A Comprehensive, Long-Awaited Update: WYOMING!

As you can see from the last post, our 40 mile Fourth of July Parade was awesome. Yes, as Lee noted in the comments, Janelle was without patriotic makeup and was labeled a communist sheep for the day while she rode in her very wooly looking gray fleece. Granted, it was difficult to get in the spirit for the Ride for Independence since we woke up that morning to cold weather and grey skies. Joey and I braved the dreary morning for our country, and it was a good thing we did because Rawlins, WY (our destination for the Fourth) didn’t have much to offer for an Independence Day celebration. We met up with our route friends Will, Joe, and John, went out for dinner at a Chinese food restaurant (the only place we found open,) and most of the riders crawled into their tents early to escape the freezing gusts of winds that began that night. Joe and I stuck out the cold, determined to see some fireworks, but only caught the top half of a display that was blocked by some hills. So, all in all our fourth was a bit of a bust. . . but we did have fun celebrating during our parade, waving to oncoming traffic, and singing patriotic songs ( classics like the National Anthem, Grand Old Flag, and Party in the USA by Miley Cyrus.)

The next day we rode with headwinds for at least 50 miles and finally pedaled into Jeffrey City, which used to be a uranium mining town with around 5,000 people and in 20 years has dropped to a population of 50. We found our route buddies at the one bar in town and tiredly decided to partake in a buffet dinner (some hot plates with chicken and cold hamburgers.) We set up camp near an abandoned Lions’ Club Lodge, and by the time we were in our tent and had escaped the swarms of mosquitos next to the lodge, Joey vowed that if there were headwinds the next day we would hitch a ride to Lander (our next destination.)

When we woke the next morning there were cloudy skies but no winds, and we were so excited to get to Lander that we wrote a song about all the great things we hoped to find there as we rode through the 49 degree weather *please see lyrics below. Dubbed ‘The Land of Milk and Honey,’ Lander was everything we had wished for and more! We had great coffee upon riding into town at Old Town Coffee, stocked up on Cliff Bars at a great outdoor store, did laundry, relaxed in the city hot tub, and had a tastey burger and local brew at the Lander Brewing Co. We had a hard time leaving the next day (especially after eating the never ending Cowboy Pancakes at the Ox Bow Family Restaurant) but we finally headed out and rode in beautiful weather to Dubois.

On the way we ran into four east bound guys who had stayed in Dubois the night before and camped in the yard of ‘Black Matt’ (so called because he usually wears all black.) They said he was really cool and suggested we try to find him. Riding into town, we had our minds set on finding Matt. As Joey stood in line at the local grocery store and struck up a conversation with the man in front of her, I came up and asked the guy if he knew anyone named Matt who hosts cyclists. He said, “I’m Matt. Black Matt? Did those other bikers tell you about me?” . . . it was magical. He offered his backyard for our tents and we met him at his humble house/woodshop. That’s right, 3/4 of his home was a studio where he builds furniture! We spent the evening talking and hearing about all the the things he designs (clocks, wooden sunglasses, tents for the roof of cars, tables, his dream house, and leather suits.) You can see some of his work at his website: http://www.matthewcampbelldesigns.com. Thanks to Matt we fell in love with Dubois and spent the next morning around town having coffee and rooting through a local thrift store’s free bin (for those who know my love of dumpster diving, you can
imagine how exciting this was to me.)

Now we have headed further north in Wyoming and are camping in the National Parks that fill the Northern part of the state. A change from the small towns we had been enjoying, we will write soon about our adventures in the wilderness. . . and all we have learned about protecting out food from bears.

Lander Lander

Lander Lander, the land of milk and honey
It’s 72 degrees and always sunny
They’ve got every flavor of Gatorade and Cliff Bar
Who’s excited for Lander? WE ARE!

Lander Lander, land of steamy showers
All the parks are filled with beautiful wildflowers
They’ve got bike shops and laundry mats galore
The grass is so soft you won’t mind sleeping on the floor

Lander Lander, is full of friendly people
Here is the church and here is the steeple
It’s so nice it will make you want to stay
You’ll be here till your hair turns grey

The only thing about Lander that is really such a pitty
Is that it’s closest neighbor is Jeffery City

Who’s excited for Lander, WE ARE!