I bet you can't guess when I got on the bike. Hint: the hotel checkout time was 11:00.

Another gorgeous day in Wyoming as I pedaled through red rock desert, enjoying the contrasting blue of the sky. Hard to describe, but here's a pic:

After a few hours (and a crossing of the continental divide), I caught up with a rider named Monte:

Monte is riding fom Denver to Idaho Falls, where his band will begin a tour of some cities in the northwest part of the states. As we talked, Jim (the engineer from Hoosier Pass) came riding by, and the three of us decided to ride together for a while. I ended up pulling (riding first and blocking the wind for the riders behind me) because both Monte and Jim have Bob trailers. If you can't ride right behind the puller, you don't get much benefit from him. I don't mind pulling, since I have ridden almost 3,000 miles alone anyway, so I'm used to fighting the wind. What was odd was that Jim never offered Monte a turn to draft behind me. So Jim got the east, wind-free ride, while Monte rode behind Jim's trailer, fighting the wind the whole time.

Here's a shot of me at Split Rock, a unique rock formation used by travellers on the Oregon Trail. They could see Split Rock for two days in either direction. Let me save you a little time: you can't see the split in the rock from this angle.

After Split Rock, things got a bit ugly. The wind really picked up and started blowing in our faces. Monte and I (Jim had continued on to town rather than stopping at Split Rock -- did I mention that Jim is more focussed on finishing the trip than enjoying it?) chatted and laughed as we crawled toward Jeffrey City. It definately helped to have someone to comiserate with as my pace slowed to 8 mph. We finally made it to town and checked into a motel -- $25 bucks a room. I didn't even consider the city park, which didn't offer water or bathrooms.

Bubba and crew were at the motel, as I had expected. They had made it to Rawlins on my rest day, and had stayed at the motel next to mine. Monte, Jim and I went to dinner at the town's only cafe, where we had the worst service I'd ever experienced. Bubba and crew showed up a few minutes later and joined us..

When we  finished dinner, we all walked back to our motel as a huge storm brewed overhead. It was one of those electric nights where the winds whips around and you can feel the energy in the air. Maggie and I talked for a while about our experiences on the road and other subjects, then she went back to her room and I sat outside, enjoying the night.