Day 46, Thursday, June 5

Douglas, Wyoming to Casper, Wyoming

I had a fitful night of sleep. It was not helped by getting up around 2:00 to shelter in the park bathrooms during a thunderstorm. Like the day before, the rain stopped before we got up so we did not have to break camp in the rain.

Once again we knew it would be a hard day, over 60 miles with some decent climbing. We had to get all the way to Casper because we had a Warm Showers host lined up for the next two nights, asking with an appointment to get our bikes tuned up.

The temperature was in the mid 40s. Even with the climbing I never really warmed up. My hands and toes were particularly cold. It was just like the previous morning, without the hail. 

About 11 miles into the ride we passed Fort Fetterman, a state historic site. It was closed, but the bathrooms were open. We stopped for a few minutes to warm up. The electric hand dryer came in useful. 

The rain stopped by the time we emerged from our shelter. The climbing was not particularly difficult but the wind, as usual, was working against us. It was coming from the north and we were riding northwest. 

After 9 miles fighting the wind we turned southwest onto Wyoming 95 and it felt like the wind was turned off. Unless the wind is blowing hard you do not really feel a tailwind on a bicycle. Still, the absence of wind in our faces and the sudden increase in apparent temperature was remarkably refreshing. 

The terrain in this part of Wyoming can be a bit monotonous. It is just high plains, filled with sagebrush and the occasional cattle or pronghorns.

Halfway into the ride, a little over thirty miles, we finally came upon a small town with a convenience store, Rolling Hills. We made a stop there for coffee and snacks, and the sun came out.

We should have just stayed on our bikes, because another four miles, almost all downhill, brought us to Glenrock, a larger town with restaurants. As we rolled into town we I saw a sign that gave me a lift: we would be riding out of town on a stretch of road that is part of three US highways: 20, 87, and best of all, 26. US 26 is the road we we will travel on through eastern Oregon. We might even take it all the way to Portland, passing within a mile and a half of my house in Welches.

After lunch in Glenrock, we had a relatively easy ride to Casper. The road we were on parallels I-25, so most traffic was on the interstate. It was climbing, but the gradient was generally just over it two percent.

As we got into town we made a quick stop at a Staples, an Amazon Locker, to pick up some things I ordered (a power bank and charger to replace the ones I lost way back in Nebraska, and more Mount Hagen instant coffee). Add Amazon Locker to the long list of things that makes this crossing so much easier than it must have been pre-internet.

We had another three miles to our Warm Showers host for the next two nights, Loraine and Charlie Powell. Like every host we have had they were fabulously generous. They have a downstairs apartment we used, with two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a living room. We did not really use the kitchen (except to make coffee) because Loraine kept feeding us.

We had a delicious dinner of taco soup and homemade chocolate chip cookies. I was lucky to get one with John guarding them jealously. Then it was straight downstairs to sleep.