Distance: 14.8 mi, Climbed: 512 ft
Completed: 2,945.4 mi, 131,203 ft
The original route for today was 75 miles to Dubois. That is a little longer than we prefer. When Joanna and I started to look at lodging, we realized there was another option. Just fourteen miles in, we could stay in a traditional tipi on the Wind River Indian Reservation. Who could pass up a chance to sleep in a tipi? We decided to break the 75 miles up with a night on the reservation.
The shorter ride gave us a chance to stop at the local bicycle shop. When we descended Beaver Rim yesterday, Joanna said she did not like going fast downhill because the bike tended to wobble. Bikes are not supposed to shimmy, but that can happen when the headset gets loose. We took Joanna’s bike to the shop, and sure enough her headset was not tightened properly. I also took the opportunity to get new bike gloves as mine were wearing through and new handlebar tape as my tape has started to fray. Jeff at the Bike Mill was very helpful and even suggested some backroads we could use to avoid the downtown traffic.
A few miles out of town we entered the Wind River Indian Reservation. We saw many homes and ranches along the road.
I was lucky enough to get a glance at a calf drinking her mother’s milk. But as soon as I stopped to watch, the other cows quickly took up defensive positions, and the calf stopped nursing. The maternal instinct they demonstrated felt very human.
Soon, Joanna saw it ahead and became very excited. She sped up the hill and pulled into the parking lot of the Shoshone Rose Casino. Having a strong statistics background, I have zero interest in gambling. But Joanna loves it. Fortunately, she is not a big spender. She put $20 in a slot machine and tested her luck. It did not go well. Her $20 was now $2.30. But as they say, it just takes one spin. The next thing I know, the $2.30 became $170. She had won! Maybe gambling is not so bad after all.
We headed back out on the road with our winnings. A few miles later, we could see a rain storm on the western horizon. We tried to check the weather app, but there was no service. We were on our own. We were only eight miles away from our lodging. We decided to risk getting wet.
Before we knew it, there was a whole line of storms to our west. The clouds in front of us darkened. About four miles out, we saw lightning in the distance. Was the lightning north of our tipi or would we be riding through a thunderstorm? We picked up the pace.
We raced all the way to our lodging and fortunately barely got sprinkled on. We managed to narrowly avoid yet another storm.
By mid-afternoon, we arrived at the general store that is around the corner from our tipi. Since our tipi did not have running water or electricity, we decided to hang out at a covered picnic table outside the general store that fortunately had an electrical outlet.
Around 6:00pm, we grabbed some tamales from the general store for dinner and then headed to our tipi for the night. The sight of the tipis on the open plain brought us back to another time. The traditional construction was amazing to see. The tipi was furnished with a modern bed and some basic nightstands.
By design, the top of the tipi is open. We were immediately concerned when we saw the tarp over the bed covers. Do we need to sleep under a tarp? What if it rains?
I really hope it does not rain.
