June 30, 2021
Day 49 - Saratoga, WY to Rawlins, WY
Float this river to the coast
Today we slept till whenever we wanted because we have a short 45 mile day to Rawlins, WY. We got up, had breakfast and started packing the bikes back up.
Once that was some we cleaned the whole house and made sure we had all of our things out. We left right at 11 am and it felt odd to be back on the bike. Fresh legs and euphoria. We ride through the countryside of Wyoming with variable winds, but making good time. The sky was partly cloudy, it was a dry day too so the heat wasn't too bad. We got to the part of the trip where we ride the interstate for about 13 miles, but only a few miles in we hit a construction zone. It wasn't bad and cars had to go slower, but up ahead we saw a big wreck that involved a tractor trailer facing the wrong way.
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We passed all the stopped cars and got to the park where the wreck happened. We had to ride through a mine field of debris: glass, metal, and ceramic parts all over. We just prayed for no flats. After passing, we didn't see the girls of Alex behind us anymore. We got off the interstate at Sinclair (home of the Sinclair dinosaur refinery) and waited.
Mallory texted that Keely had a flat from the debris, but they just kept pumping it until they made it to us. It turns out that they walked their bikes through the wreck. Somehow none of us who rode got flats. Keely and David fixed the flat at the gas station while everyone else ate proper jojos. We are finally far enough west that they call potato wedges jojos!
We left to ride the last few miles to Rawlins and stopped at the Walmart first. We bought food supplies for tomorrow night since Jeffery city has nothing. The map says we can camp behind the Walmart, but we don't really want to. Everyone was busy calling the local churches and parks service. The parks said no camping and we had trouble contacting alot of the churches. Keely was doing most of the calling. We tried to get some contacts at the episcopal church from Sally, but she is travelling today and we hadn't heard back from her. We went for dinner at a Thai place and while waiting for a table we went to a bar downtown. It was an interesting bar with lots of weird nicknacks. We were having a good time until we saw a proud boys sticker on a fridge.
We went back when our table was ready and had really good Thai food. During dinner, Sally texted to ask if we had found a spot. I told her we planned to camp behind Walmart and she didn't like the sound of that. She sent me the number for the downtown development office and Pam told us to camp at the fairgrounds and that the office would cover our fees. Then someone from the episcopal church got back to me and said we could use the bathroom inside and camp behind. We decided on the church since it was only a block away. We went over and met a church member who unlocked the door for us. We pitched our tents and David and Keely fixed a flat in Keely's front tire. She got two flats from the debris on the interstate. We all went right to sleep after.
Mileage:43
Altitude gain:1200
Today's ride: 43 miles (69 km)
Total: 2,571 miles (4,138 km)
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