June 24 - Dubois to Lander Wyoming

Written by Michael with editing and assistance from Gloria, Ann-Renee, and Eric.

As of today we have been on the road for one month. The good news is we are still speaking to each other. So far we have traveled over 1400 miles.

This morning started out at our Airbnb house in DuBois. Eric did an outstanding job cooking bacon, eggs, and toast for breakfast to prepare us for a long day.  The house was plenty large enough for all of us and we were all glad we were at this Airbnb house instead of a hotel.

Today's ride was a 74 mile ride.  It was supposed to be mostly downhill, however we found it much harder than we expected. Some of the difficulty was that the wind was against us some of the way so we felt like we were working hard just to go downhill. Some of it was because the shoulders, or most of the shoulders, were very to extremely bumpy.  Wwhen yyou arre ridingg ovver aaa bbump eevery feww seconddss, it tires you out, lowers your speed, and makes you want to move off the shoulder into the main road - which is not always so safe.  Some of the shoulders had two sets of rumble strips, one on the left side of the shoulder and one in the middle of the shoulder. That made things really bumpy.

The first 20 miles or so leaving Dubois had absolutely stunning scenery. We had beautiful painted hills on one side of the road, and sometimes both sides of the roads, for what seemed like forever.

Each part of the country we've been to has been a little bit different, or maybe a lot different, but still absolutely beautiful.  We followed the Wind River for much of the day. We had snow capped mountains in the background of many of the hills we are looking at on many occasions.

On our first break we met up with a man on an ATV who was out watering his grass and alfalfa. He lives here 6 months a year and he lives the other six months in Florida. I'll go out on a limb guessing that the six months he spends in Florida are in the winter and the six months in the summer are spent in Wyoming.

We spent much of the day bicycling through the Wind River Indian Reservation. In Crowheart, Ann-Renee visited a library that was only open three hours a week in the summer. We felt sorry for the kids whose only library was open three hours a week.

It was interesting to see on the Indian Reservation that more people were walking longer distances in places that you would not expect, for example down the highway. I am a little embarrassed to admit that a man passed me up twice while walking. Now you know how often we take rest breaks.

Our excellent sagger, Ann-Renee, provided an outstanding lunch at a rest area about 40 miles into our trip. If I heard her correctly, she talked to a man who had the privilege of traveling with his great-grandchildren.  Not many people get to do that.

Several of us noticed in both Crowheart and Lander signs about cattlewomen's groups. It was interesting to note that there were no such signs for cattlemen's groups.

Today we saw at least 20 pronghorn antelope,  including one sighting of two or three does and their fawns.  Gloria and Michael also saw two Ospreys in and around their nest.

As we approached Lander, we saw this beautiful lake with an incredible blue-green color. It was warm enough that Ann-Renee would have gone swimming in it had she had her bathing suit with her.

The Indian Reservation ended just before Lander.  And on reservation land was a Shoshone Casino.  

In Landers Ann-Renee saw the following sculpture with a woman on a bicycle. I'm sure it'll be in the Smithsonian soon. In case you can't tell from the picture, the woman in the sculpture has on an itsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow polka dotted bikini.   You can Google the phrase "itsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow polka dotted bikini" if you don't know the song reference.

Eric was able to get his mountain bike tire replaced with a road bike tire in a bicycle shop in Lander today. No doubt this will make Eric even faster tomorrow.

Our laundry is in the dryer.  It's time to do my stretching exercises, sort the clothes, and head to bed.  Another great day comes to a close.  Tomorrow is a 59 mile day and these legs need rest.