Going from Rawlings to Jeffrey City Wyoming today. A total of 69 miles and 1200 ft of elevation gain. It started out really cold, in the 30s but fortunately it was sunny and wind was mild and over the course of the day it warmed up into the 60s, so it turned out to be a fantastic ride. Everyone along the route was commenting to us how unusual it was to have no wind. Typically winds can be up to 40 mph, so we consider ourselves very fortunate. The campsite where we stayed last night even had wind breakers set up in the tent area to block the wind, but last night it was calm and I slept like a baby. We were riding today through some really desolate areas- with few signs of civilization other than fencing along the road to keep cattle from wandering on to the road. From what I understand in talking with Deb, who lives in Wyoming and is riding with us, most of the land we are seeing is owned by the government and leased for cattle grazing by the BLM (Bureau of Land Management). There were herds of cattle as we were going by, but not many. There might be 50 or so cows in any given herd. We stopped first at the Continental Divide, about 10 miles into the ride. We are going to be traversing the Continental Divide several times as we make our way North and West, following the Rocky Mountains. Then stopped at Muddy Gap- not much there but a gas station with stuff to eat and drink. We ate at picnic tables outside the station with two bikers from the Netherlands who are making their way across the US in 4 week increments (they are both still working). 10 miles further down the road we stopped at Split Rock- a huge rock outcropping that settlers used as a waypoint as they made their way out west along the Oregon Trail. Beautiful spot out in the middle of nowhere. Hard to imagine crossing this vast landscape in a covered wagon along dirt roads. We sure have it easy biking along paved roads at 14 mph! We reached Jeffrey City about 3 PM and are staying at the Jeffrey Community Church. Not much else in the town other than a bar and a pottery place- the Monk King Bird Pottery. We stopped in there and I chatted for a while with the potter, Byron Shelley. An interesting fellow. He spend 140 days in prison for selling marijuana and offered for sale some of the drawings he did while in prison. I bought one- very interesting abstract art. I also bought a ceramic drinking cup that he made- very interesting creation with earth tones reminiscent of the desert. The town only has 35 inhabitants. Jeffrey City used to be a large uranium mining operation but shut down in the 1980s. It is pretty much a ghost town now, but there is still some kind of uranium drilling operation going on there. We saw a lot of what looks to be drilling equipment there. We stopped by the bar in town, had a beer and chatted with the bartender. She said that their business is primarily serving the guys who work on the uranium drilling. The church is set way off apart from the town- kind of all by itself. Made for some great photos! The church is interesting in that it hosts bikers traveling across the country. The bottom level has sleeping accomodations and the walls are covered with written mementos of everyone who has passed through and stayed here. A lot of Adventure Cycling groups show up on the walls as well of hundreds of other bikers.
Here are the RidewithGPS stats:
Biking across the USA with Mike 
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