June 24, 2024
Day 54 - Animals and I-80
Dogs
My wife and I have had golden retrievers for years. Our current golden is named Granite since my wife is a geologist and was an earth science teacher. On my trip I have been on the lookout for goldens. I found two on main street Breckenridge and gave them plenty of scratches
Mosquitoes
Back in 1986 my wife and I pulled into a campground outside Cody, WY. We were immediately swarmed by mosquitoes. When I camped in Walden, WY two days ago the same thing happened. I was immediately surrounded by dozens of mosquitoes as soon as I got off my bike. Wyoming seems to have a lot of mosquitoes
Miscellaneous
I have seen deer, squirrels, chipmunks, prairie dogs, turtles, and buffalo. I did see a lot of cicadas in KY, IL, and MO but they never bothered me much
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Driving home Friday night from bar trivia at the VFW, Ronald figured it was high time he told Doreen the news. Good news for him. Bad news for her.
He had decided to not attend his mother-in-law’s 62nd and a half birthday party.
Every year, because her birthday fell on Christmas Eve, Lorraine always held her half birthday on June 24th. But in the past eight years she started hosting birthday parties for herself on December 23rd to “add to the fun of the holidays” and continued right on having the half birthday parties, too, “since everyone was already in the habit of it” and she didn’t want to confuse them.
Well, Ronald had finally had enough and told Doreen he wasn’t going to Lorraine’s party this year.
Already upset about her weight gain, gray hairs that were coming in faster than she could color or pluck, and the way Ronald had bullied her out of a right answer, Doreen felt this was too much and fully resented Ronald for taking a stand when he knew full well she would get the looks and whispers treatment at the party from her sisters and cousins.
They went back and forth for a couple miles. The more she argued, the more she came close to crying about it. The more she made a stink about the more fed up he got.
When he pulled over to “water the prairie” she hated sitting there. She had to get out of the damn car. Being mad and all, she took off—stomping down the road.
The wide shoulders of the highway made it pretty good for walking, but the heels she’d sent for from EBAY ($28.50 – “like new”) were not so good for stomping. So, she slipped them off and kept on going.
Walking barefoot on the evening’s cool pavement wasn’t so bad. She was used to walking barefoot around the yard when pulling weeds, mowing the grass, and hanging up the laundry. Her feet were tough, and besides, the headlights showed the bigger rocks and any critters or snakes that might be out.
It seemed to take Ronald a good long time to get back in the old Pontiac. What was he doing? When she heard the door close and the engine sputter up, she turned to look back.
Slowly the car started following her at a crawl. She kept walking cuz she was still mad. When she stopped, he stopped, and always back a good ways.
After a mile or so, she dropped the shoes and picked up some of the bigger rocks that had skittered off to the edge of the nice, wide shoulder. Having been on the JV softball team for one season sure came in handy now as she chucked rock after rock at the car. The bang of metal encouraged her and she kept walking further ahead to find more rocks. Ronald pulled ahead, but not too close, then stopped. He watched her a bit. Then pulled ahead again. He thought she looked pretty good to him and started chuckling a bit.
One time she threw so hard she fell down in the weeds. Ronald let out a laugh just before the rock hit the windshield and cracked it a good two feet across the bottom, just missing the wiper’s hinge.
Now, sitting in the grass with her dress flopped back over her arm, showing a lot of leg, it was Doreen’s turn to laugh.
Ronald pulled up even with her and asked, “You hurt?”
“Naw. Did I break the glass good?”
“Naw. Not too bad. Now git in. I want you home… and in bed.”
Doreen leaned in the window, “Lorraine’s gonna be pissed, ya know.”
“Yup. Don’t care. Git in.” Then with his big funny grin that she liked, he added, “I wantchoo.”
Doreen got in, slid across to get under his arm, and didn’t think about the shoes til the next morning.
6 months ago
Normally it is against the law to ride a bicycle on any interstate highway in the US. For example, you can’t jump on I-40 with your bike and ride across Tennessee or I-95 and ride through the Carolina’s. The Transamerica route had me riding on Interstate 80 for 14 miles. Roads are not plentiful in Wyoming so there is no alternative route to get to Rawlins. Shoulders are 10 foot wide but it is still odd having trucks and cars zinging by me at 75 or 80 mph.
This is the Parco Inn, the founder of Parco oil had it built in 1925. Parco oil fell on hard times during the depression and the town site, refinery and oil fields were sold to Harry Sinclair’s Consolidated Oil. The name of the town was changed to Sinclair.
Yes, this is the same Sinclair oil company with the famous gas station logo
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So happy we saw you in Colorado on Father’s Day! Thanks, Beth, for your encouragement!
Glad you are now in Wyoming! We made it to Scottsdale where we will be for the next couple of months.
Each and every mile we are thinking of you!
Love,
Mike, Colleen, and Newman
6 months ago
Today's ride: 60 miles (97 km)
Total: 2,564 miles (4,126 km)
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I’ve finally set up an account to interact with your blog, but Jake and I have both really enjoyed following along since Day 1! We’re sorry we missed you in Colorado. We’re thinking of you every day!
Love,
Shannon
6 months ago