Conclusion
706 miles (1130 km) in 18 days
A lowly average of 39 miles (63 km) per day, including the 3 rest days.
It was a 63 year old cyclist's tour, not a young cyclist's race across the map.
2 flat tires, on days 2 and 12. No breakdowns, major illnesses, or injuries.
I didn't lose weight. Not even a little bit.
I'm always taking pictures but never think about self portraits.
Wyoming vs. Montana
Wyoming and Montana turned out to be more different than I expected. On the most practical level for bicycle touring, Wyoming has much better roads. Major highways all have a wide smooth, clean shoulder with a well placed rumble strip. Montana highways have a hit or miss shoulder that is always littered with gravel and often has a badly placed rumble strip. Wyoming drivers are more polite, always passing with extremely large separation distance. Montana drivers are more average, sometimes passing closely.
Wyoming is more conservative than Montana in politics and in Puritan behavior. Wyoming people seem very quiet and restrained. Wyoming has no casinos, no cannabis, and tightly controlled liquor. Wyoming seems like the Great Plains.
Montana people are a bit more rowdy and obnoxious. Southwest Montana seems like the Pacific Northwest. Montana is more libertarian with casinos, liquor, and cannabis available in most places.
Wyoming is noticeably wealthier than Montana thanks to oil and gas income. The people are only slightly wealthier but the state government is much wealthier. Wide clean highway shoulders seem to be a high priority.
I was surprised that Montana was so much greener than Wyoming. North central Wyoming is in the rain shadow of TWO giant mountain ranges to the west-the Grand Tetons and Absaroka Mountains. It's quite arid even at high elevation. Southwest Montana gets more rain because the mountains to the west are not so high, creating less of a rain shadow.
Differences between the two states were a welcome surprise that added variety to the tour, giving me the satisfaction of traveling from one region to another distinct region.
Nuisances
Wildfire smoke was not much of a nuisance at ground level, but it ruined most of the views of big mountains during the tour.
Insects were worse than expected, and worse than what I normally experience during bike tours. The mosquitoes and flies in Wyoming reminded me of the insects during my Empty Middle bike tour in the Great Plains. Mosquitoes were less of a problem in Montana. Not sure if it's because Montana actually has fewer mosquitoes, or if mosquitoes naturally decrease as the summer progresses.
Wind was less of a nuisance than expected. High Desert has little vegetation to block the wind. I had no spells of extremely strong winds. No blowing sand. Maybe I got lucky.
Rain was never a problem. I had a few welcome minutes of rain to cool me down on a hot afternoon on day 2. No other rain.
I'm a Tourist
During bike tours I try to see as much of the local scenery, history, and culture as possible. I enjoy being a tourist, seeing new things. I planned the rest days to be in the most interesting tourist towns. I paid a premium price but it made the tour more fulfilling. By coincidence, all three towns were founded in the 1890s to serve tourists.
Thermopolis-hot spring soaking inside Wyoming's oldest state park, with otherworldly views of a giant mineral mound. Not crowded.
Cody-the town that invented Wild West tourism. One of the best. Somewhat crowded because it's a gateway to Yellowstone National Park.
Livingston-an upscale town founded to serve wealthy tourists who arrived by train to visit Yellowstone National Park. Amazing collection of grand historic buildings. Expensive and somewhat crowded.
From a bicycle touring perspective, the High Desert Rivers road theme was very successful. I saw great examples of high desert rivers. It was scenic, but would have been more scenic without smoke. Terrain was relatively easy and roads were mostly good.
The Wild West theme in towns was also very successful. Almost every town has an old west character that is somewhat familiar because I live in the northwest. But also exotic because it's wilder than the northwest farmer culture. I had fun visiting the Wild West.
Historic Lodges
Five historic lodges made the tour more interesting, more immersed in Wild West culture:
1919 Greybull Inn in Greybull, Wyoming
1902 Irma Hotel in Cody, Wyoming
1890 Grand Hotel in Big Timber, Montana
1910 Sacajawea Hotel in Three Forks, Montana
1917 Andrus Hotel in Dillon, Montana
Two other lodges get an honorable mention:
Hot Springs Hotel in Thermopolis for its hot spring pool and park setting.
Sapphire Motel in Bozeman for its retro atmosphere.
Historic lodges aren't for everybody. They have issues such as stairs and often lack familiar amenities such as a fridge, microwave, and television. Sometimes even lacking a private bath, table, and chair. But the cultural experience and central location are important factors to me.
Hot Springs
I soaked at 3 "new" hot springs during this trip. I estimate the number of hot springs I have visited by the number of folders in my personal hot spring photo directory. These hot springs are folders 123, 124, and 125.
Elkhorn hot spring during the drive.
Thermopolis Hot Springs Hotel on day 3.
Renova hot springs on day 17.
A Big Trip!
The plan was long, complicated, and expensive. But I managed to do it all according to the ambitious plan. 18 day bike tour plus 5 days of driving.
2100 miles of driving for a 700 mile bike tour tests my limit for how far I'm willing to drive for a bike tour. I drove even farther for two bike tours in Colorado but expect future tours to have less driving.
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