whatup snoggfaces, nate here. the other two fools are undermobbing and ive got time in colorado springs. we just got back from breckinridge, colorado, where there was a beer and bluegrass festival. it was pretty sik. we stayed at the groundwaters' kabin with an ot tub and stars. pete'll fill you in on that, i imagine. n.e. weyz, this trip for me has been a trip so far. har har. i mean, it's been hecka fun. for me, the most beautiful rides that stick out right now were going from saratoga wyo to laramie whyo. over the snowy range pass was absolutely ridiculous, views from 10Gs up of the more or less end of the rocky mountains. we passed by this fat rock pile called medicine bow range, or peak, or something like that, and it was hewn by the mammoth strength and power of frozen water. it was so cool, epic, and inspiring. then at the end of the ride is when we got caught by lightning, which was real terrifying, so pete and i mobbed harder than ever for the last flattish, raining 20 miles. in all my years of competitive cycling, i don't think i've ever ridden harder. adrenaline can do wonders for the muscles. the lightning was crazy though. the next day at the university of wyoming's very own library i looked up lightning on the internetz, and it said that thunder is created by the shock wayve caused by the 16K degree fahrenheit lightning heating up the air that surrounds it. dang. shocking. also, when lightning hits a tree, it causes an epic sundering of a section of the tree, but it's not from the lightning itself, it's from the bolt heating up the sap inside so intensely that the pressure from the steam blows of the section of tree instantly. holy smokes. imagine that bolt hitting us! sorry parents, but whoa! now imagine us resonsibly racing through the storm as fast as possible to laramie then eating cheeseburgers in the safety of lovejoyz. dang.
in other gnus, you can hear it firsthand from me, n. andre roter that the giardia is gone, and has been for a week or so (since laramie). thanks lander clinic for the exam and the antibiotic capsules! being sick was bad, but the best feeling was being hungry again. to celebrate my newfound hunger, when we got into Rawlins, hwyoming, we stopped at an ice cream parlor and i ordered a two-scoop sundae with cookie dough, chocolate chip, and cookies and cream ice cream and hot fudge sauce. But wait! you scream in confusion. you may be asking yourself how can a two scoop sundae have three scoops? well, ill tell you what happened. i was looking at the flavors, ordered the cookies and cream then the chocolate chip. but something was missing. duh, the cookie dough! so i saw that and ordered it too, and a brownie on the bottom. topped off with hot, hot, hot fudge, but no cherry, because that's whack. sike! there was just no cherry. i ate it, then we had cappucinos, because as they say, when in wyoming, do as the wyomingeanites do. then we had thai food, because, as they say, when in wyoming, eat thai food. so eyah, giardia, seeya later you weak weak creature, stay outta my bloodstream, and stick to the rivers that you're used to. well, now im undermobbing, and i gotta go, but until next time, stay big.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Friday, August 1, 2008
Lost and Found. The Fun in Traveling
Hello World. How are you?
It's August now, and it's hard to believe how fast the trip is flying by. We've finished our last day of riding south, and from Colorado Springs we're heading eastward towards Kansas City, where the Kass parents reside. We should be arriving around the 7th or 8th, and if anyone has any desire to send us anything in the snail mail, this would be an opportune time to do so. Before I forget the address is:
(Insert one of our names here)
C/O Dave and Terri Kass
4202 W 53rd Terr
Roeland Park, KS 66205
If you have any questions about anything, you can give them a call at 913-432-5333, they're super nice folks.
So it's been a week since Laramie, we've been taking it really easy as far as biking has gone. It's been bizarre being so close to so many populated cities in one area. We definitely miss the solitude of the mountains and forests, but it's been fun meeting so many people and seeing the sights of Colorado. A quick day-to-day, then hopefully we can convince Kelvin or Nate to do a post.
Day 35 Thursday July 24: Kicking it in Laramie 0 miles
A really low key day. I mean REALLY. I hang out at the library and the guys bum around town, play some soccer in the park, and hang out back at Pete's. Kelvin's good friend Lindsay, with whom he went to high school and many of us know and love from the U of O, showed up to Pete's house to hang with her beau and the three of us. It was a splendid time, and we had a barbecue and good times. Thanks again to Peter for letting us crash at his place. After the food, the gang went out to a few bars for Peter's friend's birthday. I crashed early and didn't go out, so I apologize that I cannot relate any shenanigans or little quips from the night.
Day 36 Friday July 25: Laramie to Fort Collins, Colorado 70.59 miles
Hello Colorado! Fort Collins is super cool, I'm ashamed to say that I surprised to say this, as I'd never heard anything about it before. But we had a fantastic time there. We arrived in town around 4 in the afternoon and, after concocting a plan with our couchsurfer to meet up later, went directly to the New Belgium Brewery. A really chill place with an electric atmosphere and hilarious staff, we each sampled four of their brews, entirely free. They dug our bicycles and were super friendly about letting us know the ins and outs of the goings on. After working there for 5 years, the owners set up every employee with an all expenses paid tour of the breweries in Belgium. Woa. You cannot purchase any beer at the brewery, aside from growlers to go, so we took the party favors (bottle opener, sticker, tattoo) and headed out for the other local brewery about which we have heard many good things. O'Dell's is a decidedly smaller operation, but stands up well as far as atmosphere and quality. The espresso stout is delicious and gives you a great kick in the pants. Also, the waitress was super nice and gave us the sampler tray for free, our first freebie for being cross-country bikers. Way cool. After a burrito downtown we met up with Katy, a student at Colorado State who was to put us up for the night. We climbed a huge tree and watched lightning go nuts over the Rockies as the sun set on the horizon, and then proceeded to hit the streets of Fort Collins. We found ourselves at the birthday party of a 6'3 Haitian named Andre Paul, who was down to throw out phat rhymes all night along with our very own Nathan Andre Roter as Kelvin laid down the beat. It's been too long since I've heard Nate flow, it's really an experience to behold. Kelvin rocked out so hard, he still has a sore on his lip from beat-boxing all night.
Day 37 Saturday July 26: Rest day in Fort Collins 0 miles
Another day heavy on the relaxing, but there's a method to our chilled out madness. Back in Lander I spoke to my good friend Anne Groundwater, who informed me that she was turning 21 on August 1st in Colorado Springs, and had none of her friends around to share in the fun. Wait a minute, we're in Colorado, and it's late July! WE could come to Colorado Springs and share in the fun! So instead of going at our normal pace and spending a week in the Springs, we decided to mosey through the state, stopping in Fort Collins, Boulder, and Denver for a day each to check out what's going on. But I digress. After bumming around the town and taking the tour at O'Dell's, we headed up north a ways with a car full of inner tubes. En route to float the Poudre (pronounced poo-der, seriously) river. It was fairly late in the day when we arrived, and the rest of the floaters were heading home. But we were not deterred, and Katy, Nate, Kelvin, Christina, and I hitched a ride upstream. We had met Christina the night before, she went to school in the same area as I had in Kansas, and it turned out we had a number of mutual acquantances. Weird. Anyways, she's an avid floater of rivers and so met up with us on Saturday to come along. After the float, which is incredibly fun and I highly recommend it to anyone with the means, we found ourselves back in the parking lot, with a locked car and an empty pocket in which Katy had previously kept the key. Hmmm. This could turn into a long story, but I'm not going to let it. The short of it is, we slept in the car in the parking lot and hitched a ride into town in the morning. It was okay, we had playing cards and good spirits.
Day 38 Sunday July 27: Fort Collins to Boulder 58.4 miles
I'm just going to be straight about this right now. I don't like Boulder. Hands down my least favorite place we've been to on this trip. That being said, I'm not going to spend a lot of text on our time there. Mountain Sun Brewery was quite possibly the best brewery we've been to, it's old school ale was unbelievable and the waiters were super generous, but even that couldn't save the entire perception I have of Boulder. I don't want to talk about it.
Day 39 Monday July 28: Hanging out in Boulder 0 miles
Our friend Claire, aka Gordy, from the U of O put us up on Monday at her friend's house. They were all really nice and we barbecued and had a fun time floating the river there. Thanks a bunch to all of our wonderfull hosts in Boulder. Kelvin can't find his wallet. Credit card, bank card, ID, social security card - gone. He checks every possible place. Twice.
Day 40 Tuesday July 29: Boulder to Denver 51.31 miles
Kelvin still can't find it. We decide to head to Denver and deal with it there. The hills in Colorado are steep! We've apparently been spoiled with our 7% grade 10 mile climbs, because the shorter, steeper climbs to Denver were really rough. After arriving in Denver we call up Max Roesch, the older brother of Nate's good friend Jaco. No answer. No worries, we have a backup plan for a place to stay in Denver. Our good friend Teri Lyshorn's brother Jesse. We call him up. Wrong number. We call Teri, she's in Connecticut. With her brother, Jesse. Huh. This all goes down at a small cafe on the outskirts of Denver, where a very nice young woman named Alexa comes over to chat with us. She has braces and is getting ready to go into 8th grade. She asks us about our trip and then excuses herself, only to return minutes later to sit down and chat again. She doesn't know much about Denver, nor where any bowling alleys are, she doesn't know about the bar scene, and likes every type of music but nothing really stands out and she doesn't know where to go to see any good shows. Very informative girl, but keeps looking over to her friends' table and giggling. Weird. Well, at this point we decide our best chance is to go to the library and check out some other options for a place to stay. After asking directions to the nearest branch from a guy on the street, he proceeds to give us $40. It was kind of awkward, but he was really excited about our trip and insisted. Denver has some nice folks. At the library I send out an SOS on couchsurfing.com to the Denver group, which has about 500 people on it. Within minutes a guy named Steve calls us up and invites us to stay. We ride over and he turns out to be a super nice guy, with an absurdly nice apartment. We get pizza and beer with part of the $40, and go bowling on Steve's Nintendo Wii, as there aren't really any bowling alleys nearby. Kelvin reaches in his bag for his toothbrush or something and finds his wallet. The world is a weird place I swear.
Day 41 Wednesday July 30: Hanging out in Denver 0 miles
Strolling, ice cream, vegetarian wings with Steve, swimming in the apartment pool, and hanging out on the apartment roof. Kelvin and Nate went to the art museum, while I failed to write letters and instead chatted with Steve and enjoyed the happy hour at a local vegetarian restaurant. That about sums up the day. It was a good day.
Day 42 Thursday July 31: Denver to Colorado Springs 69.07 miles
Denver is cool, but having to ride 30 miles before escaping the sprawl isn't quite as much fun as it might sound. Regardless, the ride turned out to be a beautiful one, and we're all excited for the great plains. We ride into town and meet up with Anne Groundwater, who takes us back to her parent's home, where they feed us amazing tacos and beer and are about the best hosts anyone could ever ask for. We play "Sorry" and watch the Talking Head's concert "Stop Making Sense." A really fun evening. But wait? What time is it? It's almost midnight, and Anne's little brother John is nice enough to drive us downtown so that we may celebrate in style. We play some pool and do some celebrating in the less than two hour window that we have for our night on the town in "The Springs," as the hip kids call it. We rock out a huge dance party in the car on the way home as John drives home cool as a cucumber. Anne gets heated at this really large guy on the street and starts talking smack to him in a big way. He swings at her and she ducks out of the way, then gives him an open handed judo chop to his chops. He's laid out, but Anne's knee is scraped up from when she fell on the follow through. It was either that or Anne tripped off of a large curb while trying to text a frenchman, it could have been either scenario, really.
Day 43 Friday August 1: Livin' large in Colorado Springs 0 miles
Kelvin and I wake up and have a nice chat with Anne's father, "You gentleman, and I use the word loosely, took my daughter out last night for her birthday, and now this morning she's gone to the hospital with a broken hand." Here is the part where jaws drop and faces of disbelief contort into apologetic ramblings. Her dad is actually really good-natured about it, and it turns out that she didn't in fact break her hand, but will be wearing a brace for about a week. All is relatively well and I hope Anne's parents don't hate us. They've been and are continuing to be super nice. Now I've gotta go, because there's sandwich fixings in the kitchen. They're taking us up to Keystone for a bluegrass and brewfest. Some guys get all the breaks, huh?
This is that for now. We're clean and well-fed and happy, and incredibly sorry about Anne's hand. I hope you all are well. I'm going to try and convince one of the other guys to typ now.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Brits and Boiling Springs. A Long Catch-up.
Hello world. It's time for another blog from the postmeister general, here in beautiful Laramie, Wyoming. We've finished the antibiotics and conquered the last pass (at least according to our maps) until the Appalachians, ready to take on the midwest, after a quick tour of Colorado. We're all feeling great, Nate's back to being a jokester and Kelvin again waits patiently at the tops of big climbs, I'm glad things are back to normal, if we can make that stretch to call our daily lives normal. I seem to have fallen quite behind on our daily journal, so today's post might be a long one in order to catch everything up. That's okay with me, I'm beat after yesterday's ride and it's nice and cool here in the library at the University of Wyoming.
Day 18 Monday July 7: Missoula to Hamilton, 50.83 miles
Because the other breweries had been closed, we decided to hang out for the afternoon, check out some of the places we'd missed, and leave later in the day (If you'll recall, we have just spent a rest day in Missoula, and are getting ready to continue on our way through Montana). I hike up to the giant 'M' on the hill, and meet up back at the house to find that Kelvin and Nate had already gone to the Big Sky Brewery. Oh well, they said it was mainly a gift shop, and Kelvin got a Moose Drool belt buckle that doubles as a bottle opener. Score. From there we go to the Kettle House brewery, where we sample their scotch ale that is absolutely fantastic. They don't bottle their beer because glass isn't allowed on the river, they only do 16 ounce cans so as to accomodate those who want to float the river with a good brew, awesome. The 4 o'clock departure time is coming quick and the temptation to stay for another night is strong, but we are determined to continue on our way, although we push back our departure time to 6. This turns out to be really interesting, as we haven't started anywhere near this late to this point. A good majority of the ride is during twilight, and there is animal action everywhere along this lightly traveled Montana highway. At one point we are joined by three deer, bounding parallel at a similar pace about 40 yards east. They come with us for a good two minutes, and then leap a barbed wire fence and run away, while we continue on. We end up at a high school field in Hamilton Montana as the night is really taking over. Too tired to make any dinner, and inexplicably not that hungry, we go straight to bed.
Day 19 Tuesday July 8: Hamilton to Lost Trail Pass, 51.03 miles
To this point on our journey, we have in fact had a few beers to drink. There has been a morning or two in which we probably would have felt better had we opted for water the previous night, but nothing that has really hindered our ability to ride the next day. As we are all for pushing the limits, as well as we are suckers for a good microbrewery, today's ride proved to be a good lesson to be remembered for the rest of the trip. We had all our stuff packed and ready to go by well before 11am, but we discovered that the Bitter Root Brewery of Hamilton did not open until this time. Who knows if we'll ever be in Hamilton again? We decided this opportunity could not be passed up, and filled our morning with a good hearty meal at a cafe and a stop at a bike shop, where Kelvin purchased a super hip US Postal Service riding cap. Such style, such finesse. at 11 we posted ourselves at the bar of the brewery, and proceeded to enjoy an exceptional IPA and some free popcorn. Anyways, after 4 delicious brews we step out into the hot early afternoon sun ready to ride. Ouch, maybe this isn't such a great idea. Okay, so now we know that drinking in the early afternoon and then trying to bike 50 miles doesn't make for an easy ride. Luckily by the time we hit the 7-mile climb at the end of the day, we're feeling a bit better and much more hydrated from the water we've been chugging. At the top of the pass is an out of season ski resort that makes for a perfect camp site for the three of us. We sit on the sedintary ski lift and watch the sun set over the forest. Camping at pass summits offers unbelievable views and nice cold temperatures at night. We talk a lot about zombies in order to scare the crap out of Nate before going to bed.
Day 20 Wednesday July 9: Lost Trail to Badger Pass: 77.52 miles
What a difference a good dinner and a good night's sleep make! We wake up at the ski resort ready to put yesterday behind us and rock out through Big Hole, Montana. We spend the majority of the day riding through an amazing valley completely surrounded by towering mountains. We talk about Chief Joesph and the Nez Pierce Indians as we pass the historic battlefield. We stop in Wisdom for a big lunch and listen to old cowboys tell stories to one another. We ride for miles in the hot sun and talk about Nate riding for Berkeley High and winning state his senior year. It's a beautiful day. at about 40 miles my left knee starts bugging me. I take out my leg warmers and put them on, the pressure helps the knee, although it's definitely tender. We finally come up to one of the two passes we have today, and Kelvin and Nate fly up ahead while I plod along, slow and sure. I finally reach the summit to find that my two amigos are nowhere in sight. I assume they've already descended and take off down the hill. The descent lasts for a good ten minutes, and pedaling is pointless as the downhill cruise is fast. When I finally resume pedaling my knee is screaming in pain. I find it hard to pedal and haven't yet caught up to the other guys. We've gone a good deal and I want to find them and ask that we set up camp for the night. I pedal with one foot for a stretch along the flat roads until I come up to the base of the second of the days passes. I pull over to the side of the road and stretch out my leg as best I can. I rest for a good couple of minutes and decide to give it a go. The rest stop was great, and I feel fine going up the hill. Phew! After climbing almost to the top of the pass, I realize I've lost my glasses, but I don't want to go back for them because of the knee. At this point I see Kelvin in my rearview mirror. What? Apparently they'd both gone up aways at the first pass summit to see some viewpoint, and I'd passed them without realizing it. It's really hot, and we're almost to the top of the hill. I tell them about my glasses and Kelvin goes back for them. What a guy, seriously. After riding over 60 miles he goes down a hill a couple of miles in the 4 o'clock sun to look for my glasses. upon his return we finish the climb and find another amazing spot to camp at the summit. We sing to the bears while we hike, hoping that we never see a bear. We talk a lot about bears, and how they can knock over trees and you can't outrun them. Very uplifting conversation before bed.
Day 21 Thursday July 10: Badger Pass to Sheridan, MT, 60.53 miles
In the morning Nate realizes that he has a cracked back wheel that needs to be replaced asap. We head into a small town named Dillon, where there's only one bike shop run by one guy some of the time. Everyone knows Joe, he's just hard to get a hold of some time. We finally do, and he helps out Nate, even though he ends up being late for work because of it. Thanks a ton, Joe! I pick up some IBUProfine, my knee is feeling fine, and has felt fine ever since that ride. After everything is set with Nate's bike we take off with a HUGE tailwind. We're hardly pedaling and cruising at 25mph. Wind can be your best friend, but once we passed through Twin Bridges, the road turned us around. Wind can be such a pain in the butt! The ride from Twin Bridges to Sheridan wasn't too far in miles, but it took forever with the wind and the incline, killing our buzz from the heavy tail-winded cruise. We have no set plans on where we're going to stay for the night, so we decide to stop in Sheridan and hang out in a cafe until it gets a little cooler. It's around 3:30 and the sun is blazing. After talking to the workers in the cafe we decide to stick around Sheridan for the night, there's a nice field nearby where they say we can camp and won't be bothered. The cafe closes at 6 and we decide to go across the street to the bar to play some cards until the sun starts going down. We walk in the bar and each order a beer, before we have a chance to sit down at the table we are called to the end of the bar by an old cowboy, "Hey, come over here!" 'Yeah?' we respond. He and a few of his buddies at the end of the dark bar are checking us out, "You guys like to eat pussy?" he asks us aggressively. 'What?' we ask. He repeats the question, "I said, d'y'all like to eat pussy?" We all pause and simultaneously take a drink of beer, not knowing exactly how to respond and more than a little uncomfortable with the situation in which we find ourselves. His buddies start razzin us a little, clearly amused by our discomfort. We reply affirmatively to his inquiry, not having a clue where this is going. He turns to the bar and picks off some bites of meat from a large platter on the bar, "Here, try some of this, this is some BIG pussy. A mountain lion my friend shot the other day, had me cook it up for 'im." We all laugh and graciously accept the offer. It's not bad, tastes like chicken. We loosen up and joke around with them for a little while, they're really funny old guys that love giving each other a hard time. After that interaction we play a little pool. A young guy by the name of Mike is playing some hits on the jukebox, and we all get to talking. He and Kelvin play some pool and Nate and I play cards until we can see outside that dusk is coming on. We bid Mike farewell and start getting our stuff together outside, doddling around for a couple of minutes. Not three minutes later Mike comes outside with two young women who'd just stopped in the bar. Their names are Erica and Kelsey and they live just a few blocks away. Mike was heading over to their house to hang out and they invite us along. It seems like a swell idea, so we accept the invitation and stroll the two blocks down the gravel road. Erica's cousin, Dave, is there with his girlfriend. He's in the army and he and I have a nice talk about that. Everyone is really nice and we all have a good old time. Mike has his arrowhead collection there and shows us all sorts of awesome fossils he's found in the area over the years. They invite us to stay the night and we camp out on the living room floor instead of the high school baseball field. Sheridan was entertaining, to say the least.
Day 22 Friday July 11: Sheridan to somewhere in Madison Valley, 69.15 miles
Outside of Sheridan is Nevada City, a tiny town that exists for the sole purpose of recreating an old west atmosphere. Apparently "Little Big Man" with Dustin Hoffman, among other films, was shot there. Tourist shops and museums are the only things that line the one street in the town. We stop in the cafe and get sick of the shtick quick. Good ice cream though. We have a good ride and stop in an old-fashioned soda fountain in Ennis, good root beer. We end up camping off the side of the road by the river. A solid day, if somewhat uneventful.
Day 23 Saturday July 12: Madison Valley to Yellowston National Park, 54.73 miles
Last night was FREEZING! Literally. We awoke to find everything covered in frost, my nose was frozen and our clothes that we'd washed in the river were stiff. We got to work quick on starting a fire and setting everything out in the sun, and were good to go within an hour and a half. We stop off for water at a little resort along the river. There's a carboat parked out front. That picture from the last post of the red car with the license plate that says "floatr," it works on both land and water. Whoa, the future! Before we reach Yellowstone we roll through a small town called West Yellowstone. A town built entirely on tourism for people who are bored with all that nature business and want to see an IMAX movie or eat at a pricey restaurant. We find a brewery and go in, excited. We leave within minutes when we discover that they don't brew any beer, and that them calling themselves a brewery is simply a lie. We feel cheated and eat at Subway to spite them, where we talk to a group of kids from Slovakia working there for the summer. We roll into Yellowstone National Park, where carloads of 6 people pay $25 to enter, and people on foot or on bicycle have to pay $12 each. So we pay $11 more than if we had been in a car. We feel cheated. We see bald eagles and bison and moose and it's a trip. The bison fakes a charge at a motorcycle and the giant line of cars that had been taking pictures immediately drive off. We come to a metropolis of a campsite and set up shop near a group of campers with satellite dishes and screaming kids. I miss deserted mountain passes. We are going to take a rest day tomorrow, so we drink some whiskey, play hearts and make sarcastic jokes about Yellowstone.
Day 24 Sunday July 13: Rest day in Yellowstone
A short bike trip to a waterfall, reading and throwing rocks and swimming in the creek, a nice little chat with some fellow cyclists from Germany, and some more hearts (the card game, ya know?). That's about our day at Yellowstone. Very relaxed. Very enjoyable. We feel much less sarcastic about this place, although of course we still joke.
Day 25 Monday July 14: Yellowstone to Grand Teton National Park 68.32 miles
Riding after a rest day is a great feeling. The legs are fresh and strong, it's all exciting and new again. The majority of the first part of the day goes through the park, so we see all sorts of cool stuff. Steam coming out of all sorts of places on the ground, mud pits bubbling up reaking of odorous gases, and more RV's than you can shake a stick at. We come to Old Faithful and are about a mile out when it blows. We want to see it up close, so we stop for lunch at the general store. There are a group of guys from Columbia working here, so I finally get a chance to have a conversation in Spanish and I'm super happy the rest of the day. We see old faithful and are super sarcastic. It's not that we don't appreciate what's happening, it's just frustrating how unnatural the entire environment feels that is set up to allow people to view this natural wonder. We respect that millions of people come through every year, so measures have to be made. That being the case, we'll stick to our scenic byways and mountain passes for our sightseeing from now on, I think. The ride is hard, with a ton of climbs, but we're all feeling good and are going strong. I finally keep up with the guys up a huge climb and arrive at the top, exhausted and ecstatic. That picture of me with the hair up by the Continental Divide sign, that's me in pure euphoria. We passed over the Divide about 4 times on the ride, it was a trip. We roll into Lizard Creek campgrounds in Grand Teton National Park after our ride. It's right by a lake, so we jump into the freezing water and swim out a little way, the view is out of this world. The Tetons are majestic, and the adrenaline from the cold water only adds to the experience. We meet a few photographers from New York, they're doing freelance work on their way to a friend's wedding in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. They don't take our picture.
Day 26 Tuesday July 15: Unexpected rest day at Lizard Creek campsite, 0 miles
I've already written about these next three days, so I'm just going to put the headlines and the stats for continuity. Please read "Giardia? Hoo boy I hope not" for the full account of these days.
Day 27 Wednesday July 16: Grand Teton National Park to Dubois, Wyoming, 77.72 miles
Day 28 Thursday July 17: Dubois to Lander, 36.99 miles (Hitch-hiking miles not included)
Day 29 Friday July 18: Rest day in Lander, 0 miles
Lander is a nice little town, a fine place to spend a day or two resting. After I spend the morning updating the blog, the guys show up at the library, already feeling much better from the pills. We take it easy all day, stopping by the NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School) international headquarters to check it out, as Kelvin is an alumn from one of their programs in Alaska. Nice place, nice people. We head back to the Cowfish Brewery for some food, and as we're finishing up we see a big plume of black smoke coming from just over yonder. We get up and wander down the alley to find that a three-store building has caught fire. The owner and his family are panicked and emergency vehicles arrive quickly. We stay as part of the big group for awhile, watching the building go up in flames, before we head back to the motel to relax. We watch a rerun of a Argentina vs USA soccer match and hang around the motel room. The owner let's me play the piano by the front desk and we go to sleep pretty early.
Day 30 Saturday July 19: Rest day in Lander, 0 miles
Nate's still not feeling so hot, and Kelvin is feeling better but not 100%, so hopefully the second rest day will turn things around for us tomorrow. We check out of our room, as we plan to camp in the park that night, and hit the town. We check out some local shops and bum around Main street. We walk down to the bowling alley only to find that it doesn't open until 8pm! There goes our 'it's really hot outside so we'll hang out in an air-conditioned building all afternoon' idea. We end up going to the park instead, there's a guy from Germany with a slackline, so Kelvin immediately has a new friend. Nate and I watch a high school baseball game, Lander gets smashed 9-3 by an unknown opponent. It's our first baseball game of the trip, hopefully that will change soon. We set up camp and chat with some other bikers. This is a really cool public park that allows overnight camping, so there are plenty of people around. The wind isn't noticeable to us, but it must have been something fierce a little higher up, as we are all woken up in the middle of the night to a large tree snapping in half and crashing to the ground. It was about 30 yards away from us. If it had fallen the opposite direction it would have crushed a tent. Scary.
Day 31 Sunday July 20: Lander to Jeffrey, 59.66 miles
Nate's still not feeling great, but we're all ready to get out of Lander. He decides to hitch a ride to Jeffrey, and Kelvin and I will do the ride by ourselves for the day. It's weird without Nate, and neither of us feel normal the entire day. It's a beautiful ride, and Kelvin is feeling good. We come across a man and woman coming the other direction. The guy was on the TV show "Biggest Loser," which is a game show/reality show in which whoever can lose the most weight wins. He was 300 pounds when he started, and said if he hit his goal weight he'd ride across the country, so there he was. A little while after that we caught up to 3 British girls and a guy from New York who were traveling together in the same direction as us. We had a nice little chat with Nat, Rosie, Alla, and Prudence, before going on our way. Nate has spent the afternoon hanging out with and getting lunch bought for him by the nice couple from New Zealand with whom we've been crossing paths for about two weeks. He passes us in a truck about 7 miles outside of town, which is a relief, as it's always a bit unsettling when we're separated, as cell phones aren't reliable out here and distance means a lot more on a bike than in a car. When we arrive in Jeffrey, Nate has already set us up with a place to stay. Let me take a moment to describe Jeffrey, Wyoming for everyone. There is nothing within a 60 mile radius of this place. It had its' heyday back when it was home to about 5,000 people with a booming uranium mine. After the three mile island incident the mine closed down and the city completely fell apart. It's a ghost town, with abandoned buildings everywhere. All that is left is a baptist church, a bar that also doubles as a cafe, and a pottery store. The baptist church puts up cyclists in exchange for listening to the minister preach at them for an hour, the pipes are leaky and there are rats. The bar seemed to be town hall, as about 5 elderly guys were hanging out, quietly watching television. Then there is the pottery store, which is where we find Nate upon our arrival. Byron, a 38 year-old bachelor with an Einstein-esque mop of hair and a sleepy demeanor, lives and works in the building. He lived in Lander, running his store there before he was offered the old car repair building in Jeffrey for $5,000. The outside is an overgrown parking lot, with two small islands where gas pumps used to be located. The top of the building over the doors has "Monk King Bird Pottery" written across it in bright red, and on the concrete in front of the door is painted "Here lives the hairy potter." Inside is a mass of clutter, with a small room displaying his work from floor to ceiling. There's a black leather recliner in the middle of the room next to an end table with a full ashtray. The old garage is his kitchen/bedroom/living room space. It's filled with 5x as much clutter, although none of it is for sale. He sleeps on a mattress in a tent because the mosquitos are so bad, and uses the bar's restroom across the street because he has plumbing issues. Byron is a really nice guy, and he's tickled pink to have human beings for interaction. We chat and play chess in the uncomfortably hot garage, forced inside by the relentless mosquitos. Around 8 the Brits and Nat drop in to say hello, as they've finished their ride in Jeffrey as well. They're staying at the Baptist church, which is how I know about the rats and pipes. Byron is ecstatic, he's never had this many people over and scrambles around to get seating for everyone. They leave at sundown after some pleasant chit chat about our respective trips. Byron is kind enough to let us use his clay and equipment, and Kelvin gets to throw a bowl while we all watch, mesmerized by the spinning clay. Nate wants to learn, and Kelvin and Byron walk him through the steps. He makes a cool vase, but it eventually flops apart and he's done, completely satisfied with having gone through the process. Byron then performs some magic tricks on the wheel, and does some things that I didn't think were physically possible with clay. It was nothing short of amazing. Byron's a self-described insomniac, so we bid him good night and he goes about reading while we set up our little bedrooms.
Day 32 Monday July 21: Jeffrey to Rawlins, 68.72 miles
Byron is quite a character, and we all thank him immensely for letting us stay at his place. It was an interesting experience, to say the least. Nate's feeling good and he's back on the bike, the amigos are three once more. We cross the Continental Divide for the last two times, crossing the great basin in between. We roll into Rawlins after the day's ride and promptly devour giant dishes of ice cream at the local parlor. After a delicious Thai food dinner we need to find a place to stay, there are some mean clouds rolling in and it doesn't seem like we have much time before getting rained on. The bowling alley is closed on Monday in Rawlins anyhow, so it's not like we had anything better to do than set up camp. We come acrossed an empty lot between two houses, and ask one of the neighbors if they think it'd be alright if we laid our heads there for the night. They thought it belonged to the city, and said it was fine with them as long as we weren't to loud. Seeing as how we're generally asleep before the night has completely fallen, we figured we could oblige. I go off in search of a bathroom and run into Rosie the Brit coming out of the library. They're staying in a motel down the way, but they've run into a cool bit of drama. Nat, the 17 year-old New Yorker, has declared that he's decided to go it alone. He's leaving them behind because they're too slow, and they are pissed at him about it. Again I'm thankful that I'm riding with two close friends instead of acquaintances. I'm also thankful that Kelvin and Nate are so patient while waiting at the tops of mountains. Back at the camp we attempt to locate the number of Kelvin's good friend Lindsay, as we're going to roll into her neck of the woods in two days, and we have not heard back from her on the internet. Our attempts fail, and we go to bed uncertain as to what will happen in Laramie.
Day 33 Tuesday July 22: Rawlins to Saratoga
We fiddle around the next morning, spending time while awaiting the library to open to check in more about Lindsay. Kelvin buys a soccer ball, which is immediately acknowledged as a brilliant idea. We play around and it looks so funny strapped on the back of Kelvin's fully packed bike. After the library we take off, the route includes a 20-mile stretch on Interstate 80. Incredibly annoying but unavoidable. It honestly wasn't as bad as I was anticipating, although I hope not to do it again. We pass by the city of Sinclair, as in the big green dinosaur oil company Sinclair. It's not so much a city as one gigantic oil refinery. Ahh, the sites of Wyoming. After we get off of the interstate we run into the British girls. We stop for a snack and make fun of Nat with them for awhile. We ride with them for the next little bit, and after only a little over 40 miles of total trip distance show up to Saratoga. We grab some food at the gas station and are getting ready to go. I take out my video camera and am filming a little when this guy with mohawk dreadlocks comes up and starts talking to me about my video. I tell him I'm documenting our trip and he says I should put it up on his website that he's starting. I'm not overly enthusiastic but appreciate his approach, he says he can give me a promo video of the site but he only has it on him at the hot springs. Hot springs? Yeah, apparently there are free hot springs (I specify free because all of the hot springs we've encountered on this trip have been guarded behind fancy pants resorts) a mere two blocks away from the gas station. We all decide to delay our ride for a stop at the hot springs. Behind the public pool is an enclosed pool with a sandy bottom, bubbling all over so that the underwater bubbles give the appearance that rain drops are falling on the pool. Everyone loves a good hot tub, maybe 105 degrees at the hottest, but this is no hot tub. It's at least 115, it hurts. There are one or two locals in there, and I get in for a second, but it feels like you're scalding your skin, so I get out quickly. We chill down at the river right beside the pool where I pipe from the pool runs into the river, so you get the bizarre sensation of hot and cold water constantly flowing past. Kelvin and Nate decide to brave the heat and go back up to the pool, quickly returning and laying on their backs in the shallow, and freezing, water of the river. They swear it feels great and convince the rest of us to try it. Although incredibly bizarre, the intense hot and the refreshing cool of the waters feels amazing, and we spend the next two hours going back and forth. All of the locals are interested in the bikes, as has been the case for the entire trip, and we chat it up with a bunch of them. One tells us of a campsite a mile out of town, and we scrap the rest of the day's planned ride, opting instead for hot springs and camping. We stop at the grocery store for some food, and at this point there is lightning off in the distance, making setting up camp a bit more pressing. We decide against back tracking the mile to the campsite and set up in the city park. The Brits have stuck around as well and we all eat together, making fun of each other's accents and playing with the new soccer ball. The lightning is phenomenal but we don't get rained on except for a few drops in the middle of the night.
Day 34 Wednesday July 23: Saratoga to Laramie, 80 miles
We're awoken in the morning to the sprinklers dousing our tent. We scramble to move our bikes out of harm's way but leave the tent until the sprinklers stop. We all set out together, but part ways with the Brits about 15 miles in, where we turn to head east for Laramie. We're doing our last and highest pass on the western part of our journey, and it is a duzey. A 9 mile steep climb to a false summit, followed by some amazing scenery of mountains, lakes and high plains, all at over 10,000 feet. Snowy pass seems inhabitable for all but maybe 3 months out of the year. It is amazingly beautiful. We get to the bottom of the descent at around 3pm, with only about 25 miles to Laramie, it should be a breeze. However, the sky was black ahead of us and the wind was nasty. The entire area was rolling hills and plains, and you could see for miles. In every direction you could see rain falling and lightning striking, but for the time being the lightning was far enough away to not fear being struck. But, clouds move, and with 10 miles to go the rain started to pour and the lightning got so close that there was no time at all between the lightning and thunder. It was terrifying and really exciting. With each boom of thunder we would speed up, trying in vain to outrun the clouds. We finally arrived in Laramie, sopping wet and exhausted from the ride. While looking around town for a place to eat, we struck up a conversation with a guy in a bike shop. A woman overheard us asking about our friends, and she knew Lindsay's boyfriend Pete, with whom she used to work. She made a few calls and found us his number, and before you knew it our worries about where to stay were calmed and we had plans to meet up with Kelvin's old high school buddy Pete within a couple of hours. We spent the in between time at a local bar and grill, watched the sun set on a bridge over the railroad tracks, and then stopped off at the local bowling lanes for a game. From there we met up with Pete and his friend Dave at Pete's house, although we weren't up for too long before crashing for the night.
This is where I find myself now. I'm tired, and tired of typing. I hope you've enjoyed catching up as much as I have. I hope to not let things fall behind so far anymore, so stay tuned, as I should have access at frequent intervals over the next week. Also, I'm going to make Kelvin and Nate write something on this, just to shake things up. We're heading to Fort Collins tomorrow, where we hear are some great breweries in addition to the New Belgium brewery. This being the case, we may take another rest day. Then it's on to Boulder, Denver, and Colorado Springs to visit my good friend Anne Groundwater. After that we're heading east, on to the midwest and the next chapter of our trip. We hope you are all well. Keep the rubber side down.
Day 18 Monday July 7: Missoula to Hamilton, 50.83 miles
Because the other breweries had been closed, we decided to hang out for the afternoon, check out some of the places we'd missed, and leave later in the day (If you'll recall, we have just spent a rest day in Missoula, and are getting ready to continue on our way through Montana). I hike up to the giant 'M' on the hill, and meet up back at the house to find that Kelvin and Nate had already gone to the Big Sky Brewery. Oh well, they said it was mainly a gift shop, and Kelvin got a Moose Drool belt buckle that doubles as a bottle opener. Score. From there we go to the Kettle House brewery, where we sample their scotch ale that is absolutely fantastic. They don't bottle their beer because glass isn't allowed on the river, they only do 16 ounce cans so as to accomodate those who want to float the river with a good brew, awesome. The 4 o'clock departure time is coming quick and the temptation to stay for another night is strong, but we are determined to continue on our way, although we push back our departure time to 6. This turns out to be really interesting, as we haven't started anywhere near this late to this point. A good majority of the ride is during twilight, and there is animal action everywhere along this lightly traveled Montana highway. At one point we are joined by three deer, bounding parallel at a similar pace about 40 yards east. They come with us for a good two minutes, and then leap a barbed wire fence and run away, while we continue on. We end up at a high school field in Hamilton Montana as the night is really taking over. Too tired to make any dinner, and inexplicably not that hungry, we go straight to bed.
Day 19 Tuesday July 8: Hamilton to Lost Trail Pass, 51.03 miles
To this point on our journey, we have in fact had a few beers to drink. There has been a morning or two in which we probably would have felt better had we opted for water the previous night, but nothing that has really hindered our ability to ride the next day. As we are all for pushing the limits, as well as we are suckers for a good microbrewery, today's ride proved to be a good lesson to be remembered for the rest of the trip. We had all our stuff packed and ready to go by well before 11am, but we discovered that the Bitter Root Brewery of Hamilton did not open until this time. Who knows if we'll ever be in Hamilton again? We decided this opportunity could not be passed up, and filled our morning with a good hearty meal at a cafe and a stop at a bike shop, where Kelvin purchased a super hip US Postal Service riding cap. Such style, such finesse. at 11 we posted ourselves at the bar of the brewery, and proceeded to enjoy an exceptional IPA and some free popcorn. Anyways, after 4 delicious brews we step out into the hot early afternoon sun ready to ride. Ouch, maybe this isn't such a great idea. Okay, so now we know that drinking in the early afternoon and then trying to bike 50 miles doesn't make for an easy ride. Luckily by the time we hit the 7-mile climb at the end of the day, we're feeling a bit better and much more hydrated from the water we've been chugging. At the top of the pass is an out of season ski resort that makes for a perfect camp site for the three of us. We sit on the sedintary ski lift and watch the sun set over the forest. Camping at pass summits offers unbelievable views and nice cold temperatures at night. We talk a lot about zombies in order to scare the crap out of Nate before going to bed.
Day 20 Wednesday July 9: Lost Trail to Badger Pass: 77.52 miles
What a difference a good dinner and a good night's sleep make! We wake up at the ski resort ready to put yesterday behind us and rock out through Big Hole, Montana. We spend the majority of the day riding through an amazing valley completely surrounded by towering mountains. We talk about Chief Joesph and the Nez Pierce Indians as we pass the historic battlefield. We stop in Wisdom for a big lunch and listen to old cowboys tell stories to one another. We ride for miles in the hot sun and talk about Nate riding for Berkeley High and winning state his senior year. It's a beautiful day. at about 40 miles my left knee starts bugging me. I take out my leg warmers and put them on, the pressure helps the knee, although it's definitely tender. We finally come up to one of the two passes we have today, and Kelvin and Nate fly up ahead while I plod along, slow and sure. I finally reach the summit to find that my two amigos are nowhere in sight. I assume they've already descended and take off down the hill. The descent lasts for a good ten minutes, and pedaling is pointless as the downhill cruise is fast. When I finally resume pedaling my knee is screaming in pain. I find it hard to pedal and haven't yet caught up to the other guys. We've gone a good deal and I want to find them and ask that we set up camp for the night. I pedal with one foot for a stretch along the flat roads until I come up to the base of the second of the days passes. I pull over to the side of the road and stretch out my leg as best I can. I rest for a good couple of minutes and decide to give it a go. The rest stop was great, and I feel fine going up the hill. Phew! After climbing almost to the top of the pass, I realize I've lost my glasses, but I don't want to go back for them because of the knee. At this point I see Kelvin in my rearview mirror. What? Apparently they'd both gone up aways at the first pass summit to see some viewpoint, and I'd passed them without realizing it. It's really hot, and we're almost to the top of the hill. I tell them about my glasses and Kelvin goes back for them. What a guy, seriously. After riding over 60 miles he goes down a hill a couple of miles in the 4 o'clock sun to look for my glasses. upon his return we finish the climb and find another amazing spot to camp at the summit. We sing to the bears while we hike, hoping that we never see a bear. We talk a lot about bears, and how they can knock over trees and you can't outrun them. Very uplifting conversation before bed.
Day 21 Thursday July 10: Badger Pass to Sheridan, MT, 60.53 miles
In the morning Nate realizes that he has a cracked back wheel that needs to be replaced asap. We head into a small town named Dillon, where there's only one bike shop run by one guy some of the time. Everyone knows Joe, he's just hard to get a hold of some time. We finally do, and he helps out Nate, even though he ends up being late for work because of it. Thanks a ton, Joe! I pick up some IBUProfine, my knee is feeling fine, and has felt fine ever since that ride. After everything is set with Nate's bike we take off with a HUGE tailwind. We're hardly pedaling and cruising at 25mph. Wind can be your best friend, but once we passed through Twin Bridges, the road turned us around. Wind can be such a pain in the butt! The ride from Twin Bridges to Sheridan wasn't too far in miles, but it took forever with the wind and the incline, killing our buzz from the heavy tail-winded cruise. We have no set plans on where we're going to stay for the night, so we decide to stop in Sheridan and hang out in a cafe until it gets a little cooler. It's around 3:30 and the sun is blazing. After talking to the workers in the cafe we decide to stick around Sheridan for the night, there's a nice field nearby where they say we can camp and won't be bothered. The cafe closes at 6 and we decide to go across the street to the bar to play some cards until the sun starts going down. We walk in the bar and each order a beer, before we have a chance to sit down at the table we are called to the end of the bar by an old cowboy, "Hey, come over here!" 'Yeah?' we respond. He and a few of his buddies at the end of the dark bar are checking us out, "You guys like to eat pussy?" he asks us aggressively. 'What?' we ask. He repeats the question, "I said, d'y'all like to eat pussy?" We all pause and simultaneously take a drink of beer, not knowing exactly how to respond and more than a little uncomfortable with the situation in which we find ourselves. His buddies start razzin us a little, clearly amused by our discomfort. We reply affirmatively to his inquiry, not having a clue where this is going. He turns to the bar and picks off some bites of meat from a large platter on the bar, "Here, try some of this, this is some BIG pussy. A mountain lion my friend shot the other day, had me cook it up for 'im." We all laugh and graciously accept the offer. It's not bad, tastes like chicken. We loosen up and joke around with them for a little while, they're really funny old guys that love giving each other a hard time. After that interaction we play a little pool. A young guy by the name of Mike is playing some hits on the jukebox, and we all get to talking. He and Kelvin play some pool and Nate and I play cards until we can see outside that dusk is coming on. We bid Mike farewell and start getting our stuff together outside, doddling around for a couple of minutes. Not three minutes later Mike comes outside with two young women who'd just stopped in the bar. Their names are Erica and Kelsey and they live just a few blocks away. Mike was heading over to their house to hang out and they invite us along. It seems like a swell idea, so we accept the invitation and stroll the two blocks down the gravel road. Erica's cousin, Dave, is there with his girlfriend. He's in the army and he and I have a nice talk about that. Everyone is really nice and we all have a good old time. Mike has his arrowhead collection there and shows us all sorts of awesome fossils he's found in the area over the years. They invite us to stay the night and we camp out on the living room floor instead of the high school baseball field. Sheridan was entertaining, to say the least.
Day 22 Friday July 11: Sheridan to somewhere in Madison Valley, 69.15 miles
Outside of Sheridan is Nevada City, a tiny town that exists for the sole purpose of recreating an old west atmosphere. Apparently "Little Big Man" with Dustin Hoffman, among other films, was shot there. Tourist shops and museums are the only things that line the one street in the town. We stop in the cafe and get sick of the shtick quick. Good ice cream though. We have a good ride and stop in an old-fashioned soda fountain in Ennis, good root beer. We end up camping off the side of the road by the river. A solid day, if somewhat uneventful.
Day 23 Saturday July 12: Madison Valley to Yellowston National Park, 54.73 miles
Last night was FREEZING! Literally. We awoke to find everything covered in frost, my nose was frozen and our clothes that we'd washed in the river were stiff. We got to work quick on starting a fire and setting everything out in the sun, and were good to go within an hour and a half. We stop off for water at a little resort along the river. There's a carboat parked out front. That picture from the last post of the red car with the license plate that says "floatr," it works on both land and water. Whoa, the future! Before we reach Yellowstone we roll through a small town called West Yellowstone. A town built entirely on tourism for people who are bored with all that nature business and want to see an IMAX movie or eat at a pricey restaurant. We find a brewery and go in, excited. We leave within minutes when we discover that they don't brew any beer, and that them calling themselves a brewery is simply a lie. We feel cheated and eat at Subway to spite them, where we talk to a group of kids from Slovakia working there for the summer. We roll into Yellowstone National Park, where carloads of 6 people pay $25 to enter, and people on foot or on bicycle have to pay $12 each. So we pay $11 more than if we had been in a car. We feel cheated. We see bald eagles and bison and moose and it's a trip. The bison fakes a charge at a motorcycle and the giant line of cars that had been taking pictures immediately drive off. We come to a metropolis of a campsite and set up shop near a group of campers with satellite dishes and screaming kids. I miss deserted mountain passes. We are going to take a rest day tomorrow, so we drink some whiskey, play hearts and make sarcastic jokes about Yellowstone.
Day 24 Sunday July 13: Rest day in Yellowstone
A short bike trip to a waterfall, reading and throwing rocks and swimming in the creek, a nice little chat with some fellow cyclists from Germany, and some more hearts (the card game, ya know?). That's about our day at Yellowstone. Very relaxed. Very enjoyable. We feel much less sarcastic about this place, although of course we still joke.
Day 25 Monday July 14: Yellowstone to Grand Teton National Park 68.32 miles
Riding after a rest day is a great feeling. The legs are fresh and strong, it's all exciting and new again. The majority of the first part of the day goes through the park, so we see all sorts of cool stuff. Steam coming out of all sorts of places on the ground, mud pits bubbling up reaking of odorous gases, and more RV's than you can shake a stick at. We come to Old Faithful and are about a mile out when it blows. We want to see it up close, so we stop for lunch at the general store. There are a group of guys from Columbia working here, so I finally get a chance to have a conversation in Spanish and I'm super happy the rest of the day. We see old faithful and are super sarcastic. It's not that we don't appreciate what's happening, it's just frustrating how unnatural the entire environment feels that is set up to allow people to view this natural wonder. We respect that millions of people come through every year, so measures have to be made. That being the case, we'll stick to our scenic byways and mountain passes for our sightseeing from now on, I think. The ride is hard, with a ton of climbs, but we're all feeling good and are going strong. I finally keep up with the guys up a huge climb and arrive at the top, exhausted and ecstatic. That picture of me with the hair up by the Continental Divide sign, that's me in pure euphoria. We passed over the Divide about 4 times on the ride, it was a trip. We roll into Lizard Creek campgrounds in Grand Teton National Park after our ride. It's right by a lake, so we jump into the freezing water and swim out a little way, the view is out of this world. The Tetons are majestic, and the adrenaline from the cold water only adds to the experience. We meet a few photographers from New York, they're doing freelance work on their way to a friend's wedding in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. They don't take our picture.
Day 26 Tuesday July 15: Unexpected rest day at Lizard Creek campsite, 0 miles
I've already written about these next three days, so I'm just going to put the headlines and the stats for continuity. Please read "Giardia? Hoo boy I hope not" for the full account of these days.
Day 27 Wednesday July 16: Grand Teton National Park to Dubois, Wyoming, 77.72 miles
Day 28 Thursday July 17: Dubois to Lander, 36.99 miles (Hitch-hiking miles not included)
Day 29 Friday July 18: Rest day in Lander, 0 miles
Lander is a nice little town, a fine place to spend a day or two resting. After I spend the morning updating the blog, the guys show up at the library, already feeling much better from the pills. We take it easy all day, stopping by the NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School) international headquarters to check it out, as Kelvin is an alumn from one of their programs in Alaska. Nice place, nice people. We head back to the Cowfish Brewery for some food, and as we're finishing up we see a big plume of black smoke coming from just over yonder. We get up and wander down the alley to find that a three-store building has caught fire. The owner and his family are panicked and emergency vehicles arrive quickly. We stay as part of the big group for awhile, watching the building go up in flames, before we head back to the motel to relax. We watch a rerun of a Argentina vs USA soccer match and hang around the motel room. The owner let's me play the piano by the front desk and we go to sleep pretty early.
Day 30 Saturday July 19: Rest day in Lander, 0 miles
Nate's still not feeling so hot, and Kelvin is feeling better but not 100%, so hopefully the second rest day will turn things around for us tomorrow. We check out of our room, as we plan to camp in the park that night, and hit the town. We check out some local shops and bum around Main street. We walk down to the bowling alley only to find that it doesn't open until 8pm! There goes our 'it's really hot outside so we'll hang out in an air-conditioned building all afternoon' idea. We end up going to the park instead, there's a guy from Germany with a slackline, so Kelvin immediately has a new friend. Nate and I watch a high school baseball game, Lander gets smashed 9-3 by an unknown opponent. It's our first baseball game of the trip, hopefully that will change soon. We set up camp and chat with some other bikers. This is a really cool public park that allows overnight camping, so there are plenty of people around. The wind isn't noticeable to us, but it must have been something fierce a little higher up, as we are all woken up in the middle of the night to a large tree snapping in half and crashing to the ground. It was about 30 yards away from us. If it had fallen the opposite direction it would have crushed a tent. Scary.
Day 31 Sunday July 20: Lander to Jeffrey, 59.66 miles
Nate's still not feeling great, but we're all ready to get out of Lander. He decides to hitch a ride to Jeffrey, and Kelvin and I will do the ride by ourselves for the day. It's weird without Nate, and neither of us feel normal the entire day. It's a beautiful ride, and Kelvin is feeling good. We come across a man and woman coming the other direction. The guy was on the TV show "Biggest Loser," which is a game show/reality show in which whoever can lose the most weight wins. He was 300 pounds when he started, and said if he hit his goal weight he'd ride across the country, so there he was. A little while after that we caught up to 3 British girls and a guy from New York who were traveling together in the same direction as us. We had a nice little chat with Nat, Rosie, Alla, and Prudence, before going on our way. Nate has spent the afternoon hanging out with and getting lunch bought for him by the nice couple from New Zealand with whom we've been crossing paths for about two weeks. He passes us in a truck about 7 miles outside of town, which is a relief, as it's always a bit unsettling when we're separated, as cell phones aren't reliable out here and distance means a lot more on a bike than in a car. When we arrive in Jeffrey, Nate has already set us up with a place to stay. Let me take a moment to describe Jeffrey, Wyoming for everyone. There is nothing within a 60 mile radius of this place. It had its' heyday back when it was home to about 5,000 people with a booming uranium mine. After the three mile island incident the mine closed down and the city completely fell apart. It's a ghost town, with abandoned buildings everywhere. All that is left is a baptist church, a bar that also doubles as a cafe, and a pottery store. The baptist church puts up cyclists in exchange for listening to the minister preach at them for an hour, the pipes are leaky and there are rats. The bar seemed to be town hall, as about 5 elderly guys were hanging out, quietly watching television. Then there is the pottery store, which is where we find Nate upon our arrival. Byron, a 38 year-old bachelor with an Einstein-esque mop of hair and a sleepy demeanor, lives and works in the building. He lived in Lander, running his store there before he was offered the old car repair building in Jeffrey for $5,000. The outside is an overgrown parking lot, with two small islands where gas pumps used to be located. The top of the building over the doors has "Monk King Bird Pottery" written across it in bright red, and on the concrete in front of the door is painted "Here lives the hairy potter." Inside is a mass of clutter, with a small room displaying his work from floor to ceiling. There's a black leather recliner in the middle of the room next to an end table with a full ashtray. The old garage is his kitchen/bedroom/living room space. It's filled with 5x as much clutter, although none of it is for sale. He sleeps on a mattress in a tent because the mosquitos are so bad, and uses the bar's restroom across the street because he has plumbing issues. Byron is a really nice guy, and he's tickled pink to have human beings for interaction. We chat and play chess in the uncomfortably hot garage, forced inside by the relentless mosquitos. Around 8 the Brits and Nat drop in to say hello, as they've finished their ride in Jeffrey as well. They're staying at the Baptist church, which is how I know about the rats and pipes. Byron is ecstatic, he's never had this many people over and scrambles around to get seating for everyone. They leave at sundown after some pleasant chit chat about our respective trips. Byron is kind enough to let us use his clay and equipment, and Kelvin gets to throw a bowl while we all watch, mesmerized by the spinning clay. Nate wants to learn, and Kelvin and Byron walk him through the steps. He makes a cool vase, but it eventually flops apart and he's done, completely satisfied with having gone through the process. Byron then performs some magic tricks on the wheel, and does some things that I didn't think were physically possible with clay. It was nothing short of amazing. Byron's a self-described insomniac, so we bid him good night and he goes about reading while we set up our little bedrooms.
Day 32 Monday July 21: Jeffrey to Rawlins, 68.72 miles
Byron is quite a character, and we all thank him immensely for letting us stay at his place. It was an interesting experience, to say the least. Nate's feeling good and he's back on the bike, the amigos are three once more. We cross the Continental Divide for the last two times, crossing the great basin in between. We roll into Rawlins after the day's ride and promptly devour giant dishes of ice cream at the local parlor. After a delicious Thai food dinner we need to find a place to stay, there are some mean clouds rolling in and it doesn't seem like we have much time before getting rained on. The bowling alley is closed on Monday in Rawlins anyhow, so it's not like we had anything better to do than set up camp. We come acrossed an empty lot between two houses, and ask one of the neighbors if they think it'd be alright if we laid our heads there for the night. They thought it belonged to the city, and said it was fine with them as long as we weren't to loud. Seeing as how we're generally asleep before the night has completely fallen, we figured we could oblige. I go off in search of a bathroom and run into Rosie the Brit coming out of the library. They're staying in a motel down the way, but they've run into a cool bit of drama. Nat, the 17 year-old New Yorker, has declared that he's decided to go it alone. He's leaving them behind because they're too slow, and they are pissed at him about it. Again I'm thankful that I'm riding with two close friends instead of acquaintances. I'm also thankful that Kelvin and Nate are so patient while waiting at the tops of mountains. Back at the camp we attempt to locate the number of Kelvin's good friend Lindsay, as we're going to roll into her neck of the woods in two days, and we have not heard back from her on the internet. Our attempts fail, and we go to bed uncertain as to what will happen in Laramie.
Day 33 Tuesday July 22: Rawlins to Saratoga
We fiddle around the next morning, spending time while awaiting the library to open to check in more about Lindsay. Kelvin buys a soccer ball, which is immediately acknowledged as a brilliant idea. We play around and it looks so funny strapped on the back of Kelvin's fully packed bike. After the library we take off, the route includes a 20-mile stretch on Interstate 80. Incredibly annoying but unavoidable. It honestly wasn't as bad as I was anticipating, although I hope not to do it again. We pass by the city of Sinclair, as in the big green dinosaur oil company Sinclair. It's not so much a city as one gigantic oil refinery. Ahh, the sites of Wyoming. After we get off of the interstate we run into the British girls. We stop for a snack and make fun of Nat with them for awhile. We ride with them for the next little bit, and after only a little over 40 miles of total trip distance show up to Saratoga. We grab some food at the gas station and are getting ready to go. I take out my video camera and am filming a little when this guy with mohawk dreadlocks comes up and starts talking to me about my video. I tell him I'm documenting our trip and he says I should put it up on his website that he's starting. I'm not overly enthusiastic but appreciate his approach, he says he can give me a promo video of the site but he only has it on him at the hot springs. Hot springs? Yeah, apparently there are free hot springs (I specify free because all of the hot springs we've encountered on this trip have been guarded behind fancy pants resorts) a mere two blocks away from the gas station. We all decide to delay our ride for a stop at the hot springs. Behind the public pool is an enclosed pool with a sandy bottom, bubbling all over so that the underwater bubbles give the appearance that rain drops are falling on the pool. Everyone loves a good hot tub, maybe 105 degrees at the hottest, but this is no hot tub. It's at least 115, it hurts. There are one or two locals in there, and I get in for a second, but it feels like you're scalding your skin, so I get out quickly. We chill down at the river right beside the pool where I pipe from the pool runs into the river, so you get the bizarre sensation of hot and cold water constantly flowing past. Kelvin and Nate decide to brave the heat and go back up to the pool, quickly returning and laying on their backs in the shallow, and freezing, water of the river. They swear it feels great and convince the rest of us to try it. Although incredibly bizarre, the intense hot and the refreshing cool of the waters feels amazing, and we spend the next two hours going back and forth. All of the locals are interested in the bikes, as has been the case for the entire trip, and we chat it up with a bunch of them. One tells us of a campsite a mile out of town, and we scrap the rest of the day's planned ride, opting instead for hot springs and camping. We stop at the grocery store for some food, and at this point there is lightning off in the distance, making setting up camp a bit more pressing. We decide against back tracking the mile to the campsite and set up in the city park. The Brits have stuck around as well and we all eat together, making fun of each other's accents and playing with the new soccer ball. The lightning is phenomenal but we don't get rained on except for a few drops in the middle of the night.
Day 34 Wednesday July 23: Saratoga to Laramie, 80 miles
We're awoken in the morning to the sprinklers dousing our tent. We scramble to move our bikes out of harm's way but leave the tent until the sprinklers stop. We all set out together, but part ways with the Brits about 15 miles in, where we turn to head east for Laramie. We're doing our last and highest pass on the western part of our journey, and it is a duzey. A 9 mile steep climb to a false summit, followed by some amazing scenery of mountains, lakes and high plains, all at over 10,000 feet. Snowy pass seems inhabitable for all but maybe 3 months out of the year. It is amazingly beautiful. We get to the bottom of the descent at around 3pm, with only about 25 miles to Laramie, it should be a breeze. However, the sky was black ahead of us and the wind was nasty. The entire area was rolling hills and plains, and you could see for miles. In every direction you could see rain falling and lightning striking, but for the time being the lightning was far enough away to not fear being struck. But, clouds move, and with 10 miles to go the rain started to pour and the lightning got so close that there was no time at all between the lightning and thunder. It was terrifying and really exciting. With each boom of thunder we would speed up, trying in vain to outrun the clouds. We finally arrived in Laramie, sopping wet and exhausted from the ride. While looking around town for a place to eat, we struck up a conversation with a guy in a bike shop. A woman overheard us asking about our friends, and she knew Lindsay's boyfriend Pete, with whom she used to work. She made a few calls and found us his number, and before you knew it our worries about where to stay were calmed and we had plans to meet up with Kelvin's old high school buddy Pete within a couple of hours. We spent the in between time at a local bar and grill, watched the sun set on a bridge over the railroad tracks, and then stopped off at the local bowling lanes for a game. From there we met up with Pete and his friend Dave at Pete's house, although we weren't up for too long before crashing for the night.
This is where I find myself now. I'm tired, and tired of typing. I hope you've enjoyed catching up as much as I have. I hope to not let things fall behind so far anymore, so stay tuned, as I should have access at frequent intervals over the next week. Also, I'm going to make Kelvin and Nate write something on this, just to shake things up. We're heading to Fort Collins tomorrow, where we hear are some great breweries in addition to the New Belgium brewery. This being the case, we may take another rest day. Then it's on to Boulder, Denver, and Colorado Springs to visit my good friend Anne Groundwater. After that we're heading east, on to the midwest and the next chapter of our trip. We hope you are all well. Keep the rubber side down.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Okay, so it's giardia, but it's okay. I promise.
So I got Kelvin's camera, which explains the absurd amount of pictures.
Here's the update. They're being treated for giardia, but it's not as bad as we'd feared. They're going to be on antibiotics for the next five days, and they're already feeling a lot better because of the pills they've been given. The energy level is still really low, and we're going to hang out in Lander until they feel fit to ride. They've been watching what they eat a lot more closely, and the pills they're taking are the same ones given to recovering alcoholics, so apparently if they drink anything alcoholic over the next 8 days they'll be spending a lot of time with the toilet. I've apparently lucked out big time, and am not feeling the symptoms, even though I possibly also have giardia. Weird. And awesome for me.
Let's get back to the daily recounts, shall we? I've got a lot of ground to catch up and I think it's best if we just leave this worrying behind us.
Day 17 Sunday July 6: Rest day in Missoula, MT 0 miles
A much needed day of rest after yesterday's (I'm back in journal mode, so yesterday means July 5) 115 mile journey and subsequent night on the town. We laze around in the morning, checking out the Montana University campus a few blocks away from Laurel, Anna, and Oriana's pad. Then Nate and Kelvin set off for some breweries (apparently Missoula has something like 4 of them) while I stay in the library to work on this. The other breweries are closed, but we eventually meet up at Bayern Brewing Company, which only has pretty crappy light beer and an awesome giant chess board with giant chess pieces. After some time there we head out to the local lanes, Westside Lanes is a snazzy new and overly sterile bowling alley with great white russians. After a few games we drive out to 'the spot,' up on the hill overlooking all of Missoula. A beautiful day with little to no energy expenditure. Beautiful.
Day 18 Monday July 7: Missoula to Hamilton, 50.83 miles
Because the other breweries had been closed, we decided to hang out for the afternoon, check out some of the places we'd missed, and leave later in the day...
AARgh! Sorry, y'all. This is the problem with public computers. I'm over my time and there are people waiting. I'll try and find something better here in Lander, but if I don't and the guys are feeling good by tomorrow, the next update should be in Laramie in about 4 days. Hope everyone is doing well, we're all still having a great time, despite all of the outside influences.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Giardia? Hoo boy I hope not.
(Sorry for not more pictures, Kelvin's camera requires plugging in, which I haven't been able to do these last two times. But that means many more pictures to come soon!)
Check out the map of our trip, it's under "Lynx" on the top left of this page. Big thanks to Pat for showing us the way.
Hello noble readers. I hope you all have not been too distressed by our recent vacation from communication, as it was not our intention to go so long without word of our whereabouts and wellbeing. We have been in the wild, where neither cell phone reception nor internet service has reared its' (insert your own opinionated adjective here) head. But now I (Peter) find myself in the temporary location of the Fremont County Library in beautiful Lander, Wyoming, and I will do my best to update you all as thoroughly as I can before I am kicked off due to the supply and demand of public computer time.
So I will start with the general and most important, then move on to the more specific day-to-day, journal style entry that you've come to expect, and hopefully enjoy. We have hit our first rough spot, and things are a bit unnerving at the moment. Kelvin and Nate are not feeling well, and haven't been for about 4 days now. It's been a bit of the runs and the voms, to be brief. Their stomachs aren't being nice, is the long and short of it, and they have very little energy. They are currently at the local health clinic in search of some answers and hope. We spent last night in a motel, and plan to do the same tonight. So at least we have warm showers, a nice room, and comfy beds. We will be sure to play things safe, and I will make sure to update the blog as soon as is possible so as not to worry everyone at home.
It all started on the 15th at Lizard Creek Campgrounds in Teton National Park, Wyoming. We'd spent the previous evening with a few drinks by the lake with our new friend Loretta from New York. I awoke to find Kelvin and Nate not feeling up to par, Kelvin had even lost his dinner during the night. I felt fine, and joked about them being hung over from the previous night, although it seemed curious, as neither one had been exceptionally intoxicated. They both complained of sore stomachs, and advised me that today's ride would be a rough one for them, especially since we planned to ride over our highest pass yet at over 9,600 feet. I showed myself to the local water closet and, upon my return, found Kelvin laid out on his back, basking in the warm morning sun, and Nate curled up in his sleeping bag, back where he'd slept the night before. Nate threw out the idea of delaying our departure for a couple of hours, and it was agreed by all that this was a fine idea. I went to the lake for a swim and some reading, After some time I was approached by Kelvin, who informed me that Nate had been continually vomiting, and was not feeling well at all. We decided that we should stay another night at the site, and that we would go into the nearest town for some pepto-bismol, chicken soup, and orange juice. I came back up to our site and filled up some water for Nate. Before he even took a drink, I saw what had prompted Kelvin to come down to the lake. I won't be graphic, but Nate's body was trying to get rid of something, but there was nothing left in the belly. It looked painful. Kelvin wasn't looking so energized either, but after seeing the state of Nate I wouldn't have thought it a good idea to leave him alone anyways. So I left the two of them to nap and went to town (an unbelievable ride, I highly recommend checking out the Grand Tetons if you're ever in Wyoming, it's breathtaking) for the essentials, along with some hot dogs and s'more fixins (I'm an optimist, I figured they'd be fine by that evening). I came back a little over an hour later and neither one had moved much. We agreed the symptoms sounded like food poisoning (minus the runs at this point), as it was confined strictly to the stomach. But this doesn't make sense, as we've all eaten and drank the same things, and I feel right as rain. Nate had a cob salad at lunch the previous day, but that didn't explain why Kelvin wasn't feeling well. We had a bit of rain in the afternoon, and luckily Kelvin had enough energy to help out with the tarp (I really need to learn his knot-tying skills, it's really impressive). They spent the rest of the day sleeping, Kelvin under the tarp and Nate in the tent. They woke for some chicken soup around 6:00, but went immediately back to bed. My dreams of a weenie roast and s'more party dashed, I read, wrote post-cards and ate an absurd amount of marshmallows (they're addictive).
The next day, Wednesday July 16th, Kelvin was feeling a lot better, and Nate, while still a bit queasy, was ready to hit the road. Neither one was their usual 'sprint up ridiculously high climbs' selves, but bother made it up Togwotee pass in good time. Nate took a lot of breaks, but he still made the 77 mile ride. The guy is amazing, and so positive even when he's not feeling well. Kelvin won't let on that he's not feeling well unless you ask him straight up, and even then he chases me all the way up the hill like he's out for an afternoon cruise. Anyways, we roll into Dubois around dinnertime and we're real hungry. Our hunger wins out over our sense and we go to a recommended pizza joint for dinner. Kelvin's feeling good and Nate says he's improved a lot since yesterday. We eat pizza and drink a few beers with a Dutchman named Steven who's also doing the transam. We don't have a lot of options for camping near town, so we ride out about 7 miles to a ranch, where a super legit ranch-hand points us in the direction of the most discreet place to lay our heads. But if the boss-man catches us, we didn't talk to nobody.
Here's where the story goes sour. Thursday I awake to find Nate feeling much worse than the day before. His stomach hurts and he's cursing our decision to go for pizza. I feel like an idiot for pushing the idea, I'm so used to us being more or less invincible, especially when it comes to what we eat affecting us. The vomiting hasn't occurred in some time, but now the runs have found their stride, and he has no energy to speak of. Kelvin and I suggest going back the 7 miles to Dubois, but it looks like there's a small town on the map about 15-20 miles out. Nate says he can make it there, we'll stop for some tea and toast, and we'll see where to go from there. Kelvin isn't feeling great either, but doesn't speak much of it. The ride is rough, we conveniently get our first headwind of the trip, but luckily we lose elevation the entire ride (although that's not to say there isn't a climb or two). Nate is spent, having to stop every 20 minutes or so for a break, and the town never seems to appear. We go about 27 miles before we come across another cyclist coming the other direction. He isn't inspiring with his news about towns up ahead. Basically there's nothing for 50 miles aside from a general store/post office/gas station all in one about 4 miles up. So we set down the bikes and start trying to wave down big vehicles. A nice guy with a horse trailer from Iowa (80 miles east of Des Moines) loads us up for about 20 miles until we hit the juncture for Lander, our intended destination. After that, it's two couples from Florida, each with a little mobile home attached to their trucks, who pick us up for the rest of the ride. Nate sits in the kitchen of one of the homes, Kelvin in the back of one of the trucks, and I squeeze in next to the nice old lady and her husband in the other truck. They're super nice folks, on the way to Illinois back from Alaska. They didn't like Alaska, too expensive and cold and rainy. Horrible roads, apparently. We're in Lander, Wyoming in no time, and we thank the couples profusely. They're extremely kind about it and offer us beverages, they give us diet 7-up and a budweiser for later. Nate's feeling better than he was, although there's no chance we're going to ride any more today. We scoop around for a motel and finally find the right one. We all shower and it feels great. Our first shower since Missoula. We passed a local brewery on our way to the motel, and decide that would be a fabulous place to get some food. Cowfish Brewpub is real good, I have to say, with great food as well. Nate gets soda water with lemon, and Kelvin keeps it to two (if you tasted how good these beers are, you'd understand what I mean by 'keeps it to two'). We decide that tonight we would take it easy tonight, and have a rest day tomorrow before setting out again. We stop by a bookstore before heading back to the motel around 7:30. We spend the rest of the evening watching Jaws and making fun of Jaws 2 while it's on. Everything is a great old time until, right before bed, Kelvin runs to the bathroom and loses his dinner. This is not good.
This morning does not bring better news. Kelvin feels worse than yesterday. Nate is still not feeling better. It still makes no sense. I drank the river water, I've eaten basically all of the same food. The only difference in our collective diet is they had an IPA the night before this all started, I had a Fat Tire (anyone know of IPA related illnesses?). Anyways, this is where we find ourselves now. We've reserved another night at our motel. Kelvin and Nate are at the clinic, getting check out, and I'm trying my best to tell everyone the full situation without being too graphic or embarrassing. Like I said, I'll update this as soon as I can when I know more information, but until then I'll make sure they drink plenty of juice and tea, eat mild foods like soup and crackers, and get plenty of sleep.
Now, as I've not been kicked off yet, I'll add some photos and the day to day reviews of that which happened before all of this sickness bizniss began.
STATS (to be continually updated, so keep checking!)
I know it's kind of crappy, but it's the best I can do right now.
#__Date___Where_________________Time____Miles__MPH___Top_Spd_Cum
1__6/20_Florence_to_Eugene_________5h_34m___77.71__13.93__34.91_77.71
2__6/22_Eugene_to_McKenzie_Bridge__4h_8m____56.57__13.69__28.14_134.28
3__6/23_McKenzie_to_Hoodoo_Pass____3h_32m___34.55__9.75__34.26_168.83
4__6/24_Hoodoo_to_Bend__________2h_45m___43.74__15.84____34.26_212.57
5__6/25_Bend_to_Ochoco_Nat._Forest__4h_11m___60.40__14.43__35.25_272.97
6__6/26_Ochoco_to_Tri_Creek_Ranch__4h_14m___55.86__13.17__40.00_328.83
7__6/27_Tri_Creek_to_Dixie_Pass____5h_39m___65.08__11.5___24.77_393.91
8__6/28_Dixie_to_Baker_City________4h_49m___63.15__13.1__41.24_457.06
9__6/29_Baker_to_Hells_Canyon______5h_20m___67.34__12.46_38.91_524.4
10_6/30_Hells_to_Joseph___________4h_54m___45.31*_9.24___41.67__569.71
11_7/2_Joseph_to_Rattlesnake_Ridge__3h_57m___60.57__15.3___36.29__630.28
12_7/3_Rattlesnake_to_Orofino______6h_6m____81.53__13.3_____34.5_711.81
13_7/4_Orofino_to_Lowell_________4h_35m___66.55__14.47____29.98_778.36
14_7/5_Lowell_to_Missoula________7h_52m___115.75_14.47____40.83__894.11
15_7/7_Missoula_to_Hamilton_______3h_31m___50.83__14.43____28.14_944.94
16_7/8_Hamilton_to_Lost_Trail_Pass_4h_24m___51.03__11.56_____24.99_995.97
17_7/9_Lost_Trail_to_Badger_Pass__5h_33m___77.52__13.93____51.39_1073.49
18_7/10_Badger_to_Sheridan______3h_57m___60.53__15.3_____38.91_1134.02
19_7/11_Sheridan_to_Madison_Valley_4h_52m___69.15__14.18____42.43_1203.17
20_7/12_Valley_to_Yellowstone_____4h_12m___54.73__13.02____34.58_1257.90
21_7/14_Yellowstone_to_Lizard_Creek_4h_51m___68.32__14.08__41.24_1326.22
22_7/16_Lizard_to_Dubois_________6h_5m____77.72__12.77____41.28_1403.94
23_7/17_Dubois_to_Lander_______4h_18m_36.99__8.57__26.95_1440.93
24_7/20_Lander_to_Jeffrey_______4h_12m_____59.66___14.20__36.50__1500.59
25_7/21_Jeffrey_to_Rawlins_____4h_32m______68.72___15.12__32.16__1569.31
*Kelvin rode 57.13 miles on that day
Monday, July 7, 2008
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