Day 23 - May 13

Greetings from Lander, WY.  Wow, what a difference one day can make.  Let me catch you up on the last 36 hours.  Today (Saturday) was a cycler's dream: no wind, sunshine, rolling hills, horizon to horizon open range, and very little traffic.  I logged another good day on the odometer - 89 miles.  Today's miles felt easy compared to yesterdays: 7 hours of seat time compared to yesterday's 10.5.

This vast Wyoming country is very remote and thinly populated.   Today I saw maybe a dozen homes or so in 89 miles.  This high desert plateau is very arid and is mostly sagebrush with the occasional clump of grass.  To visualize this place - think "Oh give me a home, where the buffalo roam, where the deer and the antelope play" - and you'll be here.  A few coyotes, jackrabbits and antelope.  How the cows survive out here

I talked to a couple of cowboys at a roadside store.

is amazing.  If I were a cow, I'd hope for Virginia's lush grass over Wyoming's range land any day.  I talked to a couple of cowboys at a roadside store.  How did I know they were cowboys?  They had cowboy hats, boots and spurs - and they looked all dusty.  I asked 'em what they were up to.  They said they were moving the cows to summer pasture.  I asked them how their grass looked this spring - they said very good - they'd had good rain.  (I'd hate to see the grass when it looks bad).  They said that tomorrow they were branding their spring calfs.  They asked how my trip was going.  I said very good so far.  I told them I could relate to how they felt after a long day on a horse.  They said that their seat looked better than mine and that if they had to peddal they'd get a new horse.  We said goodbye and they said good luck.  (Sorry no pictures allowed at this computer).

The last 20 miles today I even had a tail wind today.  What?  Yes, you heard it, a tail wind.  A good one too.  I rolled into Sweetwater Junction averaging a solid 18 mph on flat terrain.  That's cookin' - well, OK, not by your standards.  But when you've been putzing along at 6-9 mph for days fighting hills and headwinds - 18 mph feels like a jet airplane.  I camped at a historic Mormon site called Sixth Crossing.  Very nice campground on the bank of the Sweetwater River.  The hosts - Elder Mattson and his wife Sister Mattson couldn't have been nicer.  They even invited me to breakfast this morning and I couldn't resist:  Hmmm, instant oatmeal at my tent or eggs, hashbrowns, bacon, juice, milk, toast in their home. Not a tough call.  This historic site is based on a Mormon party from England that got stranded here in route to Salt Lake City about 150 years ago.  They were finally rescued by a party sent by Brigham Young but not until a bunch of people died in the cold.

It was a cool night - frost on the tent this morning.  But, no spilt Gatorade to contend with so life is good.  Was up around 6:30am with the birds singing to me.  On the road by 8:30 with a full belly and ready for a good day.