Hi everyone! Welcome to days 43 and 44. After our camping day it has been hard to catch up on the journals, so combined two-day journal awaits.
On day 43 we had an absolutely beautiful first 20 miles of the ride. We were riding down a canyon with a river on our right the whole time. We saw some beautiful views of the canyon and enjoyed the slight downhill it offered.
Meanwhile, van driver Rick and his passenger for the first 20 miles Peter did some adventuring and exploring of their own.
The rest of the riding for the day we were going through a more typical Wyoming scenery consisting of desert-y rolling hills, but did not have to chance to get tired of it too much since we only had to ride for 56 miles.
Because it was such a short riding day, we got to our stayover early at about 1 PM. That left us plenty of time to unwind, do laundry, and get food (multiple times).
In the evening we decided to have a team movie night. The votes for which movie to watch split very quickly however, so we split up into two separate rooms to watch two separate movies. So much for team bonding, I guess. The superior movie watchers watched “It Chapter Two” while the less cool people watched “Dazed and Confused".
On day 44 we had quite a bit more biking to do, a whole 76 miles. The weather blessed us and for most of the day it was cloudy and warm but not hot. The first half of the ride was not particularly scenic, but some of the riders did get to explore an abandoned building.
About half-way through the day we also stopped at a gas station where we met the sweetest, friendliest dog I have ever met in my life. We did not know her name, but we most certainly did pet her extensively despite it.
The last 20 miles of the ride we got to appreciate some amazing views of the mountains. We even got a sneak peak of the Grand Tetons in the distance. We are biking there tomorrow and having a rest day there afterwards. Lots of our riders have said that the Grand Tetons were their number one thing they were excited to see on the trip, so finally getting to see them even from afar was pretty special for us.
We got done with the ride at about 3 PM, so we had plenty of time again to explore the town (which in this case apparently means mounting various jackalope statues).
As mentioned, tomorrow we will be biking into the Grand Tetons and staying there for our rest day. It will undoubtedly be very fun and exciting, but unfortunately it also means we will likely not have service or internet again. Which means, no journals will be posted for the next two days, or three if the no-service area also happens to continue into Yellowstone. I hope nobody gets too bored or sad in the meantime, but if you do, I am sorry :( More journals await in the very near future :)
-Valerie