I Am John Denver

Today makes two weeks I'm on the road ... and I've finally made it to Cody, WY, at the foot of the Rocky Mountains! Here's the view from my motel room window (not bad, huh?).

I'm going to my very first rodeo show tonight, which the owner of the Big Bear Motel (where I'm posting from) says is the real deal. I'll report back on that.

Today's ride began earlier than most. I rolled out before 10 this morning. The temperature in Gillette when I left was already in the 90's.

Now I've started my day in Gillette before, and if you'll recall, all this bike business began in a small town called Ucross, where I had pulled over to make a decision about taking US-14 or US-16. I had decided that day to take US-14 because it seemed the faster of the 2 roads to Cody, and I had been slowed down that day by road construction (more like road removal) just west of Gillette on US-14 through the town of Spotted Horse. Then the bike wouldn't start and I found myself a ride to Buffalo and a room for the night. The next day, after the tow and the shop, I took the Interstate from Gillette to Buffalo (to get my gear from the motel) and decided to take US-16. I got as far as Ten Sleep when the bike wouldn't start again.

So today, I spent an hour or so on the Interstate getting to Ranchester (west of Gillette and north of Buffalo) and then dropping onto US-14 to ride through Big Horn Mountains. So now I've have gone both routes, US-16 and US-14. I guess the bike wanted to see them both, which is why she kept breaking down. Now that she got what she wanted, we can proceed with the rest of the trip, I hope.

Big Horn was beautiful, much cooler, but unfortunately overcast (thankfully though there was no precipitation). The temp went down into the 70's as I drove up the mountain. When I pulled over to get my leather jacket on, I heard a twig snap and looked through the trees and saw a big black animal, which I thought might be a bear. It turned out to be the biggest cow I've ever seen. There were two of them just inside the treeline about 30 feet from me.

After driving up the mountain, with it's steep incline and twisty curves (glad for those new Metzler tires, they really grip the road on turns), I had to drive down it. That was even more fun. I prefer having the power of gravity on my side rather than trying to fight it up steep hills. Once I got to the other side of the mountain, I stopped in a very small town, called Lovell, for lunch (the diner is only open from 6 am - 2 pm, and I arrived at about 1:30, just in time, as it looked to be about the only place open for a decent meal).

The sun came out again after lunch and it warmed up, but not as much as it had been back in Gillette (they were expecting another 105 degree high for the day, which I fortunately missed out on).

Apparently there was some big Hells Angel Rally in Cody over this past weekend. As I rolled through town, there were still a few HA around, but things appeared to be pretty quiet. My motel is on the western edge of Cody, right at the foot of the mountains (or so it looks from here).

The motel owner and his wife are from Summit NJ of all places. They came out here and bought this place a couple of years ago. It was funny to hear someone talk as fast this far west.

Last thing - I forgot to mention this from yesterday ... while driving back from Worland to Ten Sleep with the maid's son, I asked him if he grew up in the area (I've been quizzing people about where they're from and if they moved from somewhere else, why and do they prefer it where they are now ... that kind of thing. Mostly it's a conversation starter.). He got cagey and said he sort of grew up in Wyoming, after a pause he said he was from Mexico. When I asked when did he come here, he said, "I was like nine years old and suddenly I just remember being here." So I believe I had a brush with the ubiquitous undocumented worker out here. I didn't press the conversation after he gave me that line. By the by, he was a little bored and wanted to move to a bigger town (but as anyone here who wants to move has said to me, "nowhere near as big as New York.").