Had to be an early start to beat as much of the heat as I could. The high was predicted to be 95 in the afternoon in Gillette. Last night I did Epic Weather prediction for the route and it said tailwind all day. Add in the first 50 were leaning downhill and I knocked off those 50 by 9am. “I’ll be in Gillette by noon!” Ha!!! Think again!
At one point I stopped at the entrance to a fracking facility to rest my feet and a worker on his way out chatted me up and gave me a me a couple of cold waters. They were veryy much appreciated. I drank one immediately and poured the other into my bladder.
I tried getting up at 0430 but I hit snooze once and got up ten minutes later. I managed to NOT hit my heads all night going to the bathroom after the solid knock I took last evening. I dressed and went upstairs to see about coffee and saw what she meant by “push the button”. Not a machine that delivers by the cup but a basic Mr Coffee. While it was brewing I noticed all the letters written to the hotel ghost, Emily. All by children over the years. They were cute.
Took my coffee back to the room and started to pack up. If I could get to Gillette early enough then I could hit the post office and send some shit home. Less weight is less weight. I also am losing weight, but haven’t a clue to a number.
Bike loaded I went to the local convenience storer that opened at 5 and picked up a few things for the day but I forgot the pickles!!! Damn!! On the road, it was cool and pretty traffic free already. Got out of town pretty quickly and soon it was quite 16 with a healthy shoulder and a slight downhill grade. The push from the wind and I was averaging almost 17 mph. Ucross was the first town where 14 joined in, and then Clearmont. After that it was Leiter , Arvada and finally Spotted Horse. No services anywhere though Spotted Horses had an operational bar but opened at 11 and I was there at 10. This was before the fracking rest.
The second half of the day was navigating (climbing) through/over all the basin dividers that carved up the Powder River Basin. There were maybe half a dozen with smaller rollers in between. Look at the elevation profile and you will see what I mean. Saw teeth.
Three terrains today: large scale farming and hay production, large cattle ranges and finally open pit coal mines. Wyoming has the lowest sulpher coal in the world, but it’s still coal.
As the day went past noon, I finally came to the regional airport and turned in because why wouldn’t the terminal have something cool and refreshing? Got a Gatorade and refilled the empty w H2O and was on my way.
Post office was reached, a box selected taped, filled and sealed and sent on its journey back to NJ without me. Mexican place across the street caught my eye and I went in for tacos and a Corona.
My hotel is on the Eastern edge of town, no wonder it was cheap as there is nothing near by. Looks like I will either Uber or do DoorDash.
Just finished time in the hot tub, yes after I showered, and just relaxing. No bar on site and none in walking distance. Not sure but maybe a dry night is good.
Tomorrow will be Devils Tower, no it’s not the base of a large petrified tree, where I will camp and I need to plan out the next section of Peaks Parks and Prairies. I finished Section 1 today, starting Section 2 tomorrow. DT is a short day and Ten Sleep was short so I dont knoww that I have much leeway to get to Orange City Ia by the 19th. At the airport I did confirm my alternate plan of renting a car if I need to. There are other small airports later in this ride I can use if I need to.
Cheers