Boulder, WY to Diagnus well I woke up this morning with an idea in my head. I had been thinking and hearing about the Great Basin for months, and hoping I had a tailwind across it. I checked the weather forecast, and it looked favorable for a couple days, so my idea grew into a plan. I called my wife and told her about it just so she would know what I was thinking! So, after a good breakfast, where I joined a nice couple from New York (who let me use their shower after they checked out, btw), I loaded up and shoved off about 9:30. My original plan was to ride to Atlantic City, WY and stay there. Given my new idea/plan I would still ride there and have dinner, then if the conditions were right and I felt up to it I would roll another 20 miles or so to a place called Diagnus well. Leaving Boulder, I expected a rather boring ride, at least from a scenery point of view. Miles of sagebrush and smoky skies seemed most likely, and I was ready to simply make some miles. Thankfully, I was very wrong! The smoke had cleared—particularly in the east and southerly direction—and while I was in sagebrush country, the Wind River range was in full view off my left shoulder for about 50 miles! It was beautiful. I rolled along a paved road for a while, then a freshly graded gravel road, then a very nice gravel road called the “Lander cutoff road”. With beautiful scenery and a smooth road crafted like a roller coaster, the miles melted away and soon the Wind River range was in the distance behind me. Oh, and did I mention the tailwind!?! Probably 15-20 mph at my back. Bikers bliss… I eventually turned off the Lander cutoff road, and turned on a highway for about 5 miles, where I did experience most of a headwind—just so you know it wasn’t ALL bliss. I did learn what “south pass” was, and after the drudgery of the highway, turned on the gravel “South pass city road”. After a few miles winding up and down through sagebrush flat, I plunged down into a creekbed to South Pass City. While there are still a few souls that live there, it is essentially a ghost town, and a Wyoming state park (like Bannack, MT). It’s well done, but I only stayed long enough to drink a root beer as I was hungry and dinner awaited me in Atlantic City just a few miles down the road. I climbed out of South Pass City, rolled along a high sagebrush ridge, then plunged down again to Atlantic City. The sign said “population about 57” and that seems about right. I took a few photos on the way to the restaurant, but otherwise went straight to “Atlantic City Mercantile”. Hard to describe, but I would call it a bar/restaurant/museum. Really cool old building with some even cooler contents—mainly mining artifacts and memorabilia. It’s for sale—yours for 1.5 million dollars! I ordered chili and cornbread and fries for an early dinner, and a cheeseburger to go for later. The meal was great, and after one more weather check, I made my decision to forge ahead to diagnus well that evening. I was able to join the restaurants WiFi, and FaceTime Jill and my folks after dinner! Bonus! After the call I routed myself to Diagnus well. The first mile or so had me doubting my choice, as I had to climb out of the creekbed, into a strong headwind at that. After I got out of the drainage and the road headed southeast, though I was flying! I rolled along gently, going pretty fast but not expending too much effort for miles. I did stop at a river to get some more water in case the well was dry, but thats the only stop I made. I began to see dozens of antelope, and even 2 sage grouse—they’re BIG! Like magic, the instant the sun set, the wind quit. The silence was amazing! I checked my map and saw I was still 4-5 miles from the well, so I quickened my pace a bit and rolled into the well right at dark. I set up my camp via headlamp, made a cup of tea, dug out my cheeseburger…and exhaled. 97 miles this day, and it felt so good to just sit and be and listen to nothing but the water coming out of the well. A good day—better than I expected.