Day 38, Dubois to Shoshone Rose Casino, Lander, WY

Miles – 70

Ave Riding Speed – 3-28 mph

Hours Start to Finish – 7

Weather – Partly Cloudy and 88

Kim and I went to bed at 8:30pm last night. We had the meeting room all to ourselves at St. Thomas Episcopal Church and slept on the floor next to each other using our camping blowup air mattresses and sleeping bags. For pillows we use our down winter jackets and stuff them in the hood of our modified mummy (or semi rectangular) style sleeping bags. We slept pretty soundly.

I was wide awake at 5am, but Kim was still sleeping so I rolled over and finally fell back to sleep. When I woke up at 7:30am Kim was dressed and packing her bags. She must have been more rested than me or really excited to get to our hotel/casino this afternoon for a something yummy to eat like prime rib or steak. Kim walked to the local coffee shop for her cream w/coffee and picked me up a tall back coffee. I drank what I could as we needed to get on the road for our projected 69-mile route today.

We finally got packed up and out the door about 9:15am and left the room as we found it. Kim left a note on the whiteboard to thank them for their hospitality. They had a bike tire pump and bike repair tools mounted in the parking lot next to the church so I was excited to get a fresh tire fill-up.  Unfortunately, is was out of order. Next, we backtracked a little through town to the gas station to get some water as there didn’t look to be much opportunity to get any along the way. Kim grabbed a Gatorade and a couple bottles of water. We swigged down the Gatorade between us and Kim packed the extra water on her bike. Between us we had 8 bottles of water and some snacks to get us to our end zone for the day.

We headed southeast out of town on Hwy 287/26 and for the most part we were cruising at 18mph and on nice decline from 6,946 feet, down to our destination of close to Lander, WY at 5,358, feet. There were a few humps to climb along the way, but nothing we couldn’t handle.

30 miles out of Dubois we came into Crowheart, part of the Wind River Indian Reservation. It was a gas station with a convenience store connected to the post office. Out front they had two picnic tables covered by what used to be the gas pump awning/overhang. It was nice to get out of the sun as we’ve been riding out in the open all morning and expected the same for the entire day. Kim used the bathroom and we picked up a Gatorade and potato chips for a snack and enjoyed them in the shade.

We departed and briefly chatted with a lady riding the TransAmerica Trail heading west. About 5 miles out Kim said she could hear a clinking noise coming from my bike. We pulled over and there it was, the dreaded remnants of a blown semitruck tire stuck in my rear wheel. Evidently my tires are a magnet for this stuff! I pulled out the foreign wire and we moved on, hoping it didn’t make it to my tire tube. It quickly became apparent that it did as it was going flat. We made it to a tared approach and pulled over. I know the drill pretty well by now. I did a onceover of the tire once I got it off my bike and the tube out. The piece of wire did a number on the tire and there a small hole in it now. I asked Kim to pull the duct tape out of my bag and tear off a couple small pieces. I stuck their sticky sides to each other and then had Kim tear off a little bigger piece. I used that to tape my homemade tire patch to the inside of my rear tire. Then I replaced the old tube, pumped what air I could into it and put everything back together. It went pretty fast. Pumping with that small pump always does a number on my back and I can still feel it. Plus, it takes the wind out of me. We were back on the road in 30 minutes

About 8-miles further, through the open range land, we split off on Hwy 287 headed south. There was immediately an elevation climb of 400 feet and we did do a little walking. The wind was against us now and I was feeling it. After the climb we hit 17 miles of road construction. It was about 8 miles of a skimmed road surface that reminded us of a gravel trail we rode back in Idaho. Then we hit the freshly tared surface that took us into Fort Washakie, 10 miles from our destination, where we pulled into a gas station for some ice water and water replenishments.

The last 10 miles of the day I was dragging and Kim said she’d take the lead so I could draft behind her. What a difference that makes. She picked up the pace and I followed.

We rolled into the Shoshone Rose Casino at 4:15pm. The casino parking lot was looking a little bare and I was wondering if it was open. We rolled up to the front entrance and saw some cars on the far-side parking lot. What a relief. I don’t think I had another mile in me. The next town farther was Lander, only a few miles up, and we know there is no place to stay in town for the holiday weekend.

We were prepared for the casino mask mandate as we heard about it from another rider. Kim checked us in and upon entry we had to get our temperature checked at the front door before admittance. Kim had learned that the restaurant was not open. Huge bummer! We were all set for that casino style all you can eat buffet and huge pieces or meat!

We rolled our bikes into the elevator and up to the second floor. Without unloading a thing, we walked down to the snack bar and each had Gatorade, nacho and ordered a small pizza for a snack later. Our room overlooks the mountain range to the east and is quite comfy. We’re enjoying some down time and just praying that my tires have air in them in the morning..