Day 28 - Colter Bay to Jackson Lake Lodge (August 3)

More or less a rest day...

But there are things to do, blogs to write, fancy lodges to sit in while watching the clouds cover and uncover the peaks of the Tetons.

The Jackson Lake Lodge is a large Lodge near Jackson Lake. In the upstair atrium, there is free wifi access and three story windows looking out over the Grand Tetons. I spent my entire day here resting, eating, people watching, and updating.

Later, I had a nice conversation with Bikers from Oklahoma and saw a nice sunset on the lake over the Tetons.

Day 28 - Colter Bay to Jackson Lake Lodge and back again - 17 Miles

Day 27 - Bridge Bay, YNP to Colter Bay, Teton NP (August 2)

Ugh...

Before I get into the challenges of today's riding. I stopped to look at a small natural bridge near my campsite. Bridge Bay is named for the natural bridge that is located just south.

My bike stands in as my surrogate in my pictures.

Naturally, A Bridge

The roadway was bad, bad, bad today. And the drivers were bad, bad, bad today. The roadway from the West Thumb Junction in Yellowstone south to the entrance of Grand Teton National Park is dedicated to John D. Rockfeller. He should get off of his rump and repave the road with wide shoulders. And straighten the road while he is at it. What's that you say? He's not alive?

This is a picture of West Thumb. Yellowstone Lake is shaped like a hand, a right hand to be specific. West Thumb is located on the west side of the lake. That narrow opening leads to the rest of the "hand" that is Yellowstone Lake.

The road was narrow and had no shoulders. It was also curvy. This made it hard for cars to pass. So very often cars would pass closeby. Obviously, I didn't like this. Fortunately, most cars slowed down while passing.

At least the view was nice. There were three scenic points: the West Thumb Geyser Basin, the Lewis River from Lewis Lake to the Southern YNP boundary, and Jackson Lake.

I stopped at the West Thumb Geyser Basin to do my business and see some more geysers. I had considered just continuing on, but I decided to look at more geysers. I mean don't all the geysers look alike? Not these geysers.

My friends and fellow touring cyclists, Luis and Marta (from Madrid, Spain) were also stopping here for a mid-morning snack. Marta was of the opinion that all geysers were alike. So they were only stopping for a snack. I joined them for a snack and then looked at the Geysers.

I'm glad I did. In fact, I wanted to linger a while. This is hard to do when touring. When touring, I stop and look at things for only a short while, but I have to keep moving because I have to get to my destination.

This geyser basin made me want to stay for a while. Yes, it had all of the typical geyser features - geysers, mud paint pots, vents, steam, rotten egg smell. But it had something more. It was right on the enclosed West Thumb bay of Yellowstone Lake. Yellowstone Lake has water clarity like Lake Tahoe did 30 years ago. The water was a wonderful blue color, there was a nice sandy cobblestone bottom. I wanted to go for a swim or sit on the beach for a while. Of course because of the geysers and the heat and the acid and the sulfur, the beach was closed.

So I enjoyed the lake and returned to the picnic area to pick up my bike. When I did I noticed two other bikes - those of Luis and Marta, but the riders were not there. Where could they have gone? To the geysers I guessed?

Too bad, I wanted to say goodbye. Because Marta and Luis were only going to ride for 40 miles today, I wouldn't see them anymore.

Later I arrived at my campground. I went about my business setting up the tent, organizing, etc., doing the domestic part of the ride. As I was heading out, Luis and Marta arrived. They decided to ride on to a campground with a shower. So it was nice to have company during the afternoon and for dinner - to discuss history, politics, and tell them about California (they were planning on driving to California to ride the Coast in to San Francisco).

Day 27 - Bridge Bay to Colter Bay - 67 Miles

Day 26 - Cody, WY to Bridge Bay, YNP (August 1)

Doing the Buffalo Bill...

After visiting the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, it was on to the Buffalo Bill Reservoir, past the Buffalo Bill State Park, and past Cody peak. I guess they like Buffalo Bill around here.

This ride really worried me. I didn’t know the lay of the land and I didn’t have a good guide map to lead me into the park. I was worried that I might have to ride 100 miles and I wouldn’t have the strength or energy for the ride.

The "Cathedral" as seen on the Road to the Yellowstone East Entrance.

Also, from my review of the map, there didn't seem to be any services along the way. No water, no food. Actually, there was food and water 50 miles into the ride. So, I decided to do what all good touring cyclists do when faced with no sandwich stop along the ride, I made a whole loaf of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. That's right, its the return of the PB&J! This was the first PB&J I had since beginning the trip. Why did I wait so long? PB&J is the ultimate touring food - you can eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and snacks.

As it turns out, the ride was not too bad. It was a gentle ride up the Shosone River. I had to go through 3 tunnels to get up the Buffalo Bill Dam. There were no shoulders. Fortunately, I was only passed by one vehicle as I exited the narrow set of tunnels.

Today, I ran into another highway construction site. This site went from the entrance of the park to the top of the only climb I would do today - a distance of 7 miles. So as I approached the construction site, I saw a line of vehicles. So I road along side the vehicles to the front of the line. The project Foreman flagged me down. He was ready for me. Apparently a lot of cyclists come through the East entrance and most cyclists want their touring experience to be “pure.” In other words, they don’t want ANY assistance whatsoever. From my experience 2 days ago, I was pretty sure that I wouldn’t be able to ride the construction site because of heavy vehicles. So when the Foreman said that I would have to take his truck, I was glad to wheel my bike over and put the bike in the back. This made today’s ride much easier.

Lodgepole Pine Burned in 1988. Yellowstone Lake in Background.

The Trail to Storm Point

When I go into the Fishing Bridge RV park, I saw some other lightly loaded touring cyclists ahead of me. So I pedaled hard to catch up with these cyclists. It was fun to drop some lightly loaded cyclists while I remained fully loaded. Actually they dropped me. These three gentlemen (actually they were kids - each 20 years old) were riding from Senectedy (sp?), NY to Seattle. It was nice to chat with them and hear about their ride. I didn’t end up sharing a campsite with them because they decided to ride on to the campground at the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Have a safe ride guys!

I met another couple of touring cyclists. Luis and Marta are from Madrid, Spain. They spoke some english and it was very generous of them to let me eat with them. I would like to think through our conversation, their english improved, but we'll see.

Later after dinner, I walked to see Yellowstone Lake. Earlier in the day, the surface was very rough and whitecapped. Now it was calm and blue. I headed back to the campsite passing some elk.

Day 26 - Cody to Bridge Bay - 76 Miles (by bike), 7 Miles(by truck)

Day 25 - Rest Day in Cody (July 31)

Ride the bus...

I finally took a rest. I wouldn’t be on my feet all day today either cycling (actually on my butt) or going for a hike. I went to the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. Oops, I was on my feet all day long, but I finally felt I was recovering from the effort of Day 23 (Beartooth) and Day 24 (the “Bench”).

Not much to say about this day. I saw some nice exhibits and artwork. It costs $2 to ride the bus all day long in Cody. So I boarded the bus to see the Minatures Museum which told the story of how the West was "won" in minatures. Actually, it was a glorified train set that also happened to tell the story of how gold, wagon trains, and Army incursions lead to the end of the Plains Indians way of life.

After the Museum, I rode the bus to the Bike Shop and Grocery Store. I really didn't want to ride. Then on to the Museum, oops, I mean the Historical Center. But tragedy struck while I was watching the 6 p.m. gunfight at the Irma Hotel. My camera died. So I’m just going to have to make due with disposable cameras. This will mean less pictures and…more words (or less, we will just have to wait and see).

The old Gunfight at the Irma Hotel. Curly and the Barmaid are having an argument.

What follows is a smattering of artwork from the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. I don't know all the names of the works, so you will have to guess. Some are from the modern art collection, some from the Whitney collection, some from the Buffalo Bill story museum.

Horse made out of found wood.

This canyon isn't located nearby, but at least its located in the West.

Ah yes, social commentary on the use or overuse of the parks...

Rush Hour

Pointilism and Realism all wrapped up into one. See the truck behind the corral?

How many cowboys does it take to fix a carburator?

Remington meets Pop Art

A real poster from the Wild West Show

Somewhere or something. Oh yeah, this is what I rode through the next day. Good place for a dam.

Imagine that this is what it looked like on Day 27 and Day 28.

Custer made some bad decisions in his day. This was one of his worst.

Day 25 - Cody - Rest - Whoa Cowboy!

Day 24 - Red Lodge, MT to Cody, WY (July 30)

This day was dry and boring. Oh, so boring.

The country was similar to that in Nevada. Nothing but sagebrush (good habitat for the sage grouse) as far as the eye could see.

The Wild West

I was told that the first part of the ride was downhill and then it was downhill all the way to Cody. Well it didn’t quite work out that way. There was a steep, but short, climb out of Red Lodge. No big deal and then it was downhill all the way until the intersection with the Highway I would take into Cody - Highway 72 (it actually changes into Highway 120 in Wyoming). This was really nice to have a downhill all the way to Belfry, MT.

Along the way, I passed the location of the worst mining disaster in Montana history. All that is left is some dilapidated log cabins and the mine-shaft elevator building.

As I descended into Belfry, it dawned on me that I would need water. A lot of water to get me to Cody. And I was only thinking of how much water I might need if the temperature were reasonable, say 75 degrees. I decided to stop in Belfry to get some water. There was really nothing to this town. No store to speak of. So I went to the gas station. Most gas stations have a Coke or Pepsi soda display case. This gas station only had a refrigerator. So I purchased 4 of the smallest-sized bottles. The bill: $2 (approximately 32,000 dong, which is quite expensive, because I was able to purchase one of these bottles for 3,000 dong). In America, $2 is quite a deal. The price of the water lead to a conversation between me and the owner of the gas station (“been working that for more than 30 years”). I also found out that the ride to Cody was not all downhill. Only the last part was downhill. I was told that after the “bench” (whatever that is) there is a climb and then it was downhill all the way to Cody.

Now I went on my merry way. But, I was abruptly stopped by road construction. Of course, here in Wyoming, storm water best management practices are not necessary. I guess they like their rivers muddy. Actually, it had been raining recently and all the rivers I had seen for the past 4 days were brown.

I was told that I couldn’t ride the construction site, which was mostly flat ground, because there were too many heavy vehicles. I didn’t argue, it was getting hot, I wasn’t sure if I had enough water, and I could use a break. So the traffic control flagger found a person who would be willing to drive me to through the project site in his pick up truck. The driver and his buddy were driving from Billings, MT to Cody to do some tile work. It was a pleasant ride - it was 7 miles from the beginning of the job site to the Wyoming border where I took my bike out and kept riding.

Getting in the truck threw me off. The next 10 or so miles were really hard. The weather was hot. The landscape looked like Mars, except not red. It was really dry.

Eventually I climbed out of a river drainage and up to a bluff. One good thing about this drive is that there is really no one out here. The construction site caused the traffic to come in waves, so for 30 minutes at a time there would be no traffic. This helped because initially there were no shoulders on the road. Then I went over a rise and there were the widest shoulders I had seen and there were rumble strips to awaken the drivers from their calm sleep. And the drivers would be sleeping because I was now on the bench. The bench is a 10 mile section of highway that is flat. Except for one slight left hand turn, the bench is entirely straight. I rode 45 minutes and the view didn’t change at all.

The Bench - Looking North

The Bench - Looking South

Every good thing must come to an end and so did the bench. I was tired, bored, hot, and dehydrated. When I came to my rest stop point, Highway 296, the Chief Joseph Highway, I observed two 60 year old men just waiting by the bridge over the river. Eventually another man showed up (“Mr. Belly”). Mr. Belly gave the two 60-year old men three heavy bags. Was this a drug transaction? Here in the dessert? Were these guys smuggling Oxycontin? Before the transaction, I had a chance to speak with the distinguished 60 year olds. One of them (I’ll call him “Lou”) told me that there were 4 hills between here and Cody. To me this meant 4 hard and long climbs. I had only 15 miles to go, so I couldn’t see how there could be 4 long climbs between here and Cody. I mean, what about the long downhill? How would that fit into the 4 long climbs?

Onward, I rode up a slight hill and then up another slight hill. Finally I saw it. I long hill with a steep section at the end. I hoped that there would not be three more of these after this long hill. Fortunately, my wish came true. After ascending this long hill, it was all the way down into Cody.

I could now rest, shower, and take in the sights at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. I guess museum isn’t the correct name. The BBHC consists of 5 museums - the Bill Cody Story, the Nature Museum, the Whitney Art Gallery, the Plains Indian Museum, and the museum of 2,700 firearms (bang bang). Admission was good for two days, so that is why I spent two days in Cody.

Reconciliation

At my campground, I met a biker. A biker rides a Harley. A cyclist is what I am. I had seen many bikers lately. I suffered the noise of their engine roar. Like Peter Hack said when referring to motor boats or the sight-seeing touring boat on Lake Tahoe (the “Skumrunner”), the noise sucked. That’s why a sail boat is so much nicer. Same goes with Harleys. These machines sound like high powered speed boats zooming around the country side. These things are so noisy that it is common for their drivers to wearplugs.

So, let’s just say that the motorcycle tended to destroy the peace of the back roads. Vroom vroom blup blup blup blup snort snort vroom vroom. You shouldn’t judge a person based on the sound of their engine, but for #$%$, isn’t it possible to make a motorcycle that isn’t so damn noisy? The exhaust from my machine might smell, but it ain’t noisy!

So you could say that I have a dim view of most bikers. I said “most.” At the Ponderosa, I was surrounded by bikers. The Sturgis rally was only a week away and many bikers were traveling around this part of the country waiting and getting revved up for the rally. Sturgis is only a state away. It is held in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

Well one nice biker came up to me and we chatted for a while. I went about my business - showering, walking around town, seeing the museum. Later when I returned. This guy said some nice things. He said that he and his buddies had discussed it and they were really impressed that I was doing all this traveling by bike. In fact they said that their motorcycle riding paled in comparison to the effort I made on my bike each day. That was a cool compliment.

Day 24 - Red Lodge to Cody - 62 Miles (by bike), 7 Miles (by truck)

Today’s theme song. Ramones: I wanna to be sedated. "Twenty, twenty, twenty-four hours to go...I want to be sedated. Nothin' to do, nowhere to go. I want to be sedated."