Basin to Buffalo, WY, arriving at the festival

The newspaper in Basin is called the "Republican Rustler". Moments after learning this, I cycled passed a large granite "Ten Commandments" that was proudly displayed on Basin's main street. Just observations, but all the same, was pretty sure that I'd have trouble living here. And so we headed out of Basin at exactly 7pm for a early-evening 10 miles. It was just too hot today to cycle between to 1pm and 5pm hours. So instead, we just hung out around the Basin County Courthouse, which happens to have HUGE trees and lots of shade. It's a nice way to break of the day though as we did 50 before noon and then another 10 after it cools down. We are getting close to Buffalo and the festival, so we do not really have to do big days. 60's will get us there right on time. Riding at 7pm our shadows were growing really long, so I snapped the below pic.


We have been cycling with the thought of the Big Horn Mountains in the back of our minds for some days now. We know the climb starts at 4600 ft and goes to 9666 ft, for a 5000 ft gain over about 35 miles. This could turn out to be our toughest climb yet even though it's not the highest. We've already decided to break it up into two days. Climb most one day, then finish the climb the next day. In this way, we make it seem more doable.

We have been passing some gorgeous ranches in Wyoming and I can't help but think about the days in the 1860's when being here in Wyoming was not such an easy thing to make happen. I wonder what those pioneers would have thought if they knew that 140 years later, folks would be bicycling thru this same country just to go to a music festival!! We have passed some wonderfully old barns in various stages of decay. Above is one example.

They are proud of their connection to the cow here in Wyoming and this wasn't the first of these types of signs that we saw on the highway. I was getting a hankering for some jerky passing all this prime cattle grazing land.
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We did a little shortcut that got us to the small town of Ten Sleep which is the last of the flatness for us. We arrived right at breakfast #2 time and lucky for us Ten Sleep is home of the Crazy Woman Cafe that served us up some piping hot coffee and pancakes and french toast. We chatted up some dirt bike riders from Canada who were following the Continental Divide Trail back to their homes. I just love Cafes in the morning when I'm bike touring. Something about the bottomless cup of joe and the soft chair to sit in thatis near a clean restroom with flush toilet that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Across the street from the Crazy Women Cafe is the Dirty Women Soda Fountain Shop. You gotta love Ten Sleep. The town was super quaint, one of my favorites yet. And contrary to Basin, Wy, it definitely had me saying, "I could live here". Of note this evening was the fact that while cycling, Kiki got a bug in her ear that left us scratching our heads as to what to do. Kiki'd be like, "OH MY GOD, I can hear it moving", then she'd be jumping up and down with her head tilted like a 10 year old who just hopped out of the swimming pull. Not sure what the passing cars thought, but none thought enough to pull over and inquire. They're probably just like, "Well good, there's 'nuther a them demmicrats with a bug in her ear. Serves her right." Who knows, but Kiki persevered and the bug at least stopped moving and we cycled on. We later had the idea of pouring water in her ear, which we did 4 or 5 times. Didn't find the bug, so it may still be in there, but at least she seems fine now.
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From Ten Sleep, it's into the beautiful Big Horn Mountains. . Right away the scenery became jaw dropping. This may be my favorite road so far in Wyoming and that includes our jaunt into Yellowstone. Lots of color in the cliffs, lots of beautiful trees. A loud, raging river at the bottom. Everything you need for a super scenic bicycle ride.

We were pulled over for one break when a car stopped to ask us if we needed anything. We didn't really need anything, but extra water is always appreciated. Tim, from Sheridan, was a cyclist himself and we chatted for some time. Then he dug deep in his cooler and gave us some organic yogurt which considering our overheated states, was greatly appreciated. We informed Tim about the festival in Buffalo and invited him to join us, so we may see him there. It's fun when you're on bicycles, this type of stuff can happen to you. When you're in a car, or even just walking for that matter, it's just not the same as being on a bicycle. People seem to relate to bicycles in some way, either they do it themselves, or they just appreciate the effort and want to know more about it. Whatever the dynamic at work here, when bicycle touring you're sure to have wonderful meetings with your fellow humans.

The above two pictures are taken from Highway 16 between Ten Sleep and Buffalo. A wonderful road for all travellers but especially for bicyclist and motorcyclist; lots of curves. About 3/4 of the the way to the top, we decided to call it a day. There was an old defunct lodge "Deer Haven", that had lots of cabins and what not, but was closed. We found a nice flat spot by an ever precious picnic table and had a wonderful wilderness experience by a raging river; totally alone. Camping is so easy out west. I really can't even imagine paying for camping (though I have a couple times). When you are on a bicycle or hiking in the west, you can really just get 3 miles out of any town and boom, you can camp anywhere you want. You have to use some judgment and show respect for landowners, but that done, it's still really easy to find spots to pitch a tent, which is gratifying. Of course, if we were traveling in a car, that'd make it more difficult, not impossible by any stretch, just more difficult to be stealth and discreet.

So we made it thru the Big Horns, but it was no free ride let me tell you. It's kinda like you get to the top in 20 miles, but then for 20 miles you just have to go up then down thru the mountains and valleys, then it's 20 miles of down. I don't know, I could be a bit jaded, because it seemed like we were going up (and 4 mph), way more than we should have. I still loved the road though. Highway 16 has my vote for best road in Wyoming. Upon arriving in Buffalo, we hit up the "Main Street Diner", which was pretty much Buffalo's answer to the "Durango Diner", one of our favorites in Colorado. Later, I just had to put my new drink holder to the test with a 64 oz. fountain drink from the Kum and Go. It held up. Now, after 18 days and about 1000 miles of riding, we're ready to begin festivating once again. And we are both ready to kick our feet up and do some serious relaxing and listening.