Wyoming... Fo Sho the BEST State

First let me apologize for not being able to update the blog in quite a while (due in part to no internet in places and mostly due to laziness), but let me hopefully make up for it with lots of gorgeous pictures of the most amazing state I have ever seen.
This is my ode to Wyoming...

The two rides into Casper both turned out to be short, under 60 mile days, as planned (isn't weird that those are now considered "short" rides now lol). Douglas and Casper were both great rides with the scenery ever changing and pleasing to the pupils. We had our build day in Casper, which was a really great town that I wish I had gotten the opportunity to explore more. Since we were staying at a campsite on the opposite end of town, and I was too lazy to get back on my bicycle and go into town, I just never got around to it while we were there. We all rolled up to the campsite expecting to have to pitch tents and camp, but were pleasantly surprised when we found out the campsite was allowing us to stay in the lodge on the floor for the two nights we were spending there. Yay! It was a treat to have air conditioning, nice showers, and a great campfire the night before our build day. We all hung out around the fire, made smores, and chatted until bed time. And of course the great fire was made by Jake Curtis aka Eagle Scout extraordinaire, but everyone else that night kept referring to him as a "Man Scout" instead of Boy Scout. =) Overall it was really nice to just relax a bit and chill around the fire with some good people.

The build day was with Habitat and for the most part it was a really productive day with a lot of projects going on to keep most of us busy. We were all starving though since they didn't really feed us enough at lunch, didn't seem to have enough water and mostly had sodas, and we were at the build site until later than expected. It was a bad combo that led to dehydration and/or altitude sickness for a few people, as well as a general air of exhaustion and crankiness due to the heat, dust, dirt, long day, and not enough food/water. Luckily the Habitat was kind enough to provide us with dinner. And not just any dinner, but a buffet! They sure made up for the screw up the night before of forgetting to provide us dinner, and the lack of lunch and H2O at the build site with the all you can eat buffet. People took major advantage of the situation at hand and definitely stuffed their faces to the point of being full beyond belief. We all reasoned the gluttony away with thoughts of the next day's 98 mile ride through complete desolation to Shoshoni.


Brooke has a book with her on the trip that tells all about the geological formations throughout Wyoming I believe, and it also talks about the landscape etc. It has a passage in it about the ride from Casper to Shoshoni, describing it as one of the most boring drives you can ever take. It says it is completely desolate, and there is absolutely nothing to look at and no gas stations, towns, or anything for almost 100 straight miles. Needless to say after reading this and then talking to locals who confirmed the description, we were not looking forward to this near century mile day.

The day and ride turned out to be surprisingly good. Despite the fact that there really wasn't much out there the entire day, the scenery was still cool enough to distract us (thank you Nebraska for making us appreciate Wyoming's beauty to its fullest) and we even got to experience Hell's Half Acre at 1st lunch. Hell's Half Acre is this really awesome canyon that Native Americans used to drive their cattle down into to slaughter them. The view was so cool! I wish we could have stayed longer, but since it was such a long day we all got back on the road after refueling and exploring the canyon. The rest of the ride went really well, with the wind dying down, and a majority of the way being slightly downhill. We all stopped at an amazing malt shop as soon as we got into Shoshoni that we had heard about from locals who highly recommended it, and it did not let us down. I got a mint oreo milkshake that was so good! We stayed that night at the Shoshoni Firehouse, which was kinda cool, but also a slight disappointment when we got there and 1) there were no firemen and 2) it was a one story building with no cool pole to slide down... oh well.

The ride into Lander although a short day left me feeling tired. It was only about 47 miles, and the first 20 or so me and a few other riders were flying. I was feeling good, the Wyoming scenery was not letting me down on beauty, and we were just enjoying the ride until Brooke got a flat and we all stopped to help her. We went from being the first group to last when sweep caught up with us, but it was fine since we cruised the rest of the way to lunch. After lunch, with only 16 miles left, the wind picked up quite a bit and I think the century ride the day before was catching up with my legs and I was tired. I managed to finish out the ride though and arrive in Lander hungry and happy to be there. I got an omlette with Marty and then ended up falling asleep in the grass at the town park while he changed a flat.

We woke up to people discussing going for a hike the heard about from some locals and Marty and I decided to join. 17 of us piled into the van and took the short 7ish mile scenic drive up one of the mountains where the hike began. The hike was really fun and at view at the top was so cool. There were waterfalls and everyone was in good spirits from the natural beauty surrounding us. Dinner was really good and I was really hungry. I ate a lot haha and lets just leave it at that. The best part about staying in Lander was that we all got to have a host family for the night. Me, Frannie, Hannah W., and Ashley got to stay with Donna and her adorable 3 children. Donna also let us do some laundry, use here hot tub, take showers, and made us pancakes, eggs to order, and toast in the morning. I felt like we were at a spa. It was nice to sleep in a bed and really be taken care of for a night in a real house.

Dubois was a beautiful 75 mile ride through the Wind River Indian reservation. I decided to take it slow and use it as a recovery ride day since 1) I was tired and 2) in preparation for the ride the following day in which there was going to be a lo of climbing. I ended up having a great day in which I rode the entire time with Lindsey. We just went at a nice pace, enjoyed the scenery, each other's company, and made it feeling good about the day. The church we stayed at was a tiny Lutheran church that was so cute and seriously looked like a log cabin. I have totally fallen in love with the west and their cute small towns and architecture, and of course gorgeous untouched natural beauty. I don't see myself living here though I don't think, but it is definitely a wonderful place to visit and vacation.

The ride into Jackson is one we had all been anticipating for weeks. We had heard so much about Jackson Hole, how beautiful the ride was going to be, how hard the climb was, and how we would be able to see the Teton Mountainis once we got over the climb. Everything we heard was true, and lived up to all of our expectations plus a million times more. The climb was pretty long, 20 miles, but gradual enough grade that it was doable at 8mph up the majority of it. We had our 1st lunch at the top next to a beautiful lake where we shortly after passed the sign for the Continental Divide and learned we were 9,000 something feet in the air (no wonder it was freezing up there).

After first lunch, I cannot even describe the rest of the day and just how amazing it was. The ride into Jackson was by far the best ride we have had so far on the entire trip. I don't think I stopped smiling the entire rest of the ride (55 miles!). My face kinda hurt at the end of the day haha. =) Once we started the decent (17 miles of downhill!) and made a turn to follow the mountain, there on the left in the distance you could see the Teton Mountains. We all started screaming and yelling out of pure joy and excitement. The Tetons are BEAUTIFUL! And extremely high. So high that the clouds were running into the tops of some of the peaks and there is definitely snow up there that you could see from the distance. After our unbelievable 17 mile decent, the rest of the ride was relatively flat. We ended up biking towards the Tetons and then turning south towards Jackson Hole and running parallel to the mountain range the remainder of the ride into town. We were all on an emotional high the rest of the ride. I am still in awe of the Teton's beauty. My pictures definitely do not do them justice. About 4 miles from town a bunch of us stopped to swim in a stream alongside the road. With the mountains setting the backdrop, it was a perfect end to a perfect day.

The build today in Jackson was unbelievable. Every single one of us was busy the entire day. The two site supervisors were so awesome. Trace and Katie were both way cool, organized, fun, and made our build day so enjoyable. The majority of us worked all day on different tasks preparing for concrete to be laid for the foundation of two sites. Around 2:30 we unexpectedly got to lay the foundation for one of the houses which was so fun. It was a great end to the best build day I think we've had so far. It was proof that when you have energetic, excited, good humored, organized site supervisors who know how to effectively us their volunteers great things can be accomplished, and the volunteers can have an awesome experience as well.

Tomorrow is suppose to be around a 75 mile day in which we are heading for Ashton, Idaho. We are going over Teton Pass tomorrow and I am a little nervous about it. I know it is going to be absolutely incredible to make it to the top. The view is suppose to be spectacular, and Wyoming has not been one to disappoint on these types of things. From everything we have heard from locals about Teton Pass, we are thinking it is going to be about 6 or 7 miles of really steep 10% uphill grades. Jake Stangel who has done the pass on the Central route last year says they pretty much went 4mph up most of it and it's near impossible to do it without stopping for a few breaks in between. I am anxious about how hard it will be, but know how empowering of a feeling it is to know I have propelled myself up there with my own body and sheer determination. It's overwhelming just how amazing a feeling it is and I know will be tomorrow. Hopefully you all enjoy the pictures, but I know they do not do Wyoming's beauty enough justice. I am going to try to get to bed on the early side to hopefully get some good sleep in preparation for my conquering of the Tetons tomorrow. =)