I have fond memories of that little motel. I'm kind of surprised it was still there several years later. I remember it being cool in the mornings and night in that area when I was there. Maybe temperatures have risen noticeably since 2006.

I also stayed at the Skyhook - no A/C and it was miserably hot that night! Now there's a nice hostel for cyclists that I will use if I ever ride the Transam again.

You wrote "There was a Forest Service ranger station in town, so I stopped there to see what they knew about the fire near Oxbow. The information I got was frustratingly vague..." Yeah, that mirrors my experience - I rode through smoky conditions from nearby forest fires for more than 2 weeks, and was never able to get accurate information - on 2 separate occasions I was even told that the road ahead of me was closed but I rode on anyway and found the road to be open.

You wrote "This would be my longest day yet - not just of my Across-the-USA trip, but ever, both in terms of riding time and mileage." - Yeah, same for me, except I was going the opposite direction so I had about 77 miles of uphill riding to start with. I'm nowhere near as strong a rider as you, so it took me a lot longer. This was my longest day ever until a couple of years later when I exceeded it with both a longer mileage day and more climbing on the Western Express route. Just another interesting similarity of our Transam experiences.

Oh - regarding the Jeffrey City hotel - I think it was undergoing some renovation or was closed for other reasons, not certain of that, but I think someone at the bar told me that - I was riding west to east on that half of my journey, so I wouldn't have encountered the hotel until leaving the next day - by the time I had cycled down the dirt road out of town a bit to reach the church I sort of felt committed to stay there anyway. Despite my experience of that night, I would recommend others consider staying at the church hostel, especially if they aren't traveling solo.

Jeff - thanks for jostling the memory of this old guy - I do remember your comment now. I have really enjoyed reading your journal because it's almost eerie how similar your experiences were to mine - we stayed in a lot of the same places (I haven't commented about them all cause it was getting old- but, for instance, same hotel in Lander and Wisdom). I understand what you mean about not offending the locals in your journal, I have struggled with that as well. I haven't finished your journal yet, anxious to see how many other similar experiences we shared. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.

Oh yeah - I remember reading your riveting account of the church in Jeffrey City. I left you a comment about it back when I read it.

And check it out: The motel where I stayed in Jeffrey City is apparently open: https://www.facebook.com/greenmountainmotel/

And there are Google reviews of it in the last six months.

Was it not open when you stayed at the church?

I recall that he charged me $40 to stay there. I was the only one in the lodge, and slept in a bed. I might have also helped myself to some snacks I found in the kitchen, haha. So I i think I got my money's worth.

Thanks for checking out this old journal. I really didn't know anything when I did this tour. I'd only been riding a bike for about a year, and hadn't even heard of bike touring until six months before doing the trip. I was 40 years old, and had never really been anywhere or done anything. Doing it radically changed my life.

You wrote "When we got back to the abandoned-looking motel, I wondered how it would feel staying in the place by myself - and how it would feel staying there on a dark, stormy night. I decided it would feel like an episode of the Twilight Zone."

That's interesting to say the least. I stayed in the church hostel outside of town - I think you may find my description of that night rather amusing; https://www.cycleblaze.com/journals/buddy/day-65-lander-to-jeffrey-city-wy-whos-afraid-of-a-spooky-church-3b0/

You wrote; "in fact, the most miles I've ever ridden in one day on a bicycle)"

Ok now, this is really getting weird. I also rode from Everton to Chanute with a stop at Cooky's in 2015, and it was also the farthest I had ever ridden on a bicycle. https://www.cycleblaze.com/journals/buddy/day-28-everton-mo-to-chanute-ks-century-day-brings-a-welcome-change-of-topography/

Well, this is getting weird - even though it's off the Transam route a bit, I also stayed at Running Springs Lodge on my 2015 trip. The proprietor gave me a deal - $25 cash if I slept in my sleeping bag and didn't mess up the linens.

I also stayed at the H.I. Express. They told me they loved cyclists because we left early in the mornings and that let the maids have a room to start on before other folks had left.

We photograph a lot of the same things - I shot this one too.

Interesting - I stayed at that same Super 8 in 2015, because I needed to visit the nearby Best Buy to figure out why my cell phone wasn't charging. I remember that it was a bit hairy getting through the traffic in rush hour to reach the hotel.