Day 20 -- Trains and small Wyoming towns

July 10, 2004

ROUTE: Casper to Lusk, WY                  
DISTANCE: 106 miles                  
WINDS: Strong headwinds

WEATHER: Overcast and in 70s first half; sunny and warm second half           
TERRAIN: Up and down a lot...nothing too big at one time though.          
TOTAL CLIMBING: 2,900 feet

Moi with a jackalope in Douglas, Wyoming

RIDE OVERVIEW:  It was overcast with the wind out of the southeast when we departed Casper on a nice frontage road that paralleled I-25 for the first 30 miles.  Then we got on the interstate for about 14 miles and finished the last 50 miles on one of the loneliest stretches of road around . . . state road 18/20.  

The only break in the scenery riders had after leaving the interstate were the coal trains that came by about every 15 minutes.  The trains out here have anywhere from 100-150 cars and fill up the horizon when they pass by.  You can spend all afternoon counting the cars on a passing train . . . one was parked waiting for another to pass and I measured it with my bike computer at 1.6 miles long. They move very slowly when going east, some with three engines in front and one in back to help them up the long, shallow grades.  They're really friendly and always toot at us as they pass by.

We passed through a small town of Douglas, home of one of the largest jackalopes.  Actually, it's just a statue to honor the mythical animal.  It stands about 8 feet tall and overlooks jackalope park. A jackalope is a jackrabbit with antlers . . . probably spent too much time on the prairie with the antelope.  I guess they have a lot of these allusive little critters around here.  Every once in a while, we'll see little antlers above the sage-brush as they spend the heat of the day in the shade.  Never seen one as roadkill . . . they must be pretty fast.

Ever wonder where all the farm implements go when they die?  It must be at exit 146 on I-25 outside Casper.  We happened on this farm implement graveyard on a hill adjacent to the freeway, and couldn't resist a photo (below below).

The terrain today was dry, and rolling.  Again we are in a vast area where you can see forever. . . you don't see much, but you can see a long way.  The locals like to say that it's so vast that they can see their dog run away for three days!  We're starting to get into the grassland area that's a little more interesting than the desert, but we still ride for miles without seeing a living soul outside of a passing car occasionally.

If souls are scarce, antelope and cottontails are not. I stopped by one field and counted 30 rabbits gamboling about in the sagebrush. Antelope grazed everywhere on both sides of the road. We  passed through one prairie dog colony and all the dogs shrilled out their alarm whistle:  "Biiiiiii-cyclists!  Biiiiiii-cyclists!"  I was surprised to see an oil well or two on our route today, too.

This area adds new meaning to "small town America." Douglas was the only town that had services, and many of the riders stopped there for lunch. We also stopped in Shawnee and talked to the post mistress, who'd been there for 35 years. She told us that the town population was 3. To her right in the photo above are several shelves of candy bars and also the 17 P.O. boxes for the town. Guess she doesn't rent out a whole lot of them. We cycled through another town that had a population of only 4, at least that's what the sign said (left), but judging from the size of the bar, I'd say they needed to update their population count. The local bar was a very large two-story building. . . for four people?

After we got to town, we found it full of revelers . . . there was a frontier days celebration going on complete with parade and reenactment of times gone by.  Cowboys, Indians, saloon girls, mounted cavalry, gamblers . . . high entertainment for us cyclists and the locals who lined the street.

We welcomed 3 new riders today: Joy Focht, Paul Bippin, Jim Willey. Paul and Jim will go the rest of the way and Joy will get off in Sioux Falls with her dad Dar. 

Paul  Bippen, 63, Columbus, IN; Joy Fochts, 40 Colorado Springs, CO; Jim Wiley, 62, Rye Beach, NH

More rider limericks from Andrew:

Andrew Molenaar
Andrew M's an uncommon sight,
An Afro-American white.
But in any race,
He sets a good pace;
He rides the bicycle right.

  Darwin Faaborg
Dar stayed right on the track,

With thigh, elbow, and back.

But good doctors three

Fixed his injury

So he could renew his attack.

Patricia Starr
She claims great age does our Pat,
But I don't buy into that.
If she's 67,
I'm one hundred eleven
And Bush is a Democrat. 

Judith Gustafson

Judith is Andrew's dear wife,

And also the love of his life,

But he better beware

And make rhymes with care,

HEARD ON THE ROAD TODAY: 

• "The longest mile is the one just before the SAG Stop."   
• "Look at all those wascally wabbits!"  
•  "And they call the wind Mariah? Not me.  I'm calling it something else today. . . Don't ask."   
• "The wind is beating me up!"  
•  ♫ "Where the deer and the  antelope roam. . ."♫ [Me singing]

PHOTOS OF THE DAY:

Mike & Barb pedal out of Casper on the way to Lusk.

Josh eyes some vultures just waiting for a rider to succumb to the heat and headwinds. Wasn't much besides vultures, cottontails, and antelope to look at today. Or maybe Josh is  looking at the trees.
They were unusual today also.

Have you heard the one about the rabbit couple who were being chased by a pack of coyotes? The ran into a hollow log, looked at each other and said:  "Well, should we make a run
for it, or should we wait a few minutes until we outnumber them?"

Our motel in Lusk.

Mike found a new Sponge Bob mojo along the road. He's now got a Sponge Bob jersey, band-aids,
tattoos,  necklace (see above), and bicycle ornament. What more could the man ask for?

Gerard, Liisa, and Bill B. eagerly await the Rawhide parade. 
Notice our welcome in this little town