God's Country

They say Wyoming is God's country. The next time you see a windmill, cross your heart.

The oatmeal we had for breakfast two days ago was edible, but only after we microwaved the package of dried out, non flavored paste, added sugar and milk, and a banana that was bought at the Indian supermarket the day before. It had been smashed in my seat , but we mushed it in to the paste. The coffee was so bad in the Pronghorn Inn we stayed at in Lander that I kept overhearing people going out the door making a plan to go to the coffee shop for a real cup of coffee. Even free it wasn't worth drinking.
We took off out of Lander with a nice tailwind, then the road turned and it became a crosswind. Then it became a gale force crosswind. As we pedaled up the big 1500 foot pass, at 6% grade for about 5 miles, it became a Katrina force crosswind. At 4mph, we wobbled like a drunken sailor. We didn't have three sheets to the wind, but we did have one, and it was big O. When I heard an eighteen wheeler coming, the only thing to do was hope a gust didn't come at the wrong moment, cause when a big one did come it blew us right out into the traffic lane. Big O has 27 gears, and I've been figuring a decrease of 1mph with each downshift. I think I had to downshift 27 times on that hill, so what was our speed? Tammy have you been studying? So after 2hrs of this, we were at the top. The road turned with the wind, and we sailed into Jeffrey City. On the way there are some historic sites, and Laura would hang onto the bike while I walked off to read about Wyoming.
Jeffrey City is in the middle of uranium mining country, and it looks like it. Nothing but sagebrush and wind. We pulled in for lunch, and it looked like one of those towns where they filmed The Good The Bad and the Ugly. It's a ghost town in the making, and we had a reservation at the only bed in town, the tenement they called a motel. Starving for food, we dared to enter the cafe. It took awhile for the cook/waitress/hostess/owner/bartender/janitor to notice us, and when she did she tossed us menus and walked off. About 20 min later she reappeared to take our orders for local chili, the one and only thing that wasn't fried on the menu. The chili was good after all, so we sat there and discussed what to do for the night. Well, the forecast for today wasn't good, and I for one couldn't face the prospect of getting stuck there an extra day. Eating dinner at the fine dining establishment didn't sound good either. The possible bed bugs didn't sound good. The roof was flapping, the boards were groaning, the dust was flying. We/I decided to go another 60 miles, even though it was 3:15. That made yesterday a 125 mile day. But it was worth it. Laura isn't as crazy as I am, so the extra 60 miles was second guessed a few times, but she pedaled away, and with the help of a snickers bar we made it to Alcova, Wyoming at about 7pm. But we did have a tailwind for the last 3hrs, we'd go by bushes and grass bent over to the ground.
As we pulled into Alcova, we had no idea where to stay or what to do, it was starting to rain, getting dark, blowing like a tuba player, when we noticed a flat rear tire. Through the blowing dust I saw a lady and asked her about a place to stay in Alcova. There really isn't a town, just a bar with 8 rooms behind it, and we walked big O over to the bar and were relieved to find out she had one available. I kind of wanted one with internet, when I asked about it she laughed. That's why there was no blog last night. $55 was cheap, we would have paid 4 times the price. After beer, tequila, and dinner, we walked big O over to the room. The shower felt marvelous, but the loud tv in the next room, which was on all night, made the sleeping less than ideal.
This morning I changed the tire in the room, but lo and behold while we were getting ready to go to breakfast, the tire blew up. It sounded like a colt 45, and scared the holy shit out of us. When the adrenaline subsided, I changed it again, noticing the 6 inch tear in the tube. Still don't know why it blew, but it was an attention getter. Eileen, thanks for those CO2 cartridges, they work great. The biscuits and gravy were the best we've ever had, then we took off for Casper. A 30 mile ride felt pretty good. It was cold and threatening, but we're used to that by now. Spit rain on us, but that was it. Arriving at Tom's house in Casper was a relief, and it has been raining just about ever since. Laura made a home cooked meal of chicken and potato salad, with asparagus even. It's all a matter of perspective, and it's pretty comfy right now. This is like the Brown Palace, only better. Tom, thanks alot for the hospitality. After the last two days in God's country, his children must all be windmills.