September 5, 2024
Day 18: Prepping for the Great Basin
Distance: 122km
Climbing: 1363m
Our RV campground canvas tent was a great reprieve from yesterday’s weather, but it was a cold night. Our small tents add a few degrees when we’re in them, but the canvas tent was too big to act like that. On the other hand it was nice and easy to pack up.
Our hopes for a diner breakfast were dashed as it was closed. We settled for gas station breakfast sandwiches and coffee which wasn’t too bad.
Most of the riding today was gravel with one nasty highway section. The later terrain was a taste of what’s to come for the next two days. Earlier we had some amazing views of the Wind River Range of mountains. A section of the highway was being graded which is great to eliminate the washboard but they wet it first so we ended up with some glue-like mud to later wash off at a highway rest area.
Our destination for tonight is Atlantic City (Wyoming, not the other one) which is the jumping off point for the Great Basin, a 220km stretch with nowhere to resupply food and only a few, unreliable water sources.
| Heart | 1 | Comment | 0 | Link |
We made it to Atlantic City at about 5:45 and were fortunate that a small new store catering to Divide riders and hikers had recently opened. We stocked up and then went to the Miners Grubstake Saloon for dinner. This place was a local and quirky as you can imagine.
We heard from another rider that the RV park in town was only $10 for tent sites so that sounded way better than riding uphill for 2km to a campground. We could have had another shower today, but enough is enough.
Today's ride: 122 km (76 miles)
Total: 2,076 km (1,289 miles)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 1 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |