Day 27
June 27, 2005
Day 27. I can’t believe how fast the days are passing. Today was a bit rough, but as always, I made it. And when I did, there were a few people here to make the arrival that much more memorable.
I got up and moving a little later than I wanted to. It was about 10 when I got on the road. I made it to Big Sky and stopped for a little lunch before continuing. As I was resting in Big Sky, I noticed the big sky was packing a lot of big clouds. Not wanting to recreate the monsoon disaster of yesterday, I decided to take a few precautions.
As I was purchasing a few snacks, the lady behind the counter was putting my stuff in a plastic bag. I was just about to tell her there was no need for the bag, when I realized what a resourceful item that bag may be. I asked her to double bag it and went out to the bike.
Emptying all the contents into my handlebar bag, I took the plastic bags, my pocketknife, and duck tape over to the picnic table. One of the worst parts of yesterday’s downpour was the soaked, frigid feet. I wasn’t going to let that happen again. I spent five minutes creating the most ghetto pair of shoe covers ever to roll out of Big Sky, Montana.
I was so anxious to see how well they’d work, I was almost praying for rain. Turns out I didn’t have to pray; it came all by itself. I also had enough foresight to wrap my tent and sleeping bag bundle up in plastic, so I was extra ready for it. It came with the same intensity as it did yesterday, only it lasted 45 minutes instead of 5 the day before. It was another sea-worthy squall, but with all the precautions, I almost enjoyed it.
I was on the outskirts of Yellowstone National Park getting pounded by a relentless thunderstorm, blasted by wind of the infrequent downhill stretches, shoved to the side by the sporadic gusts of the steroid-induced wind – all the while trying to muscle by 85 pound bicycle 18 more miles to my destination for the night. Who else can say they experienced that today?
Thankfully I had a snickers bar two miles before the torrents came to carry me the last 20 miles, so I had a fresh kick of energy for it. It was also the first time I noticed the immediate effects of such a snack, I think the shere madness of the thing added to my hyped up state of mind as well. I repeatedly let out a nice, wild, “Whooooo!” as I worked my way through the wild rain. It actually was a great ride. My friend Dawn, who made the trip with her husband a few years ago, wrote me a great email talking about how alive the trip makes you feel and how all the senses seem to be heightened… – that stretch of wind and rain was one of many great examples of that. Even when my cute little boot covers started to fail, I was grateful to be able to experience the feeling of soggy feet. Maybe there was a little something extra in that snickers… Seriously though, it was a neat thing to be apart of and I’m thankful I was able to experience it from that point of view instead of having to endure a long, wet ride of angst and frustration.
The shower ended about 8 miles from West Yellowstone, where I am tonight. I was about a mile from the town when I noticed a man walking my way with a backpack strapped to his back. During my visit with Steven, he told me of a guy they met in Yellowstone the week before who was walking across the country. This was the guy.
I stopped to ask him where he was headed and he told me he was going cross-country. I asked him if his name was Matt and he said, “…yeah…” with a heavy dose of confused and amazed subtext along with it. I told him he spoke with my friend from Bozeman in Yellowstone and he had told me about him. He remembered Steven and was blown away by the coincidence. From the five to ten minutes I spent with him, I gathered Matt’s a pretty cool guy.
Eleven months ago he started in Delaware and I’m pretty sure he said he is headed to Portland, Oregon. He is a physics and chemistry teacher in New York and just always wanted to do it. He had some pretty cool stories to share, and could even relate to my cool little plastic bagged shoe covers; he fabricated a similar set when crossing a river a while back. He was a real treat to meet and talk to, and if I weren’t so wet, chilled, and looking forward to the warmth of the coming shower, I would have chatted even longer with him.
But I kept on into town and found the hostel that was cited on the map; the same price yet worlds apart from the previous hostel experience in Eugene. When I walked in a guy on the sofa said, “And here’s another one…” I assumed he meant another cyclist and asked him where he was headed. His name is Paul and he has been riding the Trans Am with a couple from New Zealand. We chatted a bit then I checked in and got settled. As I was coming in from tucking my bike away in the complex’s garage, I ran into two other cyclists. They both had been crossing paths for a few days now and were headed in different directions. It felt good to find myself back in the path of the Trans Am and the cyclist realm again.
I got settled into my room while I chatted with my roommate for the night from Germany. He is in his early thirties and making a big three-month loop through the U.S. on a motorcycle. I enjoyed that long awaited shower and changed into some comfortable clothes. I ran into Paul on my way back to my room and kind of invited myself to dinner with him and his two Kiwi friends.
As always, it was nice to enjoy the company of other cyclists. Heather and Jackson are the two from New Zealand. They started in Canada and are going to Denver where they’ll fly out to London to tour through Ireland and Scotland before flying back home. And like before, they had heard of “the guy on the tandem” as well. “You’re getting to be quite famous out there,” Heather noted. It was great to hear people are still talking.
After dinner I stopped off for a Mint Oreo Blizzard and took a stroll through town. It’s a cute little town. I read it thrives on the tourists going in and out of Yellowstone and it’s quite apparent. It has a great ocean-side boardwalk atmosphere to it. Lots of little shops, restaurants, and ice cream huts, a lot of fluorescent lighting overhead as you walk the street among the other tourists. I felt like I was in a hidden, western-themed, stretch of Virginia Beach or Ocean City. Unfortunately, I left my camera in the room and wasn’t able to get any pictures of the nightlife or my new friends.
And that’s another thing that’s really awesome about being out here, they are my new friends. I really did invite myself to join them for dinner and they didn’t mind at all, it was almost assumed that I’d be joining them. I chatted with them for a total of five minutes before we were walking out the door to a dinner filled with stories, laughs, and Kiwi tidbits. There is such a great community of people out here enjoying their respective journeys, all ready and willing to let you be apart of it. And for that I’m grateful.
Tomorrow morning I’ll ask around and see what I should check out. I’m considering tomorrow an off day to see some of the park, although I may cover some ground in the process. The three are going on a wildlife tour, but it’s a little more than I think I’m willing to pay. We’ll see what happens…
Today: 69.79 Total: 1,212.30
Day 27. I can’t believe how fast the days are passing. Today was a bit rough, but as always, I made it. And when I did, there were a few people here to make the arrival that much more memorable.
I got up and moving a little later than I wanted to. It was about 10 when I got on the road. I made it to Big Sky and stopped for a little lunch before continuing. As I was resting in Big Sky, I noticed the big sky was packing a lot of big clouds. Not wanting to recreate the monsoon disaster of yesterday, I decided to take a few precautions.
As I was purchasing a few snacks, the lady behind the counter was putting my stuff in a plastic bag. I was just about to tell her there was no need for the bag, when I realized what a resourceful item that bag may be. I asked her to double bag it and went out to the bike.
Emptying all the contents into my handlebar bag, I took the plastic bags, my pocketknife, and duck tape over to the picnic table. One of the worst parts of yesterday’s downpour was the soaked, frigid feet. I wasn’t going to let that happen again. I spent five minutes creating the most ghetto pair of shoe covers ever to roll out of Big Sky, Montana.
I was so anxious to see how well they’d work, I was almost praying for rain. Turns out I didn’t have to pray; it came all by itself. I also had enough foresight to wrap my tent and sleeping bag bundle up in plastic, so I was extra ready for it. It came with the same intensity as it did yesterday, only it lasted 45 minutes instead of 5 the day before. It was another sea-worthy squall, but with all the precautions, I almost enjoyed it.
I was on the outskirts of Yellowstone National Park getting pounded by a relentless thunderstorm, blasted by wind of the infrequent downhill stretches, shoved to the side by the sporadic gusts of the steroid-induced wind – all the while trying to muscle by 85 pound bicycle 18 more miles to my destination for the night. Who else can say they experienced that today?
Thankfully I had a snickers bar two miles before the torrents came to carry me the last 20 miles, so I had a fresh kick of energy for it. It was also the first time I noticed the immediate effects of such a snack, I think the shere madness of the thing added to my hyped up state of mind as well. I repeatedly let out a nice, wild, “Whooooo!” as I worked my way through the wild rain. It actually was a great ride. My friend Dawn, who made the trip with her husband a few years ago, wrote me a great email talking about how alive the trip makes you feel and how all the senses seem to be heightened… – that stretch of wind and rain was one of many great examples of that. Even when my cute little boot covers started to fail, I was grateful to be able to experience the feeling of soggy feet. Maybe there was a little something extra in that snickers… Seriously though, it was a neat thing to be apart of and I’m thankful I was able to experience it from that point of view instead of having to endure a long, wet ride of angst and frustration.
The shower ended about 8 miles from West Yellowstone, where I am tonight. I was about a mile from the town when I noticed a man walking my way with a backpack strapped to his back. During my visit with Steven, he told me of a guy they met in Yellowstone the week before who was walking across the country. This was the guy.
I stopped to ask him where he was headed and he told me he was going cross-country. I asked him if his name was Matt and he said, “…yeah…” with a heavy dose of confused and amazed subtext along with it. I told him he spoke with my friend from Bozeman in Yellowstone and he had told me about him. He remembered Steven and was blown away by the coincidence. From the five to ten minutes I spent with him, I gathered Matt’s a pretty cool guy.
Eleven months ago he started in Delaware and I’m pretty sure he said he is headed to Portland, Oregon. He is a physics and chemistry teacher in New York and just always wanted to do it. He had some pretty cool stories to share, and could even relate to my cool little plastic bagged shoe covers; he fabricated a similar set when crossing a river a while back. He was a real treat to meet and talk to, and if I weren’t so wet, chilled, and looking forward to the warmth of the coming shower, I would have chatted even longer with him.
But I kept on into town and found the hostel that was cited on the map; the same price yet worlds apart from the previous hostel experience in Eugene. When I walked in a guy on the sofa said, “And here’s another one…” I assumed he meant another cyclist and asked him where he was headed. His name is Paul and he has been riding the Trans Am with a couple from New Zealand. We chatted a bit then I checked in and got settled. As I was coming in from tucking my bike away in the complex’s garage, I ran into two other cyclists. They both had been crossing paths for a few days now and were headed in different directions. It felt good to find myself back in the path of the Trans Am and the cyclist realm again.
I got settled into my room while I chatted with my roommate for the night from Germany. He is in his early thirties and making a big three-month loop through the U.S. on a motorcycle. I enjoyed that long awaited shower and changed into some comfortable clothes. I ran into Paul on my way back to my room and kind of invited myself to dinner with him and his two Kiwi friends.
As always, it was nice to enjoy the company of other cyclists. Heather and Jackson are the two from New Zealand. They started in Canada and are going to Denver where they’ll fly out to London to tour through Ireland and Scotland before flying back home. And like before, they had heard of “the guy on the tandem” as well. “You’re getting to be quite famous out there,” Heather noted. It was great to hear people are still talking.
After dinner I stopped off for a Mint Oreo Blizzard and took a stroll through town. It’s a cute little town. I read it thrives on the tourists going in and out of Yellowstone and it’s quite apparent. It has a great ocean-side boardwalk atmosphere to it. Lots of little shops, restaurants, and ice cream huts, a lot of fluorescent lighting overhead as you walk the street among the other tourists. I felt like I was in a hidden, western-themed, stretch of Virginia Beach or Ocean City. Unfortunately, I left my camera in the room and wasn’t able to get any pictures of the nightlife or my new friends.
And that’s another thing that’s really awesome about being out here, they are my new friends. I really did invite myself to join them for dinner and they didn’t mind at all, it was almost assumed that I’d be joining them. I chatted with them for a total of five minutes before we were walking out the door to a dinner filled with stories, laughs, and Kiwi tidbits. There is such a great community of people out here enjoying their respective journeys, all ready and willing to let you be apart of it. And for that I’m grateful.
Tomorrow morning I’ll ask around and see what I should check out. I’m considering tomorrow an off day to see some of the park, although I may cover some ground in the process. The three are going on a wildlife tour, but it’s a little more than I think I’m willing to pay. We’ll see what happens…
Today: 69.79 Total: 1,212.30
posted by SuperByron3000 at 6/28/2005
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