Day Five to Dubois WY

We headed out of Steve and Stephanie’s at about 9:00 am after some fresh cinnamon rolls for breakfast. We were headed to Dubois, WY. We took the two-lane road 287 up to Laramie. Evan needed to stop at the Harley store and get some oil. I stuck my head in the Harley boutique and decided that I couldn't even afford to use the restroom in this place. The showroom was carpeted. I’m not talking Astroturf I mean indoor thick stuff, like in a bedroom. It was like being at Good's furniture or something. That’s just wrong. I thought any minute someone’s going to ask to rub my neck. So I escaped by telling Evan I was having an allergic reaction to the chrome and if I didn’t leave I was going to have a panic attack. He acted annoyed as he pay $12.00 for a quarter of oil. I didn’t blame him. Next-door was a Polaris dealer so I stepped in to see what they had. I discovered an 800cc quad track. This thing was too cool. I can’t imagine how much fun that would be to drive in a snowstorm. The lack of carpet and slow jazz made me feel more at ease. After this discovery I decided to take a ride around town to see if there was anything interesting to look at. The west seems to have lot of old retro signs for hotels, cafés and liquor stores. I don’t think I mentioned that the weather this day was really windy. I found a sign that couldn’t handle the wind and needed a helping hand. I thought the team worker was inspiring and symbolic. I know it's weird to take pictures of stuff like, this but to me it's like blue-collar-found-art.













You know - Elvis on velvet or a big polyester blanket with a tiger or unicorn on it. Ok, enough about that.

So we headed out of Laramie on I-80 to Rawlins. That was a 100-mile ride from hell. Have I mentioned my distain for interstates? Yeah, they are great way to get somewhere fast, but there is a void of all stimulus. Ranting, yes I know but this was so crazy. I was trying to get this 100 mile chunk of the trip over by doing about 90 while driving into a 30 mile a hour wind. The road hooks around and put the wind against the side of the bike. I was forced to lean over hard just to keep going straight. Just outside of Rawlins I swear the bike was tilting over 30 degrees. We stopped and ate at Rawlins and were told by a waitress that the wind really wasn’t too bad compared to some days. As we headed out of town I see a cop dragging a queen sized mattress off the road. Apparently someone was moving and did not realize that the mattress blew out of the truck. Boy, am I glad I didn’t get hit by that!

Glad to be off the interstate and back on the two lanes. The flat prairies gave way to large rolling hills. This helped with the strong winds. We were making pretty good time, when off in the distant southwest we saw storm clouds. Just about that time a group of four bikes rolled up on us from behind. In spite of the rolling hills you could really see a long way. They were passing everything in sight. We pick up speed and followed along. Even at this faster speed we were going to get hit by the storm. Then I noticed that the black clouds was also a lighting storm. All of a sudden it got cool really fast. There was nowhere to hide, just empty road. So we broke away from the four other bikers and figured we had to try to out run the storm. Thank God there were no cops. We laid into the throttle and managed just get a few sprinkles. I was glad to have a full-face helmet. Those little drops of water feel like needles at 60 and ice picks at 90 plus. The four bikes we left behind were not wearing helmets at all. Their foreheads must have been bleeding from the hard rain they got caught in. After the storm, we had to stop and refuel. The head wind and high speeds had cut our mileage at least in half. Being chased by the storm got us into Dubois at about 5:30.
We got the tent set up, started a load of laundry and jumped into the heated pool. I got a shower and jumped on the bikes to go shoot some HDR landscape photos. The sun was going down and the red clay and rock were casting perfect contrasting shadows. Morning and dusk are the best time to shoot. I drove about 10 miles out and found a great eroded bluff along a stream. I really enjoy traveling and getting excited about capturing my surroundings. What a nerd, I know. My wife even pointed out that only a real nerd would blog his vacation. So true! Well everybody has to be something and my this is my digital cross to bare. After the sun had set, I rode back into town and found Evan spinning stories to the manager of the campground. I swear, Even can make friend faster that anyone I have ever met. Not only is he good at telling stories, he really enjoys meeting people and has a gift for getting them to open up. The laundry was all finished so we walked into town to get a beer. After 5 minutes at the bar Evan met a guy and his wife who was from corporate lawyer from Ponitac Il. Amazing to me how fast most people just like Evan!