The Rise Up Ride: Day 27, Across the Powder River Basin, between the Black Hills and the Bighorn Mountain
Date: May 19 2021
Start Location: Devil's Tower, WY
End Location: Gillette, WY
Distance: 98.8 km
Time: 5:20
Total elapsed: 7:02
Elevation: 794 m
Outdoor dawn arrives early and in stages. There's "stars twinkling out" dawn, "faint glow in the east dawn" , followed by "no more headlamp dawn." I got up at "bird dawn", which precedes all the dawns, to capture its first rays on Devil's Tower. Portuguese has so many more words for the unfolding of the early morning. Hoje a madruga emanuceu de verdade, meu galera!
With the wind howling from the NE and E all day, I rode my good fortune through the rolling hills south to I-90 and then west along the shoulder, separated from the truckers, RVers, and F-150s. The Varia rearview radar, which detects overtaking vehicles and displays them on my GPS, was beep, beep, beeping. In most cases, when I'd glance behind with my eyeglass mirror, vehicles had seen my obnoxious high-vis windvest, reflective harness and dual flashing 100 lumens red taillights and changed lanes, giving me plenty of space. Yes, it is also legal to cycle on the freeway in Wyoming.
I had my first encounter with the lunatic anti-vaccine fringe when I stopped for lunch. "But you and your family were vaccinated for measles, mumps, and rubella, right?"
"Those are diseases, not a virus. I'll absolutely never get that damn vaccine."
I'd suggest that you give Donna and her roadside cafe a pass.
After more than seven hours from hitting the start button until rolling up into Jim's open and waiting bicycle-filled garage, I was toast. Jim and Beth, who was away, are cyclists who have toured, and now open their home as WarmShowers hosts to riders crossing the vast Powder River Basin. Jim, who had followed the link to The Rise Up Ride, was current on my progress from Minnesota, and we gabbed for hours while he cooked a damn fine dinner and called over the life-long neighbor-friends to join in the gabbing.
Jim, it was an honor to meet you and to be welcomed so warmly, as a stranger, into your home. I'll see you and Beth in NYC for the Marathon. Trail magic happens again.
