Wednesday, July 9, 2008 – Day 17

Start: Sheridan, Wyoming
End: Gillette, Wyoming
Miles: 119.04 Total Miles: 1,273.74 BRAA Total Miles: 1,183.20
Time: 8 hours 38 minute (avg 13.7 MPH)
Flat tire count today: 0 Total flat tires for the ride: 5

Another cold morning. It was in the mid 40s when we woke up and got started today. Brrrrr! It was ok with me because even though I had goose bumps, I knew it would get hot later on and the cold would be just a memory. It did warm up indeed. Into the mid 90s in the afternoon when we were just finishing up.

The ride was a long one today. It was the longest of the entire ride – 112 miles. It was listed as “long rolling hills”, but I believe one key word was left out. The word “up” needed to be inserted before “hills”. This is because I think we were continually going up. It felt as if there were no real down hills to offset the up hills. I know this is probably just in my mind because of the long hot day, but it certainly felt like we climbed about ten thousand feet.

As I was riding, I spotted a lone flower along the road. I just had to take a picture because it was beauty in the midst of really nothing else.

I kept seeing these boxes along the side of the road the last several days. They looked familiar and I finally remembered what they were. They are for bees and harvesting honey. I was surprised to see them out here, but I imagine they are there because they are good spots for attracting bees. There are a lot of these around. Not sure if they are from someone doing it privately.

As I was cruising down the road I spotted another attention grabber rustling around in the grass on the side of the road. It was a wild turkey just hanging out. It got a little nervous when I was
trying to take its picture, but eventually it stopped long enough for me to get one. I thought it was pretty strange to see a turkey along side the road just hanging out in the grass.

As an example of what we look at on the ride for hours at a time, I have posted a picture of a really long road. Look closely and you will see that it just keeps going. The funny thing is when we reach the end or the top of the hill, there is another extension of the road that looks strangely familiar. It just keeps going and going and going…

We road by a small town called Ucross earlier in the day that had a sign posted showing the population as 25. I thought wow, what a small town. Up the road though, I had to laugh when we stopped at a water stop next to a café in a town called Spotted Horse. There was a sign in the window of the café that listed the population as 2. I think that is the couple who own the café. That is all there was out on the route today for services.

Along side the road for miles and miles, I started to notice something very familiar. There were these yellow flowering plants that were on both sides of the road. It was really awesome when I stopped at the top of a hill and looked back to see the entire road going back as far as I could see was flanked on both sides by these yellow flowers. Look closely as the road winds back...you can see the yellow on both sides.

I saw this guy looking for some food. He was big and looking carefully for his next meal to pop out.

And then this guy stopped to pose for me. I am still wondering why most of the animals, especially the cows, stop what they are doing and just stare at me as I ride by.

Finally, we camped at a park in the town of Gillette, WY. It was a community center and a local hang out. There was a skateboard park that was in use late into the night and the parking lot seemed to be the place where the cars parked and people talked when they weren’t racing their cars up and down the street. The good thing is I was so tired from the long ride that when I put my head down, I was fast asleep.