We left the Holiday Lodge really early, 5 am, and I breakfasted and we both coffeed at McDonalds until we started riding at 530. We had a long 75-mile day planned to Dubois, and it had a lot of uphill in it. The ride out of Lander was nice and quiet, and before long we were in the Wind River Native American reservation. We passed through a couple small towns, by a couple small lakes, and all along the Wind River mountain range. It was quite pretty. We stopped for banana/bathroom/sunscreen break at a nice store, and three different and extremely friendly local natives stopped and chatted with us outside. We then started riding up and up in the foothills, through scrubby and barren terrain but always with the gorgeous mountain backdrop. After cresting the vast, barren Winkleman Dome, we dropped down with a sweet 5-mile descent through a gorgeous canyon with a variety of rock formations and colors until we reached river bottom, where we unfortunately had to turn onto a quite busy highway which we’d stay on all the way to Dubois. At about mile 45 we stopped in Crowheart at the Sinclair gas station store. Out front they had two picnic tables under a patio cover and it was there we sat eating snacks and drinking a soda while we chatted with two nice English couples who were there resting as they ride the same TransAm trail as us but going West to East. They told us that Yellowstone hiker/biker campsites were easy to find, and that Yellowstone traffic wasn’t all that bad (Yellowstone flooding 3 weeks ago caused enough damage to force closure of the park, and the south/west portions have now reopened, which is where our route passes through, and they also are limiting vehicle entrance with an odd/even license plate system on alternating days). One of the couples was newly married and he had an Oregon bike license plate that said “JUST” and she had a Virginia license plate that said “MARRIED”. So when they ride side by side it says “JUST MARRIED” (or “MARRIED JUST”, but I think it’s still understood, haha). Another cyclist from Los Angeles, Jesse, pulled in and didn’t talk much but we were leaving at the same time in the same direction so we rode together for just a couple minutes before he pulled away and was gone on his 16-lb carbon road bike. The road continued upward toward Dubois and eventually we got close to the beautiful Wind River whose valley we’d been riding up for miles. We stopped and V spread some of Trasto’s ashes there in one beautiful spot. The day was getting long, the headwind was getting stronger, and the road continued upward, while the miles clicked by too slowly. But it was getting prettier and prettier at the same time. Steep canyon walls and cool rock formations, some with rocks colored a deep red reminiscent of Utah or Arizona, and others more tan or even a mixture of the two, popped up as we wound our way up the canyon to Dubois. There was one beautiful area where we stopped to drink water and four curious horses came towards us to check us out and then ran around in their pasture, almost like they were beckoning us to play with them. We entered Dubois around 4 pm and went straight to the church hostel that Greg had called yesterday and told we were coming…but it turns out they had a group of 23 young cyclists there already and had no room for us. But while we waited in the office, the nice lady that works there phoned someone at another church and soon someone else showed up from the other church to take us to “the overflow church”. We lost an hour waiting, but it turned out to be a nice accommodation, with bathrooms, a kitchen with coffee we were allowed to drink, and a nice area in the tiny, carpeted chapel where we could lay out our sleeping pads and bags. It ended up being me, V, Billy, Greg, Jesse, and another dude (that we’d met in Jeffrey City two days ago) Michael. Michael was kinda the odd man out, a little distant and V and I didn’t really dig his egotistical vibe. We walked to dinner 1/4 mile away at the Cowboy Cafe with Billy and Greg, and Greg bought V and I a Blue Moon Belgian wheat beer to sip while we waited outside for a table. Billy got impatient waiting and left to go eat BBQ up the street so it was just me, V, and Greg that got called in to dine. But right when we ordered, Michael showed up so I did the polite thing and invited him to sit and join us. It was alright, and we had a nice meal, but afterward we walked back to the church alone as Michael want his own way and Greg went for ice cream alone. We all crashed for the night in the chapel room except Michael, who had decided that since he’s a light sleeper he didn’t want to be in the room with all of us, so he went and slept in the kitchen but left his bike and gear in the chapel. I put in my silicone earplugs and immediately fell asleep, but in the morning V told me that Michael got up and left at 4 am and kept waking everyone up when he made a ton of noise walking back and forth between the chapel and kitchen and kept all the kitchen lights on without closing the door to the chapel. Kind of ironic for a light sleeper to be that careless or inconsiderate, yeah? It came as no surprise to either of us that he did that, but it was disappointing for two people who have traveled extensively and stayed in many shared accommodations and have learned how to arrive late or leave early with minimal interruption to others who may be sleeping. It’s common sense, dude. Be thoughtful. Tomorrow brings the big climb up to Togwatee Pass and the drop down into the Grand Tetons!!!