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The TransAmerica Trail – Wyoming
Lander, WY
July 22, 2006
Woke up this morning, and headed out at 9am. First I found the bike shop, but it didn’t open until ten, so I got directions for the library and post office.
I find the PO, and it doesn’t open until 10:30… so I go to the library, and the library doesn’t open until ten! I’m too early for this town! By now it’s close enough to ten, so I wait around and meet Ian(From Britain), who’s cycling from Argentina to Alaska! That’s quite a trip, and he uses the computer to mostly read up on Tour de France updates. There were a lot of people waiting for the computers, so I barely got anything done. Then I went to the post office, mailed some maps and small junk home, and made my way back to the bike shop.
Almost a week ago, I’d noticed that my rear rim was developing some cracks where the spokes screw in, and one spoke had already been rendered useless. I could still probably get a fair deal of mileage out of it, but I figured it’s time for a new rim, before I start popping spokes in the middle of nowhere. The shop here in Lander didn’t have the proper wheel I need, so I called the bike shop in Jackson – 2-3 days ride from here. They didn’t have one either, so I went ahead and ordered a new wheel from the shop in Jackson.
Rather than paying for overnight shipping, the part won’t be in until this Friday. Today is Saturday, so all of a sudden with one quick decision, I’ve found myself with a number of days to kill.
In front of the bike shop all these different touring riders started coming in, and I ended up hanging out there for most of the afternoon. I met two guys who are doing a combination of backpacking, hitchhiking, and mountain biking through Wyoming and Colorado. They just recently decided to switch over to bikes, so they sent their backpacks ahead, bought some used mountain bikes, and got some plastic kitty litter tubs to use as panniers. They’ll be heading out at 3am tonight. I also met Rudy from Florida (A solo eastbounder), another eastbounder whose name I forget, and then Troy and Melissa Clough caught me – the honeymoon couple who I met in Kansas on July 3rd! So you can imagine all the sharing of stories, comparisons of gear, and various “shop talk” that went on in front of the shop today.
I had it in mind to find a job in town for a few days, so everybody dispersed, I started to ask around town. I checked in four or five different restaurants, and nobody needed any help. There’s one coffee shop/cafe that I want to check tomorrow morning, and if they don’t have anything, I think I’ll head on up to Jackson and try to find something there. It would be a fun experience to work somewhere for a few days, and I think I’ll have to eventually anyway – I’m really enjoying this trip – it’s much more fun and has less hardship than I’d anticipated… if I were in San Francisco today, I’d be looking for a job to finance riding to the Grand Canyon and seeing the Southwest. We’ll see if my attitude changes between now and then.
This evening I did some email, and met even more cyclists – Justin, Maya, and Rose – westbounders! Tonight Justin, Rudy and I were up late swapping stories – for example how some locals passed Rudy a couple times and yelled “Rudy!!! You can do it!” Life is good.
Lander, Wyoming
Rudy, Troy, and Melissa outside the bike shop
at the town park campground. Lander is such a cool town that they let folks camp there for free.
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