple days ago.  He had to flag down some guys on ATVs and ask for help getting into town.  Interestingly he told us this story just after Paul decided to purchase a spare tire for his bike.

As part of our resupply planning Paul called the adventure cycling association and confirmed water supply locations in the basin so we could identify how much water to bring each day when leaving Pinedale.  Each of us will be carrying about 2.5 gallons.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing, doing laundry, shopping for food and bike/camping dingledangles.

What a day! I’ll get this out of the way first, I did a personal longest ride today of 126 miles, from Atlantic City, WY to Rawlins, WY, by way of the Great Basin of Wyoming. It wasn’t supposed to be that long. We planned on doing 77 miles to the A&M reservoir in the basin, a small reservoir put in place to support local wildlife, but due to a variety of reasons, we decided to push on. At first we were supposed to push on to a site less than 10 miles away, be before you know it, we decided to go all the way to Rawlins. It was a long day, but in we got to take the next day off, so I think we’re doing pretty good.

As far as the Great Basin is concerned, there are a differing opinions about this place, but I quite enjoyed biking here. It was peaceful and quiet most of the time, save for the wind, and the expanse of the sky and the land were breathtaking. I got a chance to ride along the tops of some hills that highlighted the openness and gentle beauty of the surroundings in a way that those walking or driving would be hard pressed to experience.

And there were some total surprises today, big and small.

First, small. At this one moment in time, Bud Light was the best beer in the world. Trust me, my beer loving friends, if you were there at this place and this time, you would agree.

Then, big. The maps were wrong. Though I say in the video, “the maps my brother made, ” it is totally not his fault. He got them in good faith off a reliable source on the internet, but it just so happens that they wanted to go a different direction than the ACA maps for this one section. I had been using them for weeks and there was no problem, they just went off script here for some unknown reason. This took us on a journey of discovery through the Great Basin. When all is said and done, it turned out to be an enjoyable diversion. Sometimes it works out like that, unplanned trips can be very cool.

And weird. Freaky weird. Like, Blair Witch weird.

But this is what most of the day was like. Flawless sky and biking on a fun mix of hills, flats, and, yes, even tail winds.

Today we got final word from Greg M. that he was sufficiently recovered from his shoulder injury to join us on the tour. He’d be flying into Jackson Hole airport, so that’s where we needed to be, Jackson, WY. This was not part of the original plan. The GDMBR starts heading East at Colter Bay, so we’d be riding off route. Best divergence ever. I got a chance to see the stunning Grand Tetons in from so every angles and distances as we rode through the park. When we got our first view in the North, Greg said, “it will only get more spectacular as we go on.” He was so right.

I’m going to post some pictures and video, but if you’re a fan of the Tetons, you’re probably already seen similar. But here’s the thing, go there in person. There is something about the extreme openness of the sky and the land in Wyoming that can’t be adequately replicated in media. But if you’re a fan, you probably already knew that as well.

Right now I write this from the the bar at Kendall Valley Lodge. I love KVL. These guys are great. Great dinner, comfortable cabins, Beautiful grounds, wonderful people, the works. But there is no cell signal here at all, and no WiFi in the rooms. If I want (really slow) WiFi, I need to go to the restaurant or bar. That’s all I got.

But this, in a nutshell, is the tour. You will meet wonderful people, see stunning scenery, and get to know parts of the country I barely knew existed, but there is a price. Mostly, that price is that this is a world that doesn’t always need instant access to interconnected tools, so they don’t prioritize them. It’s just not the critical part of their life that it’s become for many of the rest of us.

I’ve stayed in many places in the last few weeks that amazed me. Some were great, some were bad, and some were just weird. I love the roll-the-dice local lodging lottery. But interconnected tools have been part of my life for decades. I’m an IT guy for gosh sake. So I have two ways I go. Sometimes I’m frustrated that I can’t get enough cell signal or WiFi to contact my loved ones or updated my blog. Sometimes I secretly like that I can’t connect. Shhh, don’t tell anyone about that last one.