Day 52 Tuesday July 12, 2005, 68 miles (109 km) – Total so far: 3,126 miles (5,031 km)
68 miles 6:29 pedaling time
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At 6:30 I jumped out of my tent and went straight for the breakfast place. I was starving because I never got to eat dinner last night after I rode like 70 something miles to get to Dubois. I sat in the Cowboy Café and inhaled a giant omelet. I was there atleast an hour. When I was done eating all the eastbound guys who I camped with last night showed up. I sat at their table and talked to them while they ate breakfast. Then said farewell and they took off riding east.
Sometime I wonder what riding east is like. I wonder if riding into the sunrise is ever an issue. One thing I really love about riding west is riding into the sunsets. God its beautiful, especially when I’m racing the sun to get into town before she sets. It’s also even better when I win that race.
I went back to the campsite and started packing myself up. When I was done I worked on my journal for quite a while and didn’t get on the road until around11am. I hate getting on the road late but I hate it even more when I fall behind on my journal. Writing this journal is a lot of work. Sometimes I think I’m taking on too much by keeping this journal going.
I quickly took some pictures of DuBois and visited a giant Jackalope, before I left. I saw a bike parked in front of the cowboy diner. It was Matt the Australian guy I saw in Lander. He said he left Lander at 3pm and rode into to Dubois last night at 11pm.
Today’s plan was: The first 30 miles of today was all up hill, then I’ll cross the Togowotee Pass at 9656 feet and then it was all downhill for the rest of the day. Dubois was at about 7000′.
Climbing the hill wasn’t that bad. I kept being harassed by these awful giant black flies/bees. They wouldn’t leave me alone and I couldn’t seem to ride fast enough to lose them. If I stopped in the middle of the hill swarms of mosquitos attacked me and bit me all over. I kept moving and stopped as little as I could until I got to the top of the mountain. This sucks.
On the way up I stopped at a convenience store to get a sandwich and hung out there for a while. Some cowboy was talking to another guy about how pissed he is at his architect, cause he isn’t working on his drawings. Haha I wonder what his architect is doing instead of his drawings. When I got to the top of the pass I ate my lunch. There was a beautiful lake and still some snow around the perimeter.
An old man sat next to me while I ate my sandwich. He complained about how Yellowstone Park is being run and he told me about his friend who invented an engine that runs off of water. He then told as soon as I start descending down this mountain and I see those Tetons, my entire trip is going to be worth it.
10 miles down the hill, the mountains came into site. They were nothing more than a line across the horizon. The closer I got the more pictures I took. Holy shit, these Tetons were definitely the most beautiful mountains I have seen on this trip. Actually my entire life.
I stopped at a campsite and they wanted $35 to setup a tent. That’s ridiculous, so I kept riding down the hill. The view of the mountains got better and better the closer I got.
When I got to the entrance of Teton National Park I saw Matt the Australian Guy. He must have passed me when I was eating lunch. He was meeting some friends in Colter Bay so I went with him. I figured I would camp there.
When we got to the campsite I met Jim who was riding west and I finally got to meet Larry Elswick, whose journal I have been riding since he left 2 weeks ahead of me. I talked to Larry for a little while. He was listerally working on his journal when I found him. I’ll probably catch up with him more on the road tomorrow.
The site Larry was staying on had exceeded their tent limit. They said Matt and I could stay there, but we just couldn’t put up a tent. Matt was going to just sleep on the ground. I’m not into that, so I found the biker/hiker camping. It only costs $5 for a site and had a bear box for me to put all my food into.
Matt told me today that he thinks today was the most beautiful day of riding. I agree. After I came over that pass it was like a whole new world.
Tomorrow I’m going to ride to Jackson Hole even though it is off the route. I’ll lose a day riding but I know if I don’t go there I will regret it.
I went picture crazy today.
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