Day 19 Day Off in Casper

We are on a well deserved day off.  Yesterday the ride from Riverton was 120 miles through a desert with no stores (open), trees (shade) or rest stops (pee).  We had to depend on our sag support for water and food and brush.

There was not a lot of scenery on the ride - imagine 120 miles of desert.   A couple of shots and the beginning of the ride and that is about it.

Right after this second shot the road proceeded to go uphill for 60 miles.  For the first time since the tour began we actually had a wind at our back and it really helped.  The last sixty miles the wind reversed itself and once again we had to fight a headwind.

As mentioned not a lot of stores on the road - but we took advantage of the only opened store for our first sag stop.

What is amazing is that this restaurant is literally in the middle of nowhere.  How they can serve Prime Rib dinners is beyond me.  There are no houses in either direction for 40 miles.  But somehow they managed to stay in business.  I think the gas pumps at the restaurant must help.   "Get your prime rib and a fill-up while you eat".  What a stroke of marketing genius.

At least they were opened - a fate this place did not enjoy..

Again the landscape of America continued to change as we went further and further to Casper.  There were some interesting rock formations along the way.

At seventy-five miles we passed Hell's Hal Acre.

It has an interesting past.  It is a huge hole in the ground where the Indians drove the buffalo to and over the cliff to their deaths.  They then went down to the bottom and harvested the food and skins from the now-departed buffalo.

From the 75 mile point to the finish in Casper there was not a thing to see, not a thing moving (accept the cars and trucks on the road).  In the distance we saw a storm brewing (lightening and dark clouds) and we became motivated to push up the speed of our ride to beat the weather system.

Had we got caught in the storm there was not a single place to take shelter.  Except a 2 foot ditch which would have offered little protection.  We found out later the storm caused massive flash flooding - so we were lucky to reach the hotel before the skies opened up.

At the 120 mile mark we were greeted in Casper by an oil rig.

Casper is booming - with the advent of fracking.  The town's economy is real strong which was refreshing from some of the previous towns we visited.

An editorial....

On the night before we departed for Casper, one of the fun facts that Mike the Mechanic told us about Casper is that it is the home of Dick Cheney - which drew a bunch of snickers from the other riders.  I was slightly pissed off and wanted to shout out "Eric Holder" in retaliation.

But I realized as we criticize our Congress for it's inability to work together, we as citizens might be as guilty in creating this "partisan environment".    So I bite my tongue and let the moment pass.

I must be getting mellower - or freaking exhausted.    Day off - so this will be brief.  Another big ride tomorrow (106 miles) as we make our way to South Dakota and Mount Rushmore.