A day on the road

A lot of people have asked about the logistics of this little trip we are on. It's interesting because it is a point on which I did not spend much time considering when deciding whether to go or not. Things like where we eat and sleep didn't occupy my mind, but I've found that now that I am actually on the road I think a lot about it =) So here's a brief rundown on a typical day.

The sun peeks into our tent, I open my eyes a crack to make sure the light isn't coming from headlights or a flashlight. Once it is determined that it is indeed morning I turn to my traveling partner, Andrew, and ask about the time. Typically it's around 7. At this point there is a crucial decision, do I overcome inertia and get myself out of my comfy sleeping bag and start the day, or do I shut my eyes for another half hour. So far it's 50/50 on which decision wins out, the best days are when we are forced out of bed, this morning it was by a man running irrigation on the local football field.

After we get up, pack up our stuff, and generally start feeling good about life and the ride ahead we determine where the nearest source of food is. A lot of times we like to get to the next town (10-20 miles away) and get breakfast there as cheap as possible. A four pack of blueberry muffins, poptarts, or McDonalds usually does the trick. By this time we are beginning to think about where we are going to stay for the night. It's best to have a town in mind. Today we've set our sites on getting to Gillete Wyoming. It's a 120 mile ride, but we need to make up for not making our goal yesterday.

After breakfast we ride for awhile (30-50 miles) and stop at a town of some substance (substance: a town with a library, food, and park) for lunch and a break. Then we go till we hit our target or find a nice place before it that makes for a good place to stay. This happened last night when we came over the Big Horns we found a whole party of bikers camping out at the local highschool so we decided to join them.

Once we reach the town that we had set as our goal we ask around about sleeping in the park, hopefully this proves to be an acceptable option, in the cases where it is not we go to the churches, when this doesn't work, Andrew starts talking about wanting to keep riding and finding a place on the side of the road. When this happens I start eyeing the local campground and deciding if I want a good night's sleep or not. I typically end up deciding to pay for the campground instead of chancing it on the road (as mentioned I like grass, trees, and picnic tables).

Once a place to sleep has been secured we spend our time reading, I also write about the day's events. Throughout the day we are running into a whole lot of people. The vast majority are very friendly and helpful. The reason we are where we are is because of the helpful people we've come across, everyone from the person who gives Andrew $20 to help out with trip expenses, to the couple giving us road advice going into South Dakota, to the motorcyclists just shooting the breeze asking about the trip and talking about life.

It's been a very freeing way to live, after this trip I don't think I will ever worry about having a place to lay my head =)

The big news of the day is we have made it past the Big Horns!!! After a grueling 18 mile uphill climb of over 4800 feet we made it up Granite Pass and road down to the little town of Dayton Wyoming. Below are some pictures of where we were.

These mountains were in our way. A large wall of rock obscuring the path of progress, but through sweat, a little tears, and a whole lot of positive thinking we made it to the top and got down in one piece =)

This is up at the top of the pass. A storm was rolling in so we didn't sit around to chat, but as you can see the top was rolling pasture land. It was kinda cool to be biking along herds of cattle at 9000 ft.

This is our campsite for the night on the East side of the pass. The storm that had been brewing all day came in at night with severe winds and gave us cause to be proud of our little tents structural stability =) though the winds did keep us from having a nigh of uninterrupted sleep.

Well the road beckons, more specifically I want an icecream bar from across the street so I must bid you all farewell until next time. Thank you for your comments, and as always if you think of anything that would make the blog better  or have any questions don't hesitate to let me know!

Riding on,

Nate

PS I saw antelope today! Hopefully we get to see buffalo, people keep telling me about these giant beasts of the plains but I have yet to see proof of their existence.

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