Wyoming seems like a schizophrenic state. It’s beautiful but austere. It’s hot and dry but still filled with snow. It’s down-home ranch hands and exotic corporate jets. It’s Dubois, a real cowboy town and Jackson, where you’re not sure if the cowboys are locals or imports from New York City. Even the colors seem schizophrenic. Just look at the two photos here. They were taken from the exact same spot. All I did
was turn around. Looking north, you see the green side and the soft pastel colors of a painted desert. The colors are subtle, pretty, and nicely blended. Looking south, you see the red side. The colors are bright, uniform, and almost harsh. There’s nothing subtle about them. On the green side, it looks like velvet. On the red side, it looks like Mars. And all you have to do is turn around.
Wind River
Today was supposed to be an easy run from Dubois to Riverton. (Yes, Riverton is the setting for Brokeback Mountain). Because the Wind River overflowed its banks and washed out part of the highway, however, we had to take a longish detour through the Wind River Indian Reservation. The reservation sits in a large, circular valley. So we had a steep climb to get into the valley and an even steeper climb to get back out of it. After climbing out of the valley, we stopped in Kinnear (population 44) for a rest and then did the last 20 miles directly into a stiff headwind. Ultimately, we did my favorite kind of century — just barely over 100 miles.
Dubois is a cowboy town so several of our riders went square dancing last night. As it happens, my father was a square dance caller and my sister and I grew up square dancing. I think my Dad’s square dancing club met on the third Friday of every month. I had my entire cowboy outfit and my sister had acres of petticoats. It was a lot of fun until I got to that age when everything my parents did was totally lame. Last night, I was too tired to go but Lovely Lucy led a pack to the dance hall. According to multiple reports, Lucy had the cutest cowboy in town as her dance partner. Lucy’s evaluation, however, was that she was less interested in a cowboy and more interested in someone who looked like a “Spartan warrior”. I think she’ll be reminded of that comment for quite some time.
Day’s distance: 100.9 miles (162.4 km)
Average speed: 16.7 mph (26.9 kph)
Day’s climb: 3,800 feet (1158.2 meters)
Total distance: 1,273.9 miles (2,050.1 km)
Grover would be proud.