Day 31 Gee Brief: There's something about Wyoming...

July 21st
Gillette, WY to Sheridan, WY

The biggest part of this day would seem to be the 66 mile stretch, which J already mentioned that had no services. At the end of the day however, this stretch is not what I remembered.

What I remembered was something I later saw in a tourist brochure but had already experienced it before reading about it: Wyoming's landscape is incredibly diverse!

The 66 mile ride without services was through rolling grasslands. They were exactly like the corn fields of Ohio/Indiana/Illinois/Iowa with a few striking exceptions: there was no corn, there were no buildings such as barns and farmhouses, there were no people. On the other hand, unlike Ohio et. al. there were low rolling hills...and grass. Not wheat...grass. The kind of grass that livestock would graze on. And like the midwest cornfields, it seemed to go on forever. When I did occasionally see a small group of cows grazing near the road, I couldn't help but wonder who the heck they belonged to. It seemed as if their "home" would have to have been 10's if not 100's of miles away. 

But then the landscape changed. As I went further west, the grasslands gave way to South Dakota style buttes. But these were some fairly serious buttes and they were right there in my face.

The road itself changed into the smoothest, widest, safest road I had encountered yet on this trip. It was the anti-Iowa, the pinnacle of awesome cycling. The fact that there was nothing around didn't bother me, because, on the interstates, they have SIGNS. Not Mel Gibson like signs, but real signs that tell you and warn you, "Get your butt ready because you're about to experience a whole lot of NUTHIN!" With that kind of warning, you can get ready, and you have the peace of mind in knowing exactly when SOMETHING will come back again. On the non-interstate roads of the mid-west, and pretty much any non-interstate road ANYWHERE, the signs give you very  little information, and they NEVER tell you when you can expect to see SOMETHING again. 

 So out here, on the interstate, in the middle of NOTHING, I was at peace. J and I arranged a mid point refreshing meeting and all was good in the varied state of Wyoming.

 Then I saw them. Actually, Jenard saw them first, and he told me to pull over for a second. He had never seen actual MOUNTAINS before and he wanted to take in the moment. The ensuing conversation is listed below the pick.

Mountains - "Hello Jenard, we've been waiting for you."
Jenard - "And I for you, sirs...and I for YOU."

It was truly a chilling moment. I had to jump on Jenard and hold on for dear life as he went racing after them like a dog chasing a mailman. Thing is, since he'd never seen mountains before, he didn't realize that they can LOOK close, but still be a gagillion miles away. By the end of the day, when the mountains still sat taunting him, way off in the distance, he looked at me in puzzlement. I told him to just relax. He'd get his chance. 

And that he did...the very next day.