Day 17--Dubois, WY to Riverton, WY

Day 17—July 05, 2006—Dubois, WY to Riverton, WY—79 miles—2200’ climb but dropped 1900 feet

For all those who are following our progress and thinking about riding with us someday, eat your heart out . . . you’re missing a great ride now!  Just when we think we’ve had the perfect day, along comes a day like this.  Everyone really enjoyed today: the terrain dropped overall from Dubois to Riverton, we had light tailwinds, and though it was chilly when we left Dubois, it heated up to the low 90s, which is still moderate (for this area) . . . not to mention the scenery.  The departure out of Dubois was spectacular, the changing colors of the hillsides caught everyone’s attention, and the early morning shadows on the weathered landscape caused riders to stop frequently for beautiful photo memories of the trip.

Parade "float" passing the drug store across from our motel

Our route today was Hwy 26 all the way to the motel in Riverton. Ninety percent of the time we had a nice shoulder and traffic was light and polite.  Most of the day we followed the romantic Wind River through the beautiful Wind River Valley. The river provided greenery for pastureland, which, with large ranches, was the scenery of the day for the early portion.  Many of the ranches in Wyoming have gates made of huge peeled logs and intricately cut and welded scenes across them, and names such as Big Sky Ranch, Wind River Ranch, Red Rock Ranch, and so forth. 

As we got closer to Riverton, we found ourselves in high desert with sage and sparse population.  The only town, if you could call it that, between Dubois and Riverton was Kinnear and it had a population of 44.  You've got to love solitude if you live out here.  I really love riding through this area, but I don’t think it would be too much fun to have a steady diet of this type of riding . . . only one paved road through here.
We met a couple at the second SS who were riding self supported to Colorado. They, too had started in Astoria. Then a little later we passed small groups of Adventure Cyclists who were traveling self-supported from Virginia to Portland. Today, at least, we had the terrain (mostly downhill) and the weather (tailwind) with us. I didn't envy them their push uphill and into the wind on such a hot day.

Everyone was in good spirits at the end of the day. The riding and the weather has just been too good. Riders needed this easy day before tomorrow’s tough 120 miles. Tonight they need to rest, because no matter how good the winds might be, 120 miles will make them ready for their day off in Casper. But that’s tomorrow.

[ Despite the rose-colored account above, the last several days were a trial for me--and for my roommate, who finally bailed in Dubois because she couldn 't sleep for my coughing. I was riding Float this day despite a super viral cold and hoarse cough. Even breathing at rest was a problem. Andy thought I was slacking so continued assigning me sag set up.Young Chris had been sagging in the van with me and helping with sag setup so that I could steer as clear of the food and riders as possible. It was either this day or the next when I volunteered to drive the luggage truck rather than serve food to the riders at the sag stops. I felt as though I was exposing them to my virulent germs. Andy reluctantly agreed.]

OVERHEARD ON THE ROAD TODAY:

•  “Could you please make the rest of our route like this?” 
• “Wide open Wyoming.” 
• “Yeehaw!” 
•  "Finally I can breathe again. The oxygen molecules are closer together at this altitude.”

SHOW & TELL: We saw prairie dog colonies along the roadside and several groups of antelope, plus a field of emu across from SS#2. I saw a burrowing owl at one of the prairie dog colonies. We all marveled at the striped and painted rocks in the first half of the day.