Mosquitoes, Motels and Lotus Cafe

So we're heading north through Wyoming now on our way to Jackson, Yellowstone and then Buffalo Wyoming for the Big Horn Mountain Festival. This ranch's entrance should have prepared us for what was to come. Mosquitoes! We are following the Green River and they say they've gotten lots of rain lately. These two things combined have caused for unbearable mosquito-age. So bad that we even dipped into our foul-weather hotel fund and paid for our first night in a motel in La Barge, WY, just for a respite from the onslaught. This is what I picture Alaska being like. But the worst part is that these mosquitoes, for whatever reason, are able to catch up to us while we are traveling 12 mph and land on us and bite us. This is a first for me, usually you're safe while cycling but not anymore. Seems there is a new strain of super-fast, super-intelligent mosquito out there. This should worry us more than Swine Flu in my book.

I believe this grocery store is in Big Piney, WY (Librarian: "Ya know when I moved to Big Piney, I sorta expected there to be lots of pine trees."). I just loved the stores slogan "Come right in this house". What does that mean? I stared at it scratching my head. Rode away thinking about it. Best I could invent in my head was that the store could be owned by a couple from the former Czechoslovakia and in the former Czechoslovakia it is the most formal and most polite thing to write on your store front "Come right in this house", everyone does it, so when Alexander and Martina came to the USA they brought that tradition with them and translated it literally into English for us.

We stopped in a bar and begged the bartendress if we could seek shelter from the blood bath that was happening outside. This place was the quintessential Wyoming bar. Three rancher types sat at the bar itself having a breakfast toddy. The wonderful bartendress allowed us sit at a table and even to eat our lunch there. There was a very high-tech Bose juke box right in front of us that I notice had one play left on it. I went up and browsed the catalog found, surprisingly, some Ryan Adams, hit play and Kiki and I were treated to the most kickass version of La Cienega Just Smiled on a very quality sound system. The only problem was that it was turned up to 11. Seriously. Our hair was blowing back from the bass. It was just too hilarious and we started laughing as if we'd just ingested something illegal, it was really THAT loud. Good times.

So this is the cover of 8 Jackson Hole phone books. Kiki was particularly appalled. I thought it a bit tacky too. But I'm sure Jackson Hole suffers from my hometown Crested Butte's problem of way too many phone books, so it's not surprising that the competition has resorted to the age-old adage "Sex Sells".

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We stealth camped last night at a trailhead off the side of the road about 36 miles shy of Jackson Hole, where we are planning on taking a zero day and visit with our friends here. As we roll into to Jackson, we spy a McDonalds. (Disclaimer: OK, I admit it and I'm OK with it. We crave McDonald's Sundaes when we bicycle tour. They only cost a buck. I get two of them. They have little chopped nut packages. It not something I can explain to you.) So we're in there ordering our sundaes when we meet a fellow who asks us the questions we always get asked. Turns out he lived in Crested Butte for some time and went to Western State. We strike up a conversation and before long, he tells us that he owns a hotel in Jackson Hole and would like to comp us a room for the night. We have a tradition, Kiki and I, of ALWAYS saying yes when this type of trail magic happens. So about 30 minutes after ingesting our sundae treats, here's a pic of us in our new digs in Jackson. Man I love bicycle touring!!

More Notes on Trash: On the side of the roads I've noticed, since my last bike tour some years ago, that one thing that has changed and that is some new items are showing up as trash. The new additions to the ubiquitous roadside trash are energy drink cans and the energy drink poppers (2 oz bottles of "fuel"). This got me to thinking, "Why is there now such a market a for this stuff?" Why are we as a culture seeking more energy. Could it be the way we are eating as a whole that has created an energy gap (high fructose corn syrup anyone?), or our time at the computer and the video games? Just thoughts I had on the road, but the questions begs asking.

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To make an analogy, say in 60 years, everything that is selling big has the additive that helps your skin not turn blue. Everyone is using it. Turning slightly blue is a big issue in 2069. You are sitting there in your rocking chair saying, "you know, back in '09 no one was turning blue. Seems to me something has changed." Yet no one around is looking at that obvious angle. People don't like turning blue-ish and they are only looking at how "not blue" they get by eating "Blueless Bars-tm", and the companies are reaping the benefits of our not-wanting-to-be-blue addiction.

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So back to the energy drink market (Red Bull, RockStar, etc), the question is why is this generation suddenly in need of more energy. What is fundamentally wrong with our bodies that we can be convinced that more energy is what we need? I don't know the answer, but that is what bicycle touring will bring out of you, deep thoughts. It is interesting, though, to notice this change in roadside trash over the years.