The Final Hurrah

Today's stage was for positioning.  We didn't want to show up at Devil's Tower late and tired after 70 miles on the road from Gillette.   Moorcroft knocked 30 off that, making it easy to get to Devil's Tower tomorrow and still do some hikings. Susan so loves her hikings. Another day with hella winds, but pretty much on the beam, and only thirty miles, so trons to spare. It isn't just anywhere you can see a mile of locomotives. I take Susan to only the nicest places: Moorcroft's Texas Trail Museum.  That's a lot of bull. The fanciest digs.  In Moorcroft. It isn't small, it's fun sized.  Ours is the one on the right. Divey.  Friendly. Thirty-one blustery miles.   2086 between us and the Atlantic.

We got an early start today, 0800 instead of the usual 0900. The first hour and a half were idyllic — beautiful valley, smooth road, no traffic. Then, over the course of 15 minutes, the temperature dropped by at least ten degrees, and the wind went from zero to gale.  On the schnozz.   Our plan was to stop for lunch at Spotted Horse , so as to feed ourselves and the steeds.  With the headwind and 79 mile stage, but mostly the wind, we really needed to heed the steeds. Unfortunately, the owners had no faith that their electrical system could handle an extra eight amps.  And I had just as little faith we wouldn't be exhausted 10 miles shy of Gillette without some extra trons. So we paid the restaurant owner to ferry us the 35 miles remaining to Gillette.  Disappointing, but there wasn't much in the way of options. Seventy-nine miles today, 44 under our own power .  2117 still to go, that just have to be less of a blast to the face than today. Oh, and Susan's...

 We have had three easy stages in succession, 24 miles after a mountain against which we didn't stand a chance, 43 miles into Sheridan, greatly enhanced by the losing of some 5,000 some-odd feet, and today's 29 into U-Cross.   Wassa mattah?  Losing our mojo?   No.  More like places to stay are stubbornly unmoved by my desires as to where they belong.   Today's ride was beautiful, marred only by what fought us all the way into Three Forks:  20 mph of wind right on the schnozz.   The Rockies, still visible, if only just A long and winding road Today's lodging Twenty-nine miles today.   2196 left to us. Seventy-nine miles tomorrow.  Look like being on the schnozz.

Today marked when we truly started leaving the mountains:  behind us, snowcapped peaks; ahead the horizon, probably 120 miles away from our mountainside vantage point. Somehow I chose the lodge without wifi or cell service, and a a very limited restaurant — closed at 5pm, no breakfast.  Just three miles before was a lodge with all the trimmings. From the Mountains, to the Prairies That squiggly road on the left is where we will be in about 20 minutes On the squiggly road Looking back from the squiggly road Our lodging for the night Why yes, there is a bar Forty-three commendably it is all downhill from here miles .  2226 more saying that the wind would like a word. (Note:  I have decided to set the publish date to when the stage happened, rather than when I get around to actually doing the post.)

In planning this quixotic quest, I wanted to avoid interstates, have places to stay at suitable intervals, and keep the route to manageable terrain.  About that last one:  there's a giant lump in the way. We could have gone via I90, but lots of interstate.  I90 to 212 is less interstate, but unbridgeable stretches of nowhere to stay.  More southerly options were no improvement, unless we went really far south, and then interstate. In more detail: In the upper left corner, HC translates as "Beyond Category", using the Tour de France classification .  Second thing to note is the altitude — this climb tops at 8200 feet.  And there are two remaining climbs going up to 9200. Thanks to my Gumbyesque principles, and the free market, two very nice people ferried us from Lovell to the top. Amber & Kenny, without whom the rest of this trip would not have been possible Still lots of snow at the top . Tackling the easy part.   At the top, no thanks to us; in t...

First warm day since we left.   Helpful but less boisterous tail winds.  Presumed breakfast stop 22 miles in was firmly closed; ate gas station junk instead. Last glimpse of the Rockies Hull's Half Acre Just needs a coat of paint Wyoming at 13 mph. Seventy pleasant miles.   2325 remaining.  Planning around the emptiness west of the Mississippi is something of a challenge.

OK, not quite.  The Bighorns remain tomorrow, but the landscape change today was striking.  And made all the more enjoyable by a tailwind practically hurling us down the road. On with today's saturation photo bombing. Crazy Mountain, speaking of crazy. The last of the Rockies The first of the Plains Alongside the Yellowstone River Just past where the road disappears is today's destination, Joliet, SD.  Tomorrow's is straight ahead, over the horizon: Lovell, WY. Susan's funky tan lines Sixty-one spectacular miles.   2395 very different miles to come.

Short stage today — 34 miles from Livingston to Big Timber.  For some reason, towns aren't distributed for our convenience.  Beautiful weather, and a tail wind practically hurling us down the road. So on with additional crimes against the photographic arts. Wind Involved Hurtling Bald Eagle 2473 To Go Marking the Occasion At the end of our Grand Day Out, 37 more miles under the wheels .  2,456 between us and the Atlantic.

 First, a couple photos of the Sacajawea Hotel in Three Forks: Today's task:  on to Livingston.  Still unseasonably cold, but starting with calm wind.   About halfway to Bozeman, something went bump on the road:  I was a couple hundred yards behind Susan when I heard, via our communicators, a bang and an expletive, followed by her quickly coming to a stop.  The brackets holding the pannier rack struts to the seat stays (the part of the frame going upward from the rear wheel to the seat tube) had broken, and the pannier had fallen backwards, shoving the fender into the tire. After Before Because on account of reasons that's why, the chain stay is lower on the seat post than is typical.  Attaching the rack struts to the mounting points correspondingly positioned the rack closer to the seat. So I fabbricobbled mounting points using clamps used to secure electrical conduit.  It turned out that, as is so often the case, there is an unfortunate gap betw...

A few days on this trip, we have had winds that lightened our load, leveled the hills, hastened the journey. This was not one of those.  Twenty miles an hour in the face every inch from Helena to Three Forks. Great scenery, while we just wanted the bad thing to stop.  In a car, you don't even notice the cruise control dealing with it.  On a bike, our day got about two hours longer. Train Silos About eight miles out of Three Forks, as we came around a bend there was something that, for a few seconds, my brain just couldn't quite process: You must be wondering, just what the heck is so hard about that ? From Wikipedia: The sculptures are realistic enough to appear live from a distance, but are intended to be somewhat "impressionistic." To emphasize the elegance of the horse, the legs of the horse sculptures are one-third longer than those of real horses,  and they average 8 feet (2.4 m) high at the  withers .  Dolan said, "They're symbols of horses and w...

Today's task:  shift ourselves from Lincoln, MT to Helena.  Easily enough done, save for that stubbornly large mountain in our way. We hit 800 (not 8000) miles on the trip today. Down there we used to was. Finally, a good reason for these shenanigans. Even slower than it looks. Appears she's headed for the Gulf, and I for the Pacific Coke and candybar stop 20 miles from Helena Coke & candybar scenery Fifty-eight we could have been on a cruise worrying about finishing off our cruise drinks package instead of our legs miles.    Just 2615 miles left to think of the cruise that could have been.