Cycling 5000 km, from Banff in Canada to the US-Mexican border, raising money for MS research.
Whiskey Grove campground > Pinedale
Tonight was another cold night. The cold woke me up a few times and I had to crawl deeper into my sleeping bag. When I woke up at 7 and got out of my tent everything is white from the frost. Unusual cold weather for august the people here told me… Ah well, what can we do about it? That’s right, nothing!
The Canadian Englishman(or is it the other way around?) Michael is already making his last preparations to leave again. The poor guy is shivering so much it almost looks scary! He was sleeping underneath a tarp (like a tent-roof but without any walls) the whole night. The wind was blowing right in there the entire time! The sun did not yet come over the mountain, so he had to pack all his belongings still covered in frost, shivering and all. He left as soon as he could to Pinedale so he could warm up while cycling. He told me he was planning to stay at the Three Bears Motel and hoped we could meet up there later today. Just after he left the sun came over the mountain, and my tent and clothes could dry quickly. It was still chilly!
I wanted to leave quickly to, but Americans kept asking me about my bike and my trip, they where very friendly and curious. There are a lot of Americans on this campground who are interested in ATV’s (quads), so they also liked my bike a lot! Some of them had seen me cycling yesterday while they were driving their quads.
Eventually I was on the road again, with full water bottles that I had filled up at the water pump. Lovely clear, fresh water!
Within 20 minutes I already had to take some clothes of because It/I was getting hot!
Todays route was mostly through “cultivated” farmland. It gets boring after a while. 10-15 KM before you enter Pinedale you can choose: You can take the main road (shorter), or you can take the small roads. I wanted to be in Pinedale fast, but still I chose the longer option. It rewarded me with some Sandhill Cranes and a nice young kid fishing. Once in Pinedale, as usual I got to the nearest gas station to buy the things I need from the fridge and asked the cashier about the motel Michael was talking about. Unfortunately it turned out it didn’t exist… Michael made a mistake. There is a motel by that name in West-Yellowstone, but we have past that one already a few days ago. To bad… I looked around to see if I could spot him or his bike, but I couldn’t. Eventually (plenty of options here) I chose not to stay at one of those average Best Western-like places, but a smaller and nicer, "old fashioned" cabin-like motel, the Rivera Lodge B&B with a friendly lady at the reception, not to bad Wi-Fi, a few friendly dogs outside, a clothesline for guests and some nice places to sit at the riverside, unfortunately I couldn’t use them. Still a lot to do! First take a shower, that feels awesome! Next sort out my clothes and take them to the Laundromat. After that I have to get groceries for 4 days! Also I need to get a new short and water bag at the outdoor sport shop. Water is going to be an issue the coming period.
When all that is finished, I made a few updates for the home front until 2 0’clock at night!!! Not completely done yet, but the rest will follow laterrrrrrr.
Good night, have to get up early tomorrow morning!
