Day 42 Thunder and Lightening

Oregon Trail, California Trail, Mormon Pioneer and Pony Express

Treeless Miles and Wide Open Spaces

Lunch On The Shoulder

The Road To Nowhere

The Highlight of a Tough Day (Wyoming #4 and this one has the cowboy!)

Jordan rescued us from the lightening storm and many miles of nothing...

Thank You Jordan!

Date: Aug. 30, 2009

From: Lander, WY (population 6,867 and home of NOLS)

To: Rawlins, WY

Route: Hwy. 287/789

Passes: Two Continental Divide Crossings…(in a truck)

Miles: 34 miles (+ About 90 miles in a truck)

Top Speed on this trip: 47.7 mph

Weather: 90 degrees and baking early afternoon & thunder and lightening late in the day

License Plates Collected: 5 Montana plates and 4 Wyoming plates (2 motorcycle)

As I sat on my sore seat and sweltered in the 90-degree heat grunting up the Beaver Rim (a 6% grade that seemed it would never end) I could never have imagined our day would end with us flagging down a truck in a thunder and lightening storm!! We planned to do just 40 miles today to Sweetwater Station (a tiny town where we were told to check in with the ladies at the “used bookstore”). As we drove through Sweetwater we saw that the bookstore was basically the entire town. The other small towns on the way to Rawlins weren’t much of anything either so we were so thankful that Jordan (a sophomore at University of Wyoming and Lander native) answered our distress call and saved us 3 days of cycling in the middle of nowhere and for me on an uncomfortable saddle.

My saddle sore was one worry today but the “new” saddle I was riding on was doing a number on my private parts. Mike adjusted the nose down a couple of times and this helped a little but I still think we are going to need to invest in a saddle with a cutout in the middle. That is if we can find one. We’ll check here in Rawlins tomorrow but may have to order something and have it shipped ahead. Ugh. That means I might have days of uncomfortable riding still ahead of me.

At least tonight we are in a cozy KOA Kabin and I had a hot shower to follow doctors orders and do a hot compress on my sore two times a day. Do you know how hard it is to do this when you are free camping and cycling all day?

This morning was especially rough because I had a huge breakfast and then remembered that I needed to take my antibiotics about 3 miles into the ride. Between the heat, the food and the meds I was feeling very nauseous. At the top of one of the climbs I had to get off the bike and sit on the side of the road, my head between my knees with the dry heaves and tears running down my face. It was not a good start. I sucked on a peppermint candy to calm my stomach and drank lots of water. It was not a good morning.

We didn’t expect much of a climb but it just seemed to go on forever. Around each bend we’d hope for the top but no luck. We were struggling through and happy to finally get some cloud cover until it turned into thunder and lightening. You don’t want to be in the middle of nowhere in a lightening storm. That was when I threw up my arms and used the distress signal to flag down Jordan in his truck. Bless his heart he took us right on board and drove us in to Rawlins. On the way we saw the results of one of the lightening strikes…a house (or barn) fire. It was already down to the ground and charred. It is pretty scary to think that could have been us!