WOW, Way cool Wyoming

I might say this was THE Most Beautiful Ride Ever. The scenery was just magnificent, there was wild life a plenty, wild flowers too beautiful to describe and we met many interesting people to add to our memories. Since pictures speak louder than words, you’ll just have to view the hundreds of pictures we’ve added to the blog for yesterday! I almost don’t know where to begin, there are sooo many things to talk about. The campground we stayed in Jackson looked like a motor home city for the rich and famous; with us po’ folks tucked neatly into the outer fringes just where we belong. The one vehicle that did absolutely stand out was the Jelly Belly mobile. Yes, that’s right, the Jelly Belly mobile that supports the Jelly Belly sponsored bicycle race team. They were on the road promoting their Jelly Belly energy beans designed especially as a sports activity energy supply. Of course, Sabrina introduced herself and started the conversation. Would you believe we met one of their cyclists, Jeremy Powers, mom at a friend’s barbecue? Last summer at the McCarthy’s house in Waterford. We were treated to a ton of sample packs, post cards and Jelly Belly team water bottles, signed by Jeremy and the whole team. Well, we hope to garnish some support for our projects from this connection. Off we go, into the center of town to the Elk Horn Arches in the park and then we hit the road. The night before we went out for ice cream and mom asked what way we were going in the morning, all of our fingers pointed in different directions, and guess who was right. Ben. Good thing he’s here or else who knows where we would end up. After taking our picture in front of hundreds of elk antlers we made our way north skirting the Grand Teton National park. All along the way the scenery got better and better. Sabrina came across some yellow wildflowers that she recognized as a plant she had bought, flower unseen from the Polly Hill Arboretum in Martha's Vineyard. Going through the park we got an up close view of two elk, walked through a real homesteader’s cabin, and saw a herd of wild Buffalo. Even after we left the park and started our 15+mile assent of the Continental divide, we kept getting nicer views of the Tetons and the Jackson Hole Valley. It was a long way up and road construction didn’t help. For three miles near the top was an unpaved section. The last 1/8 of a mile was all Ben walked and that was only because the ground was too loose for his skinny road tires. And because of that road construction, there was no monumental “CONTINENTAL DIVIDE” sign. Oh well, Uncle Wayne was waiting for us at the top to get a shot. All around us were patches of snow and we were able to get a beautiful shot of a mountain top lake fed by snow melt. Now comes the fun part, downhill. It was easy riding but the roads looked like they could have used some work. There were lots of cracks and holes to avoid. Now, just a little lesson about driving with bikes on the road. We are usually paying close attention to our rear view mirrors, but in poor road conditions we are watching the road surface. And when we are going downhill, we are not enclosed in a shell so the wind is really loud and we can’t always hear cars approaching. So if there is room, just give bikes a wide birth. And don’t, I repeat DON’T, honk at us. Ben almost died coming down that hill. It took Ben a couple miles to slow down his heart after the blast. Anyways, there were beautiful views all the way down, but Ben was a little too preoccupied to stop and take pictures. Just when we were about done there were more views, the painted hills of Dubois, so we had to stop for even more pictures. In camp we had a great dinner and shared desert with a couple from Holland making their way from east to west. They get up early, before 5am, to beat the winds. Good thing we’re going west to east, we don’t usually get on the road until at least 9:00. We also met another friendly couple from North Carolina, Richard and Norma, who had seen us several times during the day from Jackson Hole to Dubois, who were very interested in Chikumbuso and World Bicycle Relief, they even bought bags and contributed to the causes.
Keep Them Wheels a Rollin’,

Paul