Day 39- To the moon, Alice!

He said: Had a good start, little bit warmer day. First 40 miles were a breeze. Then I had to get on to a 75 mph highway into a strong headwind. Not a good breeze. Was on the highway for 11 miles, never came close to the speed limit. They had signs posted, chance of strong winds next 10 miles....I wonder what strong is. Met Sharon in Rawlins for lunch and then it was back on the road into no man's land. Our destination was supposed to be camping at Ma's Kitchen in Lamont, WY, but when we got there Ma was gone. No camping, no food, no nothing. Already had 96 miles in and we knew the Continental Divide was up the road so I figured I'd ride to that. Got there and it was 98 miles and I'd had enough. We had another 9 miles to Muddy Gap where there was supposed to be camping available. NOT! We made the executive decision to cheat---went on to Jeffrey City where there was supposed to be camping, groceries, restaurant. Restaurant was the only business left in town. Had a nice conversation with a guy who told us we needed to go to Lander where he lives to find anything....Lander was 60 miles away. So we went, cutting 100 miles off our trip--oh well. Start again tomorrow.
She said: Had breakfast with some real cowboys this morning and then hit the road. The scenery in the early part of the day was pretty much like yesterday-big ranches with wide open spaces-the roads look like Kansas with mountains off in the distance. We went through the town of Sinclair which is the home of Sinclair refinery. When I started seeing Sinclair gas stations in Kansas I was surprised-I thought they were no longer in existence-I guess I was wrong. After the first 40 miles or so the scenery started to change, much less green, and strange topography. When Paul and I were riding to Lander we commented that it really did look like the moon. Hence our title for today. When we got to Jeffrey City it was the third disappointment, and we were getting a bit frustrated. The guy we met outside the restaurant who told us we had to head to Lander to find a place explained that Jeffrey City used to be a Uranium mining town and was still in good shape until the 80's when the mines closed. Lots of these ghost towns around. It was pretty cool to cross the Continental Divide twice today-we have a few more crossings before we're done. Hopefully the wind wil have calmed some tomorrow.

Did we say rustic? Inside our accomodations last night.

We had one inside too-this was in case we both had to go at the same time.

Some of the early scenery-it was hazy today.

The days first crossing.

The scenery started to change.

Crossing #2.