Day 25: Thermopolis to Cody

After the great day before, people were feeling quite relaxed. Maybe too much since nobody wanted to get up. But the church folks came in before 6 AM and started serving up some great cinnamon rolls so that got people going. One of the ladies told me she had gotten up at 4:30 to make sure everything was ready for us. Amazing. So we stuffed ourselves with the goodies and started getting ready for the long day ahead of us.

I was slated to be the driver for the day so Leah and I busied ourselves with getting everything ready for the team. The morning was a little bit chilly, but with people taking their time it warmed up a bit by the time we got going. I was in the car since Leah prefers to drive the van. Once we were ready, I drove up ahead to mile 40 and camped out to type out journal entries.

After about an hour and a half of sitting around, I didn't see anybody and I started getting a little bit worried. Finally, somebody came over the hill and let me know that many of the riders had gotten flat tires. Channing in particular had three flat tires. Which was particularly funny since he had just been talking about how he hadn't had one flat tire the whole trip.

A lot of the riders who had flats drove in the van to catch up with the group so the team wasn't too fractured, but Channing insisted on biking it so it was a little while before he showed up. But when he did he had another flat.

So while the rest of the team left he and Brett stayed behind and put new tires on the bike. But when they did they put them on in such a way that they got pinch flats. So there was flat five and six for Channing, in one day. After a little bit of laughing (more from me than them) they patched up the tubes and (finally) headed off. The whole time they were working I was amusing myself by putting a rock on Brett's bike for every two minutes they were there. By the time he got to his bike there were rocks on just about every part that could hold one.

So they took off and I headed out, catching up to Leah at lunch to chow down on some sandwiches. I didn't stay around too long since Laura had taken off by herself, but I was hoping to get ahead of the group again anyway since I wanted to work on the journals. I caught up with Laura at almost exactly 15 miles from lunch, but she wasn't in need of anything so I was soon by myself. But the laptop died and so it was just me and my thoughts.

People came by and filled up, with Brett and Channing making good time and actually passing people after being so far back. I packed up and headed off, heading into some gorgeous country.

The day so far had been mostly shallow hills covered with grasses and mountains in the distant background. But the latter part of the day headed closer to the mountains and the terrain reflected the change in elevation. I was trying to think about a good analogy to describe the scene and I came up with the following: take a quilt and push it together, this would give the types of hills. Specifically, they would be rounded, but with deep (but soft) cuts. Then take a sheet of green velvet that had been faded so that it was more of a pale green with yellow areas and lay it on top of the quilt, this would help describe the grasses that, to me, seemed to give a sheen and softness to the picture. Then throw in some very massive mountains close by and you've got the general idea. Nick Weaver said it almost made him want to sing selections from the Sound of Music. For my part, I was wishing I were riding instead of driving through it.

Coming into Cody, I saw Mario riding around. He stopped me and let me know that he had worked with Burger King to get us some free food. It wasn't his responsibility, but he went the extra mile and we were all grateful. The people who were coming up enjoyed the free burger, but there were still people way back and the clouds were coming in. I ate my burger outside and watched the lightning dance across the sky or flash against the mountains.

I hung out a little bit waiting for riders, but as the clouds came in I figured people wouldn't want to be riding in the storm so I went back to look for people. I found the last two people, BJ and Mercedes (who were taking their time in no particular rush the whole day) just as Leah did. We packed up, headed over to the Burger King and then on to the school we were staying at with the storm bearing down hard with winds strong enough to rock the car.

At the school, I talked with the head janitor for a while about the cost of living in the area and his life and such until it was time to get things going. We all went over to a local Baptist church for dinner where they provided Pizza Hut. I was pretty happy and ate my fill of the different varieties. We all introduced ourselves and later I joined a little group and we talked with the hosts about the area and their lives and such. I love getting to know all of these wonderful people.

Afterward, we headed over to the local Wal-Mart for some supplies. I put so much food in my basket for the team that I felt like I was the dad for a large family. I also did a little personal shopping before we headed back to the school, some 6 or 7 miles away.

We got back and discovered that we forgot to get the ice. So I volunteered to go get some, but it was after 9 PM and apparently that's when the city shuts down. I ended up going all the way back to the Wal-Mart and got back to bed sometime just before eleven. I did however take the opportunity while driving to meander around the city exploring some of the back roads. I always have a good time taking a few extra minutes to explore the towns.