Pavillion

Finally got some internet so going to catch up.

First a picture of two more of the guys from Missouri.

On the left is Steve.  He runs his own insurance agency.  On the right is Tom, a retired Telephone executive.  They are all smiles but we hadn't started the ride....  

The ride to Pavillion took us up through the Wind River Canyon and it was a 75 mile ride with about 3000 feet of climbing.   The Canyon was spectacular and the view is what riding is all about.

The road parallels the Wind River.  Riding up, I understood the "river" part of the name and as soon as I rounded the bend in the photo above - I learned why they added "wind" to the name.  We ran into about a 20 mph headwind that dropped our speed down to less than 10 mph.  Then the mind takes over.  You originally figured the ride would take about 5 hours - now you are thinking - this is going to be a 8 hour ride. Crap.

At the top the pass we had to go through three some tunnels and the highway patrol was kind enough to let us close down the road as we passed through.  Out the other side and the scenery changed back to the badlands....

The temperature climbed into the 90's again and with the wind and climbing it was a really hard day.  Finally made it into Pavillion where we stayed in the town's rec/rodeo arena.

That night the dancers and singers from the Wind River Reservation provided us with about an hour Pow Wow.  

This was the real thing.  The moderator was a teacher from the school on the reservation and described each dance and song.  Quite interesting and had everybody's attention.

Right after that the town put on a calf roping event in the arena.    Had a couple of the riders leave as they thought the event was not only cruel to the cows but to the horses as well.  

I can attest no animals were harmed during the event - though the horse with the 300 pound cowboy probably was a little sore the next day.