Ranchester, WY to Greybull, WY
Today's ride was really awesome, despite all the bad things we had been hearing about the ride. We finally had to go over the Big Horn Mtns, and Brad had been telling us all week about the trip, which basically consisted of an 18-mile climb, 30 miles of up and down on top of the mountains, and then 18 miles of downhill into Greybull. We woke up early since the total distance for the day was 80 miles and Sae-bin's parents were coming down to make us dinner tonight, so we wanted to be in Greybull in time for that. As it turned out, the day was actually a great ride! The 18 miles of uphill were not the best, but the incline was not too bad, so we were able to make it without too much problems, and we got to look out over the roads we had been climbing and admire the view at almost every turn, so that made up for the climb a bit. This was the first day that Wyoming was beautiful, and hopefully, this will continue and the grass will stay green, along with the mountains. After the last two depressing days of dry grass and sand everywhere, the mountains were a welcome sight.
The Big Horns were beautiful, and we had a great time admiring the scenery, we saw a huge (and very loud) pack of sheep, and even got to play in the snow! At the lunch stop, Matt Strick, Dave and I arrived second, and looked up and saw that the first group had climbed up a nearby mountain and were playing in the snow on top, so we decided to join, and after 20 minutes of climbing on foot to get there, we had an awesome view, and amazingly enough, got to make snowballs in the 85 degree weather. And if that wasn't awesome enough, we also were treated to an amazing lunch of sandwiches containing MEAT by Sae-bin's parents! Having meat anywhere for lunch is a rare occurrence on this trip, so we were very happy. After lunch, we enjoyed the 18 mile descent out of the mountains, which was pretty crazy, we probably averaged about 35 mph the whole time, and then headed into town, where Sae-bin's parents made us some amazing Korean BBQ for dinner, and everyone ate until they were stuffed. I checked in with some friends and family after dinner, and finished my latest book, Slaughterhouse Five, so I had a pretty productive day all in all. Tomorrow is a short ride into Cody, where we hope to catch a rodeo, and also to avoid the rain.
States traveled through:15(NY,NJ,PA, DE, MD, DC, VA, WV, OH, IN, IL, WI, MN, SD, WY)
Distance today: 80 mi
Total Distance traveled: 2737 mi