10 Days Later...

It's been about ten days or so since I wrote my last blog and here I am at a bed and breakfast in Wisdom, Montana at the friendly owner's computer looking out at the mountains and sunset and horse pastures...Montana, my friends, is an amazing state. I'm really glad I came this way. Well, it's really the only way to come because there aren't many east to west roads through Idaho--I had to come up north, go west through Montana, then I'll head back into Idaho in two days or so and then I'll be able to head west. I'll hit the borders of Washington and Oregon and probably follow the Columbia River on the Washington side until I finally FINALLY make it to Astoria, Oregon.

That's the plan anyway. If there's one thing I've learned on this trip it's to really be prepared for the unexpected. I remember laying in my tent in Grand Island, Nebraska, after doing an awesome amount of miles from Lincoln that day, getting giddy and unable to sleep I was so excited to think that I would make it all the way to the coast in a matter of weeks. But of course Wyoming was the hardest part...and I knew it would be...I just didn't know that this would include:

calling the highway patrol (thanks for the number Loren) to pick me up off the side of the interstate after 3 flat tires in a row...

taking a bus, carrying only my bike tires, tent, and toiletries (and leaving everything else at a gas station in Wheatland, WY), to Cheyenne on the Fourth of July in order to go to the CLOSEST bike shop in Wyoming in order to purchase new tires because I had worn mine out...

once i got to cheyenne having a furnace repairman give me a ride to a bike shop and a camp site out of the goodness of his heart...

celebrating the Fourth in Cheyenne, Wyoming...

getting back on the road and busting a rear brake in the process...which led to getting a ride in a pick up truck with a man named Chris who has a daughter in a punk band, up to Casper through the inspired help of my favorite family, the O'Connor's...

which led me to stay with their close friends and my other favorite family, the Perry's (yes, perry place!) , in Casper...and then getting another ride from Julie Perry through the desolate part of Wyoming where 15 years ago the scary murderer once lived...

which led me to Riverton where I got a cold and watched "Evan Almighty" in a movie theater...

and then to Dubois where I stayed in a motel with shag carpet, which I took a picture of...

i continued to have a cold and then I fell over on some loose sand on the side of the road and scraped my elbow pretty bad...and had headwinds...that was a bad day...

then i got to Moran Junction where nothing was...so I camped out in a horse pasture of a Dude Ranch a few miles down the road thanks to the kindness of the owner, and it was FREEZING but I had an amazing view of the Grand Tetons at sunset...but i didn't get much sleep...

oh, back there I crossed the continental divide at the Togwotee Pass...

and then I cruised into Jackson Hole where all the millionaires have homes and go skiing and I was so tired i could barely function...

so i finally was able to sleep at a hostel in Jackson after many hours of torturous sleep deprivation...

and then the next day I felt renewed and I WALKED up the Teton Pass which is 6 miles at a 10% grade (which is steep by the way) and it took me 3 hours and I wondered why people, like me, put themselves through torture...

then i ate salsa and chips in Victor, Idaho and felt at peace with the world...

That was Wyoming in a nutshell. I'll be filling in the details later on in writing; and it will be much funnier when I reenact my facial expressions in person.

Idaho and Montana have been tough, for the hills and valleys and such, but the landscape and the rivers have been phenomenal. Today I biked on a road between a rocky cliff and a green
hillside with the Big Hole River flowing right next to the road on my right side...and it was beautiful. And before that in Idaho I biked through the Targhee National Forest, on a road which remains the only hill I have loved to climb on this trip...

I love rivers. I have decided rivers are my favorite thing in the world. And the ones here in Montana and Idaho are clear like glass.

Getting closer to the end of my trip, I have equal parts anxiety and impatience. Pretty much I really want to finish...not to necessarily end my trip, but to reach my destination. I started out thinking I might only make it to Nebraska...but I think it only took me getting there to be able to actually make my goal to go across the full United States. I don't naturally like setting goals, or planning, as some of you may know...but now with the goal so close--every day is a test of my ability to take this trip one day at a time and enjoy every moment.

My birthday is July 22nd and I thought I might be able to finish my trip on that day so that it really would be a Hollywood tear-jerker ending to an epic journey...But I think I'll cry just as hard whatever day i finish...so let's just plan to not plan a specific date. I'll finish when I finish!