Day Forty (48.8 miles, 1845.16 total): Fourth of July

"The sprinklers are turning on!" Bill is frantically packing away gear as the park sprinklers start turning on in sections. I jump out of my sleeping bag, almost rolling on to Ella, who is now wide awake, and rush to pack my gear. Ella is running around herding the four of us as we hurry to pack up before the sprinklers get to us. It's only 5:30AM and we had planned on sleeping in that morning until at least 6:00AM maybe later. I am running around like a chicken with its head cut off and I have no shoes on. Definitely not dressed for the chilly morning, I rush back and forth loading panniers onto my bike. I try to run up the wet grass hill with my bike but slip on the wet grass and go tumbling back. Bill grabs the front end of my bike and we heave it onto the main roadway. Success! We had beaten the sprinklers and didn't get soaked! Now we were all exhausted and miserable, so we headed up to the local convenient store/general store for breakfast. I had a large cup of coffee, a breakfast burrito, and a cup of doughnut holes. We sat in there for about an hour or so as we slowly woke up to the world. It was definitely a rough start to the day.

Carol was already out the door and on the road a good 30 minutes before we were. Bill, Bob and I finally left and hit the road. We were cruising along in the early morning sun. It was brisk but not too cold by this time. Bob is playing classic hits of the 80's and getting ridiculous songs stuck in our heads. We stop for a picture of the high desert  around us and end up just standing around for about an hour. During our stop, Sarah shows up and hangs with us for a bit while we catch up. We let her leave ahead of us and stand around for a bit longer. Finally we decided to stop being bums and got back on the saddle.

We were quickly treated to a series of long, slow climbs into the morning. I led the pack as we charged our way through the desert morning. Prairie dogs were playing chicken with cars and hawks lazily flew over head. Antelope were frequent in the endless fields of sage brush and dirt. The roads curved around the mountains, flowing up and down the the terrain. As we pushed on into the morning, the sun climbed high into the air and bore down on us like ants under a magnify glass. We stopped in the middle of a hill for a snack and a bathroom break. If you turned around, you could see for miles on end, the desert drifting further into the horizon.

Bob turns on some rap music and Bill makes fun of him and he changes it back to 80's hits and reggae jams. With an odd combination of music setting the rhythm, we pace ourselves up the growing hills. At the peak of the next hill, I spot Sarah beginning the biggest climb of the day in the distance. We have a long downhill and the cars look like tiny little ants far below. Not wasting anymore time, our ragtag trio descends the embankment. The winds decide to change on us halfway down the hill and we have to pedal to keep moving. What kind of luck is that?? By the time I reach the bottom, I have no momentum to pull me up the hill. Determined to reach the top and beat the winds, I kick into gear and begin my ascent. Bill and Bob are a good quarter mile behind me as I rocket (5.5mph) up the highway. The grueling charge pays off as I pass Sarah on the hill and race to the top. I'm king of the world!

You could see for miles and miles on either side of the pass. I stopped and took pictures of everyone as they slowly made their way up to me. When everyone arrived, we all took a short water break and bombed down the other side. Bill and Bob took the lead on the downhill with me following close behind. It felt like we could coast forever down the pass. The roads leveled out again and we finally reached the great Wyoming border! It won't be long before we are riding through the alpines once again. Bob didn't want to go to Wyoming so he jokingly turned back toward the state of green. After a few pictures, we popped back on our bikes and flew through the plains.

Slowly we started to enter ranch lands once again and houses became more frequent along with herds of cattle and horses. We had a good run of downhills and kept our pace in the 30+mph range. It was an absolute blast racing down the asphalt lanes, blasting past ranches left and right. Sarah fell way behind and we didn't see her again for the rest of the day. She doesn't like to fly down big hill the same way we do. At the very end of our run, the roads start to even out and roll with the plains again. We pass fields filled with cows and dotted by lingering groups of antelope. One antelope races along side us as it tried to figure out where to go next.

Approaching Riverside, the road sloped down into a valley and we began our sprint to the finish. I guess Mother Nature didn't like that and gave us a headwind for the last mile. Bob and I were pedaling hard down the hill and only reaching 11mph. A turn of events, but it didn't last too terribly long! As we entered Riverside, we spot Carol in a campground and pull off the road to join her. After a long day, we scored a picnic table, a nice grassy area, and a place for showers and laundry. We are all starving, so we head on into the Bear Trap Cafe and Bar. It had great food for such a small town and Ella made friends with a timid little pitbull named Ivy.

Back at camp, we took showers and did some laundry. While waiting for our laundry, three cyclists heading east show up in camp. One is a Brit, another is an Italian and the third is French. They all just met up along their journey and started to ride together just like our little band of misfits. It was the Fourth of July, so Bob and I went out to celebrate and Bill joined us back at the Bear Trap a little while later. Around 11:00PM we all decided to turn in for the night and get up early to head for Rawlins. Ella and I hope you are enjoying our adventure and continue to follow us on our journey west! We appreciate all of your support throughout our trip!