June 8,2011: GGT Day 9, Lander to Dubois

STATS: 77 miles, 6 hours 55 minutes, 3200 feet of climbing

Beautiful morning.

Memorial to Chief Washakie at Fort Washakie on the Shoshone - Arapahoe Reservation through which we rode.

Again, all the action was in the last part of the ride. After a cool but sunny ride for 50 miles or more, the clouds joined together and darkened. Thunder boomed in the distance and I spotted a handful of lightning bolts flashing out of the darkest clouds. Eventually the rain started to fall, and we stopped to climb into our rain gear. Luckily the rain remained light and the road and thunderstorm went in different directions.

[Photo and caption courtesy of Mike McLain] (l to r) Fred - "I can't keep calling you animal"; Ray - "If that guy [me] can ride to Lander [from Jeffrey City], so can I" (neither of us could); Seth - "Next summer, can we maybe find a place with summer weather?"; Jim - Three miles a day, seventy-five miles a day, same thing.
Closing in on Dubois, WY.

I had neglected to set aside some advil where I could easily get to it, so my foot and shin bothered me quite a bit during the last couple of hours, after my morning dose wore off.

When we reached Dubois (pronounced DEW-boys), we ran into Mike McLain, whom we had met as he pedaled into Jeffrey City at about 3 mph while we were there. It turns out that he also is a college professor at University of Colorado, but in Boulder rather than Colorado Springs (where Fred works). We had dinner together and agreed to meet in the morning for the ride over Togwotee Pass.

The weather for tomorrow looks ominous. We have been told about snow on the pass and it is supposed to be cold and windy even at the base of the mountain. We will see what it looks like in the morning.

For tonight, we are comfortably settled in Dubois (pronounced DEW-boys).

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