Day 18: Cody, Wyoming to Greybull, Wyoming

Distance: 57 miles

Elevation: +911/-2120

Temperature: 90s by midday

Today, the steadfast cyclists bid a fond farewell to three of our Ohio Wanderers. Laura Dickson, who rode every inch of the trip with a cheerful smile, and her supportive SAG driver and husband Pete began their long drive back to Cincinnati. Steve Johnson waved the remaining 6 cyclists off at 7:45am and then headed to Cody’s awesome bike store, JoyVagen, to ship his bike back home. Then United Airlines shipped him back to Cincinnati, where he will follow our further exploits from afar. We will miss his bike mechanical and cleaning skills AND all the free aches and pains advice! (Editorial Note: And Becky will also miss him because he’s my best bud!)

The road out of Cody was straight and long, and the wind was from the north, making it much more a help than a hindrance today. Long, graded uphills were a breeze, and we were averaging 18-19mph...until the gravel road. And it was slopping gravel, too, plus downhills on gravel, and one part of the route that we thought at first was a driveway. (It was THAT bad.) But all good things AND bad things come to an end, and so did the gravel. Back on pavement and watching an increasingly changing topography roll by, we beat the heat of the day by arriving in Greybull at lunchtime, where we had sandwiches and icecream at Brandis Candies...a good end to our cycling for the day.

Greybull, Wyoming came of age during the oil boom of the early 1900s and is now a quiet but interesting spot on the highway. The Bighorn Basin Geoscience Center is located on Main Street and documents the amazing finds of dinosaur bones, track sites, ancient marine reptiles, and primitive mammal fossils in this area of Wyoming. The first big dig here was in the 1930s in Shell, Wyoming (which, of course, is how Shell got its name!) and now the area claims thousands of fossils including Big Al Two, the most complete Allosuarus specimen ever discovered, plus the bones of Stegosauruses, Apatosauruses, Diplodocuses, and more. No wonder the slumped hills we passed today looked so old and interesting...deep secrets lie buried there!

We’re staying in the Greybull Hotel, a beautiful old building with a restaurant in the basement that was a speakeasy during Prohibition and served us all great dinners. We wandered around town and visited a couple of nice shops, including The Crazy Woman...were they thinking of us when they named it? We’re back in the saddle tomorrow at 6am to keep beating the heat and headwinds, which we hope end tomorrow evening.

After Steve left, it was Becky’s first night with her new roommates. Katherine and Mary Kay did a great job welcoming her to the fold by assigning her the closet bed!

Highlights

The wind when it was at our backs!

Ice Cream!

Finishing our ride before it got too hot!

Cows!

Lowlights:

GRAVEL

Kathleen discovering her tubeless tire was flat (which is supposedly “impossible“ and the reason they push tubeless tires). Fortunately, Carol and Mary Jo have so well-equipped the SAG that we have spares of almost everything; Kathleen will be on the road tomorrow!