Day 16 - July 27th, 2010 (Route: Campground b/w Teton & Yellowstone to Rest Stop 35 miles south of Ennis, MT)

Day 16 - July 27th, 2010 (Route: Campground b/w Teton & Yellowstone to Rest Stop 35 miles south of Ennis, MT)

Technical Data:
Distance, miles: 115.66
Ride Time: 7:47:23
Average Power, watts:160
Normalized Power, watts: 192
Work, kJ: 4559
Average Speed, mph: 14.65

Day started early this morning! Woke around 5:30AM after a night of rain showers, sleeping up off the ground is key here in the parks I thought before falling asleep. Two reasons, 1. I didn't want to put my tent in the wrong spot and wake in a pool of water, and 2. getting stepped on by a bear in the middle of the night didn't sound too appealing! Rained all night, however the night was good as I went to bed with a full belly and really enjoyed my sleep tonight. I sure do wish my sleeping pad was holding air all night. I'll replace it once I'm back to working.

Once up I headed straight to the bathroom as it was cold and four walls and some fuming methane didn't sound appealing but did sound warm. Waking up in the mountains with no sleeping bag isn't too tough. If I had a bag I might want to sleep in and waking up and getting on the bike warms me so to the bike first thing is appealing to me when I'm sleeping out in the open.

After warming myself in the Jon for just a few minutes I packed up a wet tent and sleeping pad. BoB got a night in Marks car last night as we stored him there to keep the smells from any lurking bears in the area. I'm sure BoB was happy to be off the trailer and enjoying a nice cushy seat!

After downing two cliff bars and some trail mix I loaded BoB onto the trailer and headed off, I didn't have my cycling kit on as I planned on riding up the road to the grocery store I visited and kitting up there as the bathrooms would be plenty warm and I could grab some hot water for my hot chocolate I had with. Riding to the store was cold! Once to the store I read the sign, "Closed"! Open at 6:30 - I was thinking I'm not waiting another 40 minutes to kit up and then head out. The goal this morning was to get out of Yellowstone before the RV traffic hits - the traffic in Yellowstone this time of year is THICK and I wasn't going to risk getting injuried in a nataional park and ruin someone's vacation!

So I changed outside the grocery store, resituated BoB for travel! While doing so a local camper approached smoking a cigerette. I greeted him accordingly, but was thinking take that cancer stick somewhere else, your ruining all this fresh air around me! Talking with this cat was interesting! He started the conversation off with how many miles do you have on your bike. I just said a lot because I really don't know, however I do know its a lot since I've had it since 2002. The conversationed continued and lead down a road I really didn't want to go down! This guy was bringing way to many negative vibes into my world right now, first turned off by his puffing on his last smoke! I was thinking what's this cat doing up this early anyways - must be down to his last cancer stick! (okay I'm on a tangent now but this guy kinda made me made and being up, cold, and looking to have a great day this was like rolling off the wrong side of the picnic table!)

Conversation lead down the road about cyclist and not having the right to be in the road, I thought what a way to start the day! This idiot, took the same drivers test I did, its legal to ride on the road! I just told him its a "Law" and if you want to debate it there really isn't any reason to as the law allows us, your opinion doens't mean much to me buddy!

HIs reasoning was, well if I'm heading up a hill at 45 and a biker is on the crest and there is another car in the lane I don't have anywhere to go. I was thinking just use the brake, you know cars do come with those these days! (this conversation was taking place while I was packing BoB so I couldn't just escape)

I'll save my rants and switch to something more enlightening!

Lets think about it! That bicycle is not heading down the road on its own! A human being is pedaling it, that human being could have been on that bike for 10 hours and very tired and reaching the top of the hill could have been a lot of work! The point is, on that bike is a human life and if you want to take the "offensive" driver approach when passing a cyclist, remember that he/she has a family that cares about them very much and its worth the 30 seconds or minutes to slow and pass giving the cyclist plenty of room to feel safe!

What's the opportunity cost if you don't slow and respect the cyclist (aka car/truck/bus) - vehicular homicide sounds worth it don't ya think. I'll trade hours worth of slowing for cyclist to avoid a long stretch of my life in prison. I lost a friend last year to a drunk driver that has givin' me a strong opinion on this topic...

Heading out of the grocery I had to quickly adjust my attitude as I couldn't let this guy get to me today. Once on the road heading into Yellowstone I had this guy on the back of my mind but the landscape was breathtaking so I couldn' t waste any energy thinking about this guy! The climb up into the park from the South entrance was nice this morning! It was a lot of work, but who doesn't like riding next to a perfectly clear river and mountains! Traffic was low so I was accomplishing my goal of getting to West Yellowstone to avoid traffic!

Once to the Thumb junction, I had 17 miles to Old Faithful and 47 to West Yellostone. I was right on my nutrition as I was going Gu's all day vs. Hammer even though I had been restocked with my nurtition. I have enough Gu's right now to support a local century ride with at leat 75 people it seems so I'm trying to drop the weight I'm hauling behind me! I was riding this morning and the legs were feeling good, really no touring today as my safety was the goal for the day!

Thoughts were all over the place on this section! Thoughts of explorers hitting this area and what they were thinking? How we can shelter only a select few acres and not the entire US. This country is so beautiful, just depends upon the eyes looking at it! Take a close look next time you take a trip, stop on the highway! Take in the smells, look for the different mammals, birds, insects, critters running around. Don't just take 5 minutes - stop and smell the roses this time around! It might just change you life!

"Sun rises over the forest to the east, dew shimmers, river roars, spider webs dangle from the trees, all only noticable with the sunlight. Eagle flys away with breakfast, a brookie from small river flowing south. Timber lies elagantly placed in the forest, creating a path of confusion for all who travel through. This place, quiet, peaceful, only in this morning before we as humans disturb its beauty."

Traveling by bike I see everything, from the beer bottles, from cigerette butts, to random litter on the sides of the roads. Objects I have seen since I started this journey: McDonald's trash, full bags of trash left by someone (not the ones those who have adopted the highway) but strategically placed ones with rocks on top, nuts, bolts, hats, shirts, wrappers, edging blade, axe head, pens, pennies (okay - I pick those up), et cetera...

Why do as Americans not respect our environment? Doesn't make since, we drink from our streams, lakes, rivers. We eat from our lands that we pollute and we sit and admire special places, why not all? I've pondered this for some time - we only like certain places instead of putting in the little work to keep all of it beautiful. Most people I know's attitudes turn when they see a messy, dirty city, however when they think of some place well maintained you can see it in there eyes of approval and enjoyment. Again just random thoughts running through my head but must think about this. When in Colorado Springs I was happy to see so many taking the effort to recycle when Jan and I went to the recycling center. Tree Hugger - maybe but I love everything about the life I have been given...

Yellowstone is busy busy this time of year! I would prefer to come back in September when all the kids are in school. True it might be colder then, however I really would like to see it when its slower to be able to enjoy it more!

Heading up to "Old Faithful" was a pretty solid ride! I was having fun and thinking about refueling and collecting my thougths before I pushed on to West Yellowstone. I pulled in and refilled bottles and used the mens room. When I was refilling my bottles I met nice family on vacation and chatted for a bit. This was a great moment to see a family of four enjoying breakfast before pushing off to the Tetons for the day. Chatting with them, they had tons of questions - one that sticks out is "Do you get Lonely?" - this was the second time I had heard this question in the last couple of days. I answered "Not Yet" - It's genuine Americans like you that keep me from getting lonely out here on the road! They were great, really interested in my journey as many have been so far. Again - I wish I could have remembered there names - I'm terrible with remembering things when I'm at the end of a week of riding and ready for a rest day! Leaving the small parlor - they wanted to look at my bike since the father had done some touring himself so we went out and continued our great conversation, good for me as I liked to visit and see and hear what Americans are up too.

Back on the bike I had 30 miles to West Yellowstone, almost out of the park!!! I have been to the park before and would have loved to see more sites however I'm more interested in seeing parts of Montana, Idaho, Oregon that I have not seen! The terrain was great, lots of short climbs and decents! The work was what I wanted as I had slept great on that old picnic table and the body was full of life and energy.

The next 30 miles was a lot of fun. I did have a slow leak in my back tire and I was tired of it, I had aired it up a couple times and thought just get where your going then change it. Plenty of time to work on the rig, so stopping in the middle of YellowStone to look for a microwire that had weaseled its way into my tire parallel with the rubber wall creating a micro puncture that when not fully aired up it would stop leaking, but under 120 psi it would lose pressure. What a challenge it was to find this wire, I found it though and it took some time as I have 15 to 20 little knicks in this old tire!

Stopping to live in the moment which I feel like I have not written about in a while was nice at this point. Looking across the street, thousands of tourist walking around to see the thermal hot pools. The colors that are encompassed within these pools can steal ones attention for hours! Languages from all over can be heard, people offering help are around, those who wouldn't dare give away five minutes of there vacation are abundant too.

After inflating my tire I rolled on and needed water so I rolled into a campsite to refill. In the campground I meet four French tourist. Extremely nice, and I mean extremely nice! The four of them had ridden into the park from West Yellowston to tour the park by what I love best, the bicycle! What a way to see the park, to slow things down and take it all in! They had just finished there tour of the park and were refilling two gallon jugs for there decent out of the park. They took off a little before so I had some catching up to do! Once I caught them I passed them and was on my way...we said a few peaceful phrases as I rolled by because we were all enjoying the day and the ride!

A few miles past the French bikers I stopped to snap a few photos. The French group then passed me and I had some catching up to do. I caught them once again and it was time to have a little fun. I pulled the front and slowed down so they could draft off BoB and we had a blast. We cruised for a few miles before three of the tourist dropped back, the cat that I met filling bottles was still on my wheel and I couldn't understand what he was saying, I think he wanted to pull so I let him! Okay I drafted for about 300 meters before I thought this cat needs to pick it up, so I moved to the front and put the hammer down just a little and off the back he went. This was a little fun today, riding with some foreigners in a place as beautiful as this! Cruising!!!!

Once out of the park I was into West Yellowstone where I planned on heading to a coffee shop or hotel to rest a little and grab some lunch. I rolled around the town to check out the sites for just a bit. This is definitely a tourist town, busy busy in the summer and probably really slow and peaceful in the winters, of course your cross country skiers and snow mobilers help keep this tourist town alive in those long winters I'm assuming. I decided on the Hotel, headed into change and start typing yesterdays thoughts.

I sat at the bar and asked for a water as I need to keep the spending to a minimum as I have to stretch the allotted funds out another 6-8 weeks worth of riding. I still have a couple weeks till I hit the coast and then to San Diego. I'm having a lot of fun making this challenge happen. Enjoyed the barkeeps company as she was amazed at what I was doing hooked me up with some fish soup and crackers along with a small cup of ice cream to help me along this journey I am on...Shared with here a few thoughts that were in my head and even shared my sisters youtube.com song "Older Now". I was enjoying the time in out of the heat and really shouldn't have stayed as long as I had. The wind when I got off the bike was a head wind and it would be until I reached Ennis, MT. There was no goal destination today, the goal was to put in 100 plus miles and see were I was on the map and then go from there!

After hanging out at the bar for alittle while I went out to check on BoB and noticed the wind was now blowing pretty stiff out of the South. I thought perfect, I'll ride this tail wind as long as I can as I was headed North!!! It was close to 70 miles to Ennis and running a little late to try and nail that type of distance after already covering 80 miles or so. Map had lots of campgrounds along the highway heading into Ennis so I figured I would just get as many miles in as I could. The first 10 miles out of West Yellowstone were a fast!!! Can tell I'm out of the park now, the truck traffic is thicker again but I'm glad to be out of the park and the RV drivers gazing out at the sites!

The junction heading West to Ennis approached rather quickly and I turned West where I would run along one of the most scenic places I have ever scene! The lake which I will leave unnamed was surreal!!! I leave it unnamed to keep the locals spot a hot spot! A while back I watched "Band of Brothers" and this place was like the Austia pictures in the movie, whether it was shot there or not it reminded me of that. Every pine tree uniquely rising out of the forest, giving the the feel of vertigo...words cannot even explain how beautiful this place is!

The river that flowed out of this damned lake was so peaceful, fly fishermen wading and flying lines in the river hoping to catch that record brown or rainbow. Eagles flying high in the sky, campgrounds nestled into the woods along this quiet peacful highway.

Traveling out of this gap in the mountains I did not look forward to as I could stay here for weeks and never get bored of thew views! Once out of the gap I was kinda lost as now the mountains were so large to my East, typically having them on the West. I wasn't lost by any means, however I did have to adjust my outlook on things. The wind had definitely changed once through the gap, it was like I was in a completely different ecosystem! The wind now was a head wind! 41 miles to Ennis I had covered a pretty good distance, however with a storm looming on the horizon where I was heading I wasn't looking forward to what lie ahead. I put on my jacket and put my head down and rode! I was getting tired but I new the more distance I covered today the less I would tomorrow on my rest day! (Was looking forward to this rest day for sure!)

The cabins in this prairie were something out of a movie to me! A perfect looking cabin in the middle of the open prairie, surrounded by green grass and fresh cut pastures. I could only imagine what the view was like in the winter when covered with feet of snow! The hay was stacked high to support the livestock during the harsh winters here. People all hard working and willing to endure these 8 month winters to enjoy there 4 months of summer, I can see now why many do it! This place is amazing, no beetle kill on there forest like in Colorado and simply breath taking. The ride was now heading North and downhill along the river. Miles after miles of rivers with fisherman hoping for that one trout that would change their next story while with family and friends. I often wonder if fish that are caught are truly as large as they say?

Getting tired, weather clouding the sun, I decided to shut it down after a ten minute self talk on why you shouldn't be riding anymore. Self coaching myself on this trip I have to make all the decisions which can be tough as I'm very competitive and love to challenge myself, yet I have to try and think clearly when fatigued and sometimes this can cloud my judgement. I talked myself into shutting it down at 115 miles even though I as feeling good phyisically but concerned about the weather and riding on the dark open stretch of highway. I stopped at a rest stop and decided it would be a good place to crash because I wasn't exactly sure how far the next campground was.

I walked around the site and it was a good spot, however there was no potable drinking water so I was thinking about pushing on, however I didn't and was fortunate to have some people stop and give me two bottles of water and a gatorade. There is just something about being on the open road and on a bicycle that people just want to help out! Makes me feel pretty good about this journey...the river was flowing and had a couple fishermen fishing, so I sat down to cook and get things situated. After getting situated and the first round of food into my system I run out of fuel on stove and find out my batteries are out in my head lamp. Ouch - a double wammy tonight, however it is less to hall around so I have look at the positive!!!!

Bradley and Brad came out of the river and we chatted a little bit. Couple college kids from Athens, GA up here fishing for the summer. It was good to talk to some youth at this point as I had a long day! Day started at 5:30 and now its close to 10PM - what solid day of travel and writing! It was good to have some humor as Brad from New York brought some light to the night...use the line on the girls! Both loved the outdoors and you could tell, both loved to hunt and fish! Myself being from Kansas I have been surrounded around some of the best white-tail and bird hunting in the United States. At this point I promised Bradley I would help him out the best I could, he wants to get to Kansas sometime and do some hunting! So all my friends reading this that are still in SouthEast Kansas I have some boy's that need some help!!!

If I could have a job just networking people that would be an awesome job. Think about it, these two kids want to fullfill a dream of hunting in Kansas, then they meet me! All we should have to do is make a phone call and make it happen. Sharing life with others is what its all about isn't it? Giving to others brings such a blessing to my life, to help those in need and just to help others fulfill there dreams or create opportunities is worth it.

When I'm older rocking in that rock chair on that big porch over looking the moutains and sunset I want to be able to share stories with those I'm with about how many peoples lives I've affected along this life I have lived. I thought about this a lot on the ride today about my rocking chair dream. To be able to share with my grand kids all the adventures I have taken and the life I have lived. So many people out here to learn from, reason why I don't like to sit in front a television, don't get me wrong televisions are good for recovery days and movie watching however I would rather be exploring and meeting new people as memories are created and lessones are learned.

Once the two Brad's left I looked up at the weather and thought a lot about what Bradley mentioned of his story on the hail that moved through the area just a few days ago and how everything was white as snow. With a storm to the North I wasn't sure where it was heading I made a decision to sleep in the bathroom tonight at the rest stop as I really didn't want to deal with any kind of weather after a long long day! I opted to sleep in the womens restroom vs. the mens because I figured most truck drivers were male and I wouldn't be bothered. The restrooms were exceptionally clean so I didn't mind sleeping in them! So I pulled BoB into the bath along with my bike and fell right asleep. At about 1:30 a female trucker attempted to roll into the restroom and I scared her pretty good! I woke up and allowed her to do her business then I went back to sleep. Lots of noise from the mens side so I'm glad I opted for the womens...

In retrospect I probably would have been okay outside but tonight I didn't want to risk it and the warmth of the bathroom was worth it!