July 23rd
Rest Day In Lovell, WY
After our harrowing experience of day 32, we were both ready for an unscheduled rest day. The town of Lovell has very little in it, but we didn't care. We were with each other so it was all good.
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| Melissa |
My fondest memories of Lovell (aside from getting there alive) was of Boo Radley (the motel owner's dog) and the Brandin Iron Restaurant. From the outside it looked like just a building that housed nothing particularly special. It gave no hint of the high quality of food and service that can be found within. I ordered a steak sandwich from an amiable and knowledgeable waitress named Melissa. At the time, we had no clue that we would be back two more times during our brief stay in Lovell. The steak that I got as part of my steak sandwich was an amazing, VERY good, stand alone STEAK. Not the kind of quality you would expect from a steak sandwich combo.
Melissa answered all of our questions about "All Things Wyoming" and she introduced me to one of their local favorites: Rocky Mountain Oysters. As a tourist, you often think that dishes like this are created by the locals to get a laugh out of watching them eat the stuff. Rocky Mountain Oysters are no such joke. They are quite good and tasted to me like chicken potato chips.
Melissa answered a burning question about the structures you see in the pic above. I had seen them a LOT mostly by the highway. I knew they were some sort of fence, but couldn't figure out what they were supposed to be keeping out. They were often disconnected, so that even the dullest creature on the planet could simply walk around them. They were very tall, so I thought that they could possibly be meant to discourage birds from swooping down on the highway and getting hit. But I was wrong.
They are SNOW fences, to try to keep drifts from burying the highway. Unfortunately, they are not often successful, so in both South Dakota, and Wyoming they put actual gates directly on the highway. The gates look like railway crossing gates, which confused me when I first saw one. There, right on the limited access highway was a full fledged gate that could be lowered to stop traffic. But there was no railway line crossing this highway. Why the heck was it there? Turns out, it's fairly common for the state to just completely close certain stretches of interstate during the winter. If the gate is down, you can be fined several hundred dollars and even be jailed for going past it. As a matter of fact, The Shell, which I had descended just the day before is closed for pretty much the entire winter due to the dangerous slope.
Melissa seemed to represent the basic friendly, down to earth Wyoming style of living. She truly enjoyed living in this part of the country and enjoyed talking with other people about it. Thanks Melissa!
Here's a couple of pics from the past few days or weeks that didn't make it to the blog yet.
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| I think this is someones actual house. Saw it off the highway, and saw a car pulling up to it. |
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| This is a better shot of The Shell which I cycled twenty miles downhill from top to bottom. |
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| Sometimes I try to post a video, but it ends up as a gif. This is one of those times. It's from the climb up the mountain on Day 32. |
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| Another Day 32 shot. |
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| Day 32: The rocks you see in the center of the shot are called the "Fallen City". I couldn't get a close up, but they do look like a bunch of buildings that fell over on the mountain. |
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| Day 32 again... |
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| Looking down |
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| Wanted to see what the range of the helmet cam was when I turned it around. Apparently it's a pretty wide range. This is my butt. |
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| Another Day 32 shot |
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| Last Day 32 Shot |
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