Day 3-NE to WY

Day 3/North Platte, NE to Rock Springs, WY
Distance today: 482 miles
Total to date: 941.6 miles

Got on the road again around 0830. We've gotten into the routine of getting up, getting packed, then on the road for about an hour before stopping for Robert's

Robert getting his bike ready

breakfast & my coffee, then we begin our travels in earnest.Band of rain were coming our way again today so broke out my rain gear in earnest & suited up. Only rained about 45 mins & managed to remain dry. 

Noted an exit to Ogalala & discovered that we are about 184 miles from the Pine Ridge Reservation, which I've always wanted to go to. Inspired by the movie, "Thunderheart", I've wanted to go to the Wounded Knee Memorial. We are definitely in Indian Country as could tell when at Denny's that many of the customers were Natives. 

As the miles rolled on, my imagination started to think about the Natives that lived in this country. I imagined the isolated little towns disappearing into camps with only tepees, grazing horses & people going about the business of life. The migrations following the buffalo. How vast this country is with nothing but grass & rocks that seem to rise from the grass. How the indigenous people could see so very far & how would they hide from any enemies, & hunt the buffalo. I tried to imagine no highway, cell phone towers, or any man made structures. 

Love seeing the rain fall.

My kind of place!

The landscape definitely changed about an hour west of North Platte. We got into the same rolling hill prairie that is in SD. Then the hills flattened out & the view went on forever! Many less trees & at one point on the highway noticed that to the south was a mountain chain that extended about 180 degrees. Snow was on top of these mountains far in the distance & the view was really stunning. Eventually we crossed the Continental Divide at the 7000 ft elevation point. My bike started backfiring & Rob tells me this is from the higher elevation & less oxygen mixing with the gas.

Note red gas can in gear

And speaking of gas, this part of the country is definitely more sparsely populated! I began stopping at any gas station we ran across for there can be long stretches between gas stations. Brought along a 2.5 gal gas tank & put it to use today! At one point we had to come back into a town for the next gas station was 80 miles away! 

Was kind of bummed at having to waste 10 or so miles, circling back for gas. But ended up getting a free lunch from a Sinclair gas station customer appreciation day event & some free promotional stuff! 

Rob enjoying his lunch

free lunch buffet!

Another thing I like about being able to see for such great distances is that there are alot of Union Pacific trains here & because the land is so flat you can see the entire span of seemingly 100 rail cars as the trains run parellel along the highways. I wanted to take a picture of the trains & so many other stunning views but upon reviewing the pictures I did take, I find they are completely inadequate in portraying the landscape. How can one convey the vastness, the silence, the colors in a photo?

Dirt roads go off into the hills

I also noticed that the WY vehicles are "beefy" in that many of the trucks are top of the line. 4 wheel drive, knobby tires, extended cabs & covered with the local colored dirt. These folks are obviously used to having to get around in snow, dirt roads & less civilized conditions! Many roads are dirt & exits consist of pulling down the ramp, then single lane roads trailing off across a grass prairie to who knows where. Fences line the highway to keep the snow from blowing across them.

We skirted multiple pockets of rain as we continued west & at one point I suited up, anticipating getting hammered. Rob decided he'd just "go for it". Well we actually ran into about 5 minutes of hail! Don't know how he stood it for my face shield & legs got hammered & he doesn't have any face shield. But he was able to outrun storm!! One good thing about the vast views are that one can see the highways in the distances so you can see where the storms are tracking & if they will impact where you are travelling.

At day's end, one just wants to
fall into bed!

We neglected to make any reservations for the evening & boy, was that a mistake! So we reach our destination of Rock Springs, a rather small, unremarkable town & find that on a Tues night we can't find a motel to crash at. No rooms anywhere, despite making multiple calls. All lodging staff tells us "nothing in town due to Yellowstone tourists". Really? How far is Yellowstone from here anyway? (191 miles, per Mapquest) I find this hard to believe!

I was sitting outside a motel while Robert was inside the place, working on locating a room in another town when a lady with two kids from IA & I started talking. Long story, short, she let me know about a room at a Day's Inn in town that had a couple rooms. So we lucked out BIG TIME there. In appreciation I got her a bottle of rum & a 6 pack of Coke. Figured she deserved this & since she had two kids in a car & was on her way from IA to Salt Lake City UT. There were multiple vacant rooms at this Day's Inn that no one ever checked into so don't know what that was all about!?

Another man I ran into in the parking lot advised me to make reservations around Yellowstone WAYYYYYY early, claiming that the hotels really gouge anyone wanting a room around Yellowstone. He said he called to reserve a room he had had a week before, but now instead of being $59 this same room was $249! Ouch. Don't know how we will navigate this when it comes time to stay around there!

Will close for today. Need to get into the shower. Have been doing blogs in mornings, as am completely beat at day's end. Talked to Robert about reducing the total miles we are travelling. We agreed to reduce our miles today to about 300 odd. I do miss having a more leisure pace. Many times I've wanted to pull off the highway to take a picture but couldn't without stopping our momentum. Hopefully we can slow things down a bit.

Today we should hit UT. Destination is Wendover, UT where we DO have a room! So UT here we come!