July 18 on the TransAm

I woke up just before 6:00 this morning. The night had been quiet and restful and I was more than ready to get up and get going. I set my alarm for 6:00 because I wanted to spend some time reading–something that I’ve hardly had the chance to do since this trip began. It was chilly so I put on my base layers and proceeded to put away my hammock and get my bike ready to ride. I rolled my bike through the park to rest near the pavilion where I’d planned to sit at a table and read. I read a sermon on Lk 9.55 exhorting us to know what spirit we are of. I.e., to know our natural temper, to know what motivates us, and, chiefly, to know whether or not we are a child of God or a child of disobedience. 

The boys, Paul, and Karolina were all still asleep. After a while a man came over to a table near me with a camp stove and a box of food supplies. I said hi and continued to read. I was charging my phone at a nearby outlet and when I was nearly done reading I walked by him and started a conversation. His name was Brian and he was making himself a cup of coffee and breakfast. I innocently commented that I wished I had brought a way to make coffee on this trip because I really missed it. I’ve probably only had three cups of morning coffee in the last 5 wks. He immediately offered to make a cup and I was happy to oblige him. And wouldn’t you know it, it was Starbucks Italian Roast! It never tasted so good. I nursed that little cup for the next 45 mins at least. Thanks Brian! I shared my testimony with him and pray the Lord might use it as an instrument for his salvation. Brian finished his breakfast, packed up, and left and I went back to my reading. 

I’d gone down to the boy’s tent earlier to get them up and, though it took them a good while, they finally got stirring and were ready to go. They came up to the pavilion where I was. Paul was also getting ready to go and was soon packed up. We were all waiting on Karolina because she had the breakfast stash. Soon she too was up and came to the table with bags of cinnamon rolls, breakfast burritos, muffins, and bear claws. We weren’t too interested in the sweets but enjoyed the hearty burritos. After breakfast Karolina went to get herself packed up and I took the opportunity to read Scripture and pray with the boys. Thinking of our conversation with Cody last night I read Ps 19. I also shared with them some of what I’d been readin about our motives and natural temptations and led us in prayer accordingly that God would be glorified by today’s words, meditations, and actions. 

Now what? We were all ready to go except Karolina. She suggested that we take off and said she’d catch up later. Since it was getting late I thought that was a good idea and the four of us left at about 8:30. We had 59 miles to go with two obvious climbs, the latter much worse than the first. But since we’ve learned that you can’t take the elevation profile on our maps too seriously, we knew we were probably in for more than we expected. And so it was. According to the straightforward elevation difference, we had to climb from approx. 5300 ft in Lander to about 6300 ft in Jeffrey City, a 1000 ft. But by the time the day was over we had so many hills that we climbed 2566 ft. And it was so hot that we were going through our water quickly. After the hills we were to reach a rest area at Sweetwater Station. We were looking forward to filling up our bottles for the remaining 19 miles. 

During the ride Paul decided that he’d go his own pace so it was just me and the boys. Despite the many hills and hard climbs we each felt pretty strong so we cycled hard. We finished the climbs, reaching the “summit” at 12:45, and then arrived at the rest area by 1:30. We still had 19 miles to go. As we left there heading for Jeffrey City we realized we had a strong tailwind. That was all the encougement we needed. We rode hard and fast and pulled into Jeffrey City in a little over an hour. What a great feeling. Karolina ended up waiting for the bike shop in Lander to open at 10:00 so we wound up traveling the whole way without her. She pulled into town just after 6:00.

The town looked dead with boarded up “barracks,” dilapidated buildings, closed businesses, and not a soul in sight. To the left I spotted the legendary pottery store: Monk King Bird Pottery. A radio played outside and the door stood open. We’d been told by a number of cyclists that we had to be sure to stop in and see the store owner. So we did. His name was Bryon and he was not a little inebriated. We looked around a bit and found a cyclists log we were meant to sign. I had Rocky sign it for us but before he did I noticed that our friend Samuel had been here yesterday. Guess he’s a day ahead of us now. We may catch up with him yet. 

We left the pottery store and headed for the Community Church. Strangely, it was in the middle of a huge open field accessible by a sandy road we had difficulty biking down. I can imagine that before the uranium market collapsed in the early 1980s and Jeffrey City went bust the church would’ve been surrounded by houses and life. But now it sits dilapidated in the middle of a several barren acres in which we spotted 5 antelope. We entered the church from the rear and came into what serves as a gym. The walls are covered all over with signatures and greetings from all the cyclists who’ve passed through. So I signed the logbook and Rocky and Forrest signed the walls. The classrooms are used for lodging so I picked a room for us and wheeled my bike into it. We found a door that led to an upstairs so we checked it out. Turns out it’s the sanctuary. They actually still hold services here at 1:30 on Sundays but in a town of only 50 people they must be very small. 

After showering we walked across the field to the one restaurant in town, Split Rock Cafe. Hoping they had wifi I brought my iPad so I could upload the July 17 post. I hear the place gets pretty lively in the evenings with men who drink too much and wives who come to drag them out so I was grateful that we could get in early. The place was empty so we picked our seat and ordered our dinner. It took Billy a good while to cook our meals but he was very nice and I tipped him well. He’s been living here since 1965 (although I’m not sure how long he’s been working at the Cafe). When we were finished I asked him if he had any dessert since there was none on the menu. He said he didn’t know, but maybe there was ice cream. He soon returned and said he had vanilla ice cream so we ordered a bowl for each of us. He brought it and said, “That’s the first time I’ve ever served anyone ice cream. I don’t even know how much it costs.” He brought my ticket and I saw that he’d charged us $1 per bowl. Shoulda had two each 🙂 

We walked back to the church to find a westbound cyclist here, Robert. Not sure where he’s from but his accent is so strong it’s hard to understand him. He lost his tent and slept last night inside a greenhouse for sale at a Garden Center. Now that’s being resourceful. Not sure what he’s going to do from here on out. 

We’re off to bed now. It’s hard to believe we’re in the legendary Jeffrey City, WY. Tomorrow we’ll be in Rawlins and at the end of another map with a total of 1665 miles under our belt. That’s over 1/3 of the way home. Wow. 

Thanks for praying. Thanks for following. 

Until next time… 🙂