Day 18 Journal Riverton, WY to Casper, WY

I rode 120 miles today. IT WAS A MIRACLE!!! A TAILWIND for the first 91 miles!!! God does hear and answer the smallest of favors. To have a tailwind for nearly the entire ride today was just such a blessing – I have experienced the worst of Wyoming from Riverton to Casper and the best of Wyoming from Riverton to Casper. This day on my cross country in 2001 was by far the most energy sapping day of the entire trip. Today those 120 miles were a pleasure, overall. I was up at 3:45 AM. I left at 5:30 AM after loading the luggage at 5:00 AM. We had to wait until daybreak before heading out. I was averaging 18 mph for the first 54 miles – it seemed too good to be true. I was expecting the wind to shift anytime, but it never happened. Even though it was nearly 70 degrees when I started out at such an early hour, it never got unbearable all day. It was near 90 by noon – but still it was not uncomfortable. When we got to the third rest stop/SAG at mile 91 it was only 11:30 – and just 30 miles to go to Casper. I was eating power bars while riding, and drinking plenty of water, but was still getting hungry for a sandwich. The third SAG had ice-cold watermelon. Boy did that hit the spot!! I ate about 6 pieces and headed out for the last leg. The wind had shifted and we had a very strong 12-15 mph side-wind. That cross breeze was holding the mph down some, but still I was making pretty good time. The longest part and most tiring were the last 7 miles. The wind was so strong from the side that at times it was hard to keep control of the bike. The route we took into Casper was pretty uninteresting. All industrial and very dirty looking. I was riding mostly near Chuck – and we both were saying we were hungry and ready to get to the motel. We were in just after 1:30 PM – Not bad for a 120-mile day! I still can’t believe how well the ride turned out today – it will make the rest day so much better tomorrow not to have been beaten to a pulp with the headwinds that this area is most known for.

Several of us ate immediately after checking in. Since the luggage still wasn’t unloaded a group of us went to the motel restaurant to eat. We were so hungry and the food was fabulous. I think the rear end of a horse would have tasted good actually! We are burning a whole lot of calories to ride this fast and long. Route rap tonight was at 7:00 PM – and a dinner at the restaurant AJ’s next door. Tomorrow our meals are on our own and we will be going in many different directions. We’ll be checking out the local bike shops and the downtown stores. The hotel has a hose and rags ready for us to use to wash bikes tomorrow. I called a masseuse ahead of time and have an appointment at 11:15 in the morning. I am so looking forward to just taking it easy tomorrow. On Saturday we head for Lusk, WY and that will be a 102-mile trek. I’m going to try and update the photo album with more photos. I have not been able to find enough time to download many more photos into the Flickr Album. I have taken many more pictures than I post here on the main page of the blog, and would like to get a few of those others on the Album.

Thank you so much for your emails and good thoughts and good wishes for our many blessings.

Road Kill: There were so many rabbits and Jack-a-lopes on the road today I couldn’t begin to count them all. Hundreds! We really had to watch the road closely all day long because there were so many road kill to dodge.

Bananas: 4