Written by Dave

Day 34 – July 1 – 56 Miles, 1,534 feet climbing (Douglas to Lusk)

Just after posting last night we had an exciting thunder storm, complete with lightening and thunder, roll through our campsite. Everyone dove into their tents and rode it out. It cleared after an hour or so but skies where threatening for the rest of the night. Curtis volunteered to ride back .8 of a mile to Taco Johns for dinner. The park had zero protected spaces and we didn’t want to cook in the rain so everyone happily accepted his offer. He managed to get the food between a couple showers and it was dry long enough when he got back for us to eat at a picnic table. I haven’t eaten at a Taco Johns in forever – all part of the adventure.

Douglas is known to for being home of the jackalope, a strange cross between a jack rabbit and an antelope, basically a jack rabbit with antelope horns growing from its head. I grew up in Nevada thinking a jackalope was a jack rabbit with deer horns. I don’t know if the deer and antelope versions are related but this morning riding out of town I was thrilled to find that the town square had a giant sized version of the Wyoming version. And people say Australia has strange animals.

Not having the pots, pans and stove out for dinner lead us to deciding to try going out for brekkie today. We found a fancy coffee place with food (in Douglas, this was a bit of a shock) but when we arrived, we discovered that they didn’t open for another 15 minutes. We changed plans and when to the Village Inn (yes the same one as in Oregon).  Nancy got her pancakes which was a plus. The coffee was “not the worst we’ve had on the trip,” so I guess that’s a plus as well.

Today’s route has us following the Interstate 25 frontage road for about 15 miles. There were two climbs noted on the profile and the first one was on the frontage road. It was barely a blip, meaning the second climb after the frontage road was not difficult either. At the end of the frontage road there was a rest area where a group of Chinese (tourists?) had sort of taken over the bathrooms. I talked to a couple of them and I’m not sure if they were from New York or Shanghai. It reminded be me of my old work days where at times you get the exact same answer no matter what question you ask, and often the answer is yes. Certainly not the interaction any of us were expecting in the middle of Wyoming nothingness.

We had 42 miles to ride from the rest area to Lusk. It was basically one long barely noticeable climb, some bumpy bits and then a downhill to Lusk. We had a nice tailwind so it was actually a pretty easy ride. On the top, when we approached a small rise we could see what looked like another 307 silhouette off to the side of the road. There were three silhouettes or so we thought, until one of them wagged a tail. Turns out that it was three large adult buffalos all sitting in their dust pits just chilling. We rolled slowly past and one got up. As I stopped to grab a photo, the other two decided they should stand as well. There was a fence between me and them so I wasn’t worried they would charge me. Though I have to admit I was calculating how effective a spindly fence would be had they decided I should not have stopped to bother them.

We didn’t stop until about 11 miles to Lusk. Sure, the tailwind had us cruising but the real reason we didn’t stop was the fact that there was no trees and no shade of any kind. Eventually we pulled up at a worn down looking farm gate where a couple trees where growing. It was another day of windswept prairie and rolling hills.

We made it to Lusk about noon and proceeded to the one and only cafe in town. We kind of wanted milkshakes and/or lemonade. Their on-line menu listed milkshakes and the in-house menu listed lemonade. When I asked about milkshakes, the waitress said that they haven’t had an ice-cream machine in years and no-one else in town did either. I moved onto lemonade and this time the waitress responded that they didn’t have it anymore either. I asked about the other juices on the menu, but more was missing than available. Eventually we gave up and when to the servo next door. Their selection wasn’t much better but at least we knew that what we saw in stock was what they had. The waitress was nice, just matter of fact about new owners and an outdated menu. Oh well, more adventure travel fun.

We eventually made it to BJ’s Campsite in Lusk where we have secured a tent camping site. The owner is a nice gal and the site has everything we need. Unlike last night, when the city locked us out of the park toilet block, tonight we have the access code to the bathrooms and can use them all night. I know, how exciting. You get what you pay for I guess, tonight is $6.25 per person, last night was free.

Tomorrow we head to Edgemont, South Dakota, our 5^th state. Some of our team were worried about riding in Wyoming. It hasn’t been the most scenic all the time but the roads have had good shoulders and most of the drivers have given us plenty of room. Thank you Wyoming for taking good care of us.