Yellowstone

Well, I have been bad about writing… something new and different.  We left Ennis on the 15^th and have been taking it all in and enjoying the last of the mountains.  While it makes for more difficult rides, you sure can’t beat the scenery.  I am not a person that believes things are fated, but I do think that things happen for a reason, I’ll get to that in a minute.

When we hit the Madison Valley we basically threw out the plan and decided that as long as I hit Denver by the 30^th we would be good to go.  I am giving a speech to about 500 high school kids in the Denver area on the 1^st, so as long as I am there by then it’s all kosher.   I rode two very short days after Ennis about 30 miles each and arrived in West Yellowstone, with enough time and daylight to head into the park.  To be honest I was super psyched about seeing Old Faithful. 

It didn’t disappoint, there were tons of people around, so lucky for me I had previously been introduced to the “silent cheer” by Schwabie, and I put it to good use.  After seeing the amount of people there on a Thursday night, we decided that it would be best if I rode through the park in the morning and return the following day to do the obligatory sightseeing throughout the weekend.  This is where the “things happen for a reason” statement comes into play.  Friday was a great day for a ride and I made it from West Yellowstone to Jackson Lake in Grand Teton in about 5 hours.  The ride was beautiful, and really surreal, geysers aren’t something you see every day, especially while riding your bike.  

(the locals were quick to greet me)

(one of the three crossing on the day)

I crossed the Continental Divide three times, for crossing 5, 6, and 7 on the trip.  We put a stake in the ground and loaded up the bike to head to the campground, one problem.  The campground we were planning on staying at was closed for the season; a little research on my part probably would have helped.  So seeing as we were planning on heading back to Yellowstone the following day, we figured we would head into the park and find a site.  Only to find all the campgrounds full.  We called the RV park we had stayed at the night before in West Yellowstone and managed to get a spot. So, we drove the 80 miles back to the origination spot.  This wasn’t as big of a deal as it sounds, we were planning on heading back through the park anyway just not all in one day.  The following morning we were running Jackie in a local park before heading off to breakfast and to explore the park.  After eating, we found a business card on the van the back of it read, “Please call, I am interested in your case. We have a big community movement for mental health services” so I called the number on the front.  It turns out that she spotted our van as we were leaving the park.  It also turns out her best friend’s husband just committed suicide four weeks ago.  She asked if it would be ok if she passed our contact information along to her, I obviously agreed.  I didn’t expect her friend to call, having lost her husband so recently. 

So we left for to start our day and headed out to Quake Lake. Where in 1959 a 7.5 earthquake hit.  28 people were killed when half of a mountain broke away creating a dam and a new lake. The resulting debris contains enough rock to pave a 2 lane highway 3 feet deep from this spot in Montana to New York City.  The shock of the earthquake was felt over a 600,000 square mile area as far away as Nevada and British Columbia.  It is a pretty remarkable reminder of the power of Mother Nature.

When we returned to town I had a voicemail from Kate the woman who just lost her husband.  I was stunned, but quickly returned her call, while we still had cell coverage.  We made plans to meet for coffee the following morning.

After speaking with Kate we headed into the park to check out some of the sites.  But to be honest my mind was elsewhere.  I mind was racing about meeting with this woman the following morning.  I am in no way shape or form qualified to speak to a grieving widow, what would I say?  There’s nothing to say. “I’m sorry for your loss” doesn’t really cut the mustard in these types of situations.  After tooling around the park for a while we headed to find a campsite for the night, although I didn’t get much sleep.

9-16

37.2 miles

14.2 mph average

39 mph max

2:36:10 ride time

9-17

79.5 miles

15.4 mph average

45.8 mph max

5:06:40 ride time