June 30, 2019
Day Twenty-one: Gillette, Wyoming to Aladdin, Wyoming
I looked outside and saw that it had been raining, and was probably going to rain some more. I wasn't in the mood to eat breakfast in the hotel, and instead walked out a side door to the immediately adjacent convenience store and bought a quart of chocolate milk, a large frosted honeybun and a Diet Pepsi, all of which I brought back to my room and consumed quickly. Maybe a little too quickly. I briefly felt like I was going to throw up. But I didn't.
I returned my room key at the front desk, where the man asked the Usual Questions about what I was doing, wished me luck and said he wanted to shake my hand, which I think is the first time that has happened on this trip.
It was Sunday morning, so the riding through Gillette was very quiet. I imagine it would not be nearly as pleasant getting out of town on a busy weekday morning.
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There was a wide, smooth shoulder on the highway leading out of town, but I noticed there was somewhat pointless bike path next to the road, so I grudgingly got on it. I feel an odd compulsion to ride on a bicycle path when I encounter one, at least for a while.
My time on the bike path ended quickly this time, though, when I encountered a tractor completely blocking the path. I just got back on the shoulder of the highway. There was almost no traffic anyway.
A fast-moving group of roadies in a pace line appeared in my mirror, and quickly caught up with me. I rode along side them for a while, and learned that they were on a several-day supported tour, and this was (I think) their next-to-last day.
They were a friendly group. I caught up with them a few miles later where their support vehicle (a small U-Haul truck) had stopped. They offered me snacks, and a couple of the riders even offered me places to stay if (and when) my route put me near their homes.
I said goodbye as they rode off in their tight pace line. I doubted I would see them again, but it was fun to meet other cyclists. That's been rare on this trip.
It started to drizzle, so I put the rain jacket on.
I stopped at the little community of Rozet, so small that I couldn't find a population listed. There was an elementary school, but not much else, except for a bar which may or may not have been operational.
But wait! just a little farther down the road was an unexpected, and extremely sleazy-looking, strip club. Graffiti on the metal building that housed the "exotic dancing" facility boasted that it was "Voted Best in Rozet."
It rained harder as I got to Moorcroft, population 1,009. I was cold and hungry, so I stopped at a diner. It was after 11:00, and I'd only ridden about 30 miles so far.
Moorcroft is, as several signs announced, on the way to various tourist attractions such as Devil's Tower and Mt. Rushmore, but everyone in the diner were locals, and seemed to know each other.
They were still serving breakfast, so I ordered a veggie omelet, hash browns, and toast. I sat in the diner for a long time. I was tired, and didn't feel like sitting on a bicycle seat anymore. While it rained, I thought about where I might end up today, made a few calls, and secured a cheap motel room in a spot in the road called "Aladdin", not far from the South Dakota border. That would make it nearly 100 miles for the day, assuming I could get there.
While I waited for the rain to stop, I observed an elderly employee of the diner, using a portable oxygen machine in a backpack, sit at the table across from me. She was folding napkins around the silverware. She started coughing. Why was this poor old lady still working? She looked like she was eighty years old, and weighed perhaps eighty pounds.
The woman running the diner walked over and convinced her to call a family member to come get her - "You shouldn't be working with the silverware while you're coughing." The old lady resisted at first, but eventually relented and got up, presumably to call her ride.
While this depressing scene unfolded, it stopped raining, so I paid my bill and got back on the bike.
It was a nice, if hilly, ride. I was out of the mountains now, and in the land of the "rollers", making my way to the famous Devil's Tower National Monument.
After an hour, the sun came out, and stayed out for the rest of the day.
Tourist traffic picked up as I neared Devil's Tower, but it was nothing I couldn't handle.
There's a super-busy"KOA" campground at the foot of Devil's Tower. All this commercialization the foot of such an awe-inspiring natural landmark amused me, so I pulled in, bought ice cream and Sprite, and sat on a bench watching all the tourists.
I talked to three motorcyclists who were riding across the USA. They said all the riding made them tired. I suppressed an eye-roll. Really, though: I've never ridden a motorcycle, and I'm sure it IS tiring in its own way, maintaining constant attention and vigilance at such high speeds. If I look away for a split second, make a mistake and fall down, the consequences are likely much less severe at 11 mph than at 70 mph.
It was getting late. I said goodbye to the motorcyclists and got back on the road. The nine or ten miles to Hulett, population 383, went quickly, and I arrived there just before the grocery store closed, so I was able to purchase Gatorade for the twenty-five miles to my destination of "Aladdin."
There was a headwind, and two large climbs. Worst of all, I'd misread the elevation profile, and thought that I'd already done the first of the big climbs. So the second one was a very unwelcome surprise. Traffic was very, very light, and the ride was tranquil, except for occasional grunts and swearing as I rode up the unexpected second hill.
I coasted down to Aladdin, population 15, and walked into the office of the motel, where I was apparently the only guest. The friendly woman I'd talked to earlier said "You made it!"
The cafe was closed, the store was closed, and there was no pop machine. My face fell when I heard this, and the lady offered to cook me something, which was incredibly nice of her, but I was tired, and thanked her, but said I was going to take a shower and go to bed.
Which I did, after trying semi-successfully to talk to Joy with my barely-there cell signal. I attempted to watch the weather forecast on a TV station, but found it confusing, because this TV station apparently covers several states, even Iowa and Minnesota! There were mentions of tornados "in the area", but they could have been hundreds of miles away, for all I could tell.
Today's ride: 97 miles (156 km)
Total: 1,711 miles (2,754 km)
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