|
Bicycle touring across the United States June 27 Wednesday Total mileage 2664.5 [4,288 kilometres] Today's mileage 39.4 [63.4 kilometres] Huckleberry Mtn to Jenny Lake campground Grand Tetons Jenny Lake campground Wy Wyoming Got up at 8 am. I was really tired last night and for some reason Sharon kept waking me up during the night -- at least three times that I can recall. The sun was already hot when we got up. It looked like we were going to be in for a scorcher, but the temperature peaked at 85 F [29.5 C]. We're still at about 6,000 feet [1,800 metres] elevation. The humidity is very low. Not a cloud in the clear dark blue sky. We had a glorious day of cycling and now we're camping at Jenny Lake, with a view of the Tetons from our tent door. The night is clear with lots of stars. We've met four other cyclists who are also staying at the Jenny Lake campground. Pat, Fred, Mary, and Barney. I asked Fred and Barney if their bicycles had stone wheels. Guess that'd cut down on flats, eh? They had been cycling with a Cycle America tour group, but they're on their own now. I asked them how they liked the organized touring. "Not much," Mary answered with a frown. "There was never enough food. If you were late for supper there wouldn't be anything left." Yikes. Didn't sound like my kind of tour. "And we got sick," Pat added. "Seventy-five in the group came down with food poisoning." Yikes, again. The only time I've had food poisoning on a bike tour is when I've helped myself to a third helping of dessert. Our new friends said they had taken a bus from Iowa to meet the start of the tour in Seattle. It took 72 hours. Wow! I joked that they could have ridden their bikes there in that amount of time. There is a bus strike, so there are relief drivers. "I had to keep telling the driver which way to go," Barney said. Hmmm. Not exactly something that would instill confidence in me. Maybe, like us, they took a few detours? Our cycling day ended up being pretty short, so we still had plenty of time and energy to hike in to Hidden Falls. (We found them.) It was about a 6 mile [10 kilometre] round trip hike. Lots of cold water. The Grand Teton mountains are picturesque ... they remind me a lot of the scenery around Banff. |
|
|
Signed copies!
Book Info Site Map Send e-mail