Category: Bicycling

Leaving Gordon I found out why it was 30 miles to the next town and almost another 30 to the next one after that – I was now in the sand hills of Nebraska. Yes, they are hills made of sand, with green grass growing on them – probably not very good to farm on,…

(Yesterday’s report was incorrectly labeled as Day 32 instead of Day 33, please forgive the error.) [I’ve fixed it now….] Last night the wind blew really hard, shaking up the tent, and the lightning flashed in the distance, but there was almost no rain. I didn’t sleep very well, because I had opted not to…

Last night’s van tour of Mount Rushmore went well. It was a scenic drive up to a lodge nearby, where we had dinner. Then we went over to the mountain, where we got to see the sculpture in daylight, then went to the amphitheater area at dusk to hear a short talk and see a…

After about 10 miles I had crossed into South Dakota. Wyoming had it all – great scenery, lousy scenery – but now that I’ve crossed into another state I feel like I’m making progress again. It started getting hillier again – well it’s called the Black Hills, so no surprise there. But the grades were…

The last two days had been really draining – with mountain passes you expect it and are prepared for it, but rolling hills and headwinds can come as a surprise. That’s the one downside to doing this tour alone – you don’t have the rest of the group to motivate you. The whole day I’d…

The morning started off with whatever I wanted for breakfast – there was no breakfast menu. I got tater tots instead of home fries – “they cook faster”. Well, it’s still a potato thingie, so I won’t complain. The route was still sort of flat for the first 10 miles, as the road followed the…

Coordinating the morning errands around the opening times of the stores worked well. The cold weather gear box I shipped home weighed just under 7 pounds! The only mistake I made was that both the bike shop and library opened at 9 AM – I should have chosen to go to the library first in…

I’m glad I camped at the top of the mountain last night instead of trying to find a place at the bottom. There was indeed 4 miles of flatish downhill from Burgess Junction, but then a 6 mile climb to another summit – not a difficult climb, but a surprise you wouldn’t want to have…

Today was the last major climb of the trip – crossing the Big Horn Mountains. There are three choices: from north to south – 14A, 14, or 16. The locals all said that 14A was the hardest and 16 the easiest. So I had checked my Wyoming bike map (which I had mailed to me…

I got up early enough to have the all you can eat breakfast buffet at the famous Irma Hotel (Buffalo Bill’s Hotel named after his daughter) right when it opened at 6 AM. When I got back to the campground to finish packing, I was talking to a Scottish couple – although they were doing…