Trans American Bicycle Trip - Wolfenberg

City To City: Jeffrey City - Rawlings Miles: 67 Miles Total: 1,740 Video:  Dinner An iPad We Were Playing On In Walmart Crème Pie For Dessert      The first fifteen miles of the journey were fast-paced and done in a little less than forty-five minutes.  Then, the rest of the journey was into the crosswind and headwind.  And it was like that all the way to Rawlings except for the last part.      We stopped for lunch at thirty miles before heading back into the headwind.  Once we arrived in Rawlings, we went to Walmart to find where to stay.  We had to ask three people before we could get specific details, and it turns out that the Walmart is a quarter mile away.  So, we were talking outside about it when two bikers showed up.  One was from London, and the other from Idaho, but both had a strong British accent.  Since they were traveling west, we gave us helpful tips on what to expect in Kentucky.  In Kentucky, twenty dogs came after them, and one of t

City To City: Landor - Jeffrey City Miles: 58 Miles Total: 1,673 Video:  Lunch At The Lookout Henry's 1st Flat Tire Of The Day The Church We Stayed At For The Night The Tavern Our Name On The Wall It was slow, with a big climb in the morning and a crosswind.  The night before, Henry and my dad suggested lowering my seat even more.  So, for most of the morning of climbing, I was miserable.  We stopped for lunch at an overlook, looking over the road and valley where we had biked.  With winds blowing up to thirty-six mph, we had to closely watch the lunch wrappers and other light things.   At the top, Henry's back tire got flat, so we stopped and fixed it, then hopped on our bikes, eager for the downhill. After going down, we had a very fast tailwind, letting us bike close to thirty mph.  As we flew past, the scenery blurred. With less than a mile to go to Jeffrey City and us flying so fast, we didn't see a huge bolt

City To City: Debois - Landor Miles: 76 Miles Total: 1,615 Video:  https://youtu.be/W9UTYtV2gLg? si=2ayalkeHFuZYvu5T The Biggest Truck We Saw A Tank At The Museum Along The Road Henry In A Oversized Camping Chair with 6 drink holders Our Campsite At A Public Park That morning, we woke up early, around 6:30 am.  Our roommates were leaving early, and the trucks were flying by, so all the noise contributed to an early wake-up time.  With well-wishing to each other, the guy and his sister soon headed off.  We didn't leave until half after eight.  We didn't leave until late because we wanted to go to a museum full of military vehicles, and the museum didn't open until later.  So, during that time, we worked on videos and blogs.  While I was blogging, I could hear Henry almost shouting outside.  When I mentioned it, Henry just chuckled and said, "At least I'm being heard."  We got to the museum early and ob

City To City:  Colter Bay Village - Debois Miles: 66 Miles Total: 1,539 Video:  https://youtu.be/iiQsS_hIbco? si=8vbHKXeoPPRRd9ci The Sign Saying What We Went Up Our Beautiful View For Lunch The Elevation Sign Our Afternoon Snack Dinner Square Dancing An Actual In-Tune Piano      After packing everything up and eating breakfast, we headed out. We stopped at the post office, mailed something, and continued on the rolling hills. Then we got to the day's big climb: seventeen miles of six percent grade uphill, with about three thousand feet in elevation. It took us two hours and fifteen minutes to get to the top of Togwotee Pass.  We stopped for lunch near the top, looking at the beautiful view.  Close to the top is an elevation sign with an elevation number two hundred feet higher that what the map said, so we're guessing they meant the top for the number.  From there, it was twenty-five miles down

City To City: Canyon Village - Colter Bay Village Miles: 76 Miles Total: 1,473 Video:  https://youtu.be/BDa4WcezAA8? si=0A2My8VreLa9MjwD At The Mud Volcanos Continental Divide Entering Grand Teton National Park The Grand Tetons In The Background      Our morning started with our usual breakfast routine and breaking down camp. This is our last day in Yellowstone. I left camp a little early to see the waterfalls Henry and Layla saw the day before. They call this the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, which is beautiful and powerful. After lathering up with sunscreen, we head out. We have an impressive tan line going these days. It was a beautiful ride along the lake, and we stopped to visit a few different hot springs. The smell of sulfur is in the air. We had a strong headwind all day long, which slowed our progress. It was a mental game for us to stay positive when wrestling a 20-mile-hour headwind.       The day's excitement came as we

Video:  https://youtu.be/FkJYf5CsIYw? si=t8CbhfihFhyzTy7c Lower Falls In The Background Pine Trees Along Our Hike Grand Canyon Of Yellowstone The Lodge's Business Center      In the morning, we woke up, ate breakfast, and headed off to do our own things.  Henry and I hiked around the Upper and Lower Falls and the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.  We walked through the pine trees and up and over hills.  Then we went down to the falls and ran back up the two hundred foot plus some hill.  We passed so many people returning up, even those we passed while going down.  Henry and I went to the grocery store for lunch, then met up with our dad at our campsite.        While eating, the couple from Canada arrived and set up camp.  That afternoon we all went to the business center and used the computers because there wasn't good service.   We were going to eat at the restaurant there, but we were worried that we would pay fifteen dollars for a tiny hamburge

City To City: Madison Campground - Canyon Village Miles: 60 Miles Total: 1,397 Video:  https://youtu.be/3-_EFiTlHrU? si=zSkUx0qqbgZQyWuE A Yellowstone river A herd of bison Hitchhiking Henry and I slept in while my dad went for a hike.  He saw a bison grazing at the end of the trail.  After breakfast, we walked to the main road and stuck our thumbs out, hoping to get to Old Faithful.  After thirty minutes of cars ignoring us, we hopped on our bikes and rode 18 miles.  The people willing to take us were going in the wrong direction.  Along the way to Old Faithful, we saw bison and beautiful waterfalls.  After reaching Old Faithful, we stayed for a couple hours.  My dad and I were up on the deck while Henry got a close-up shot of the geyser.  We headed back and grabbed our gear before heading to Canyon Village.  There we got groceries and went to register for a campsite.  It took us thirty minutes to register: fifteen staying in line and another fiftee

City To City: Ennis - Madison Campground, Yellowstone Miles: 85:  Miles Total: 1,337 Video:  https://youtu.be/Rg1lEhekQ-U? si=PAzQEw3gku93JoPH Riding along Hebgen Lake Our campsite at Madison Campground My dad stretching on a table, not wanting to get mulch stuck on his pants Kevin and Lisa made an omelet, a bagel, and a half for each of us which we quickly gulped down.  After Kevin dropped us off in town, we got a canister of bear spray, mounted our bike, and headed toward Yellowstone.  We stopped for lunch at Hebgen's visitor center and learned some history.   An earthquake had gone off under Hebgen Lake, resulting in the faults on the mountains dropping.  And half of a mountain broke away and slid at one hundred mph up halfway on the opposite mountain.   The winds then picked up close to one hundred mph, and some of the people who were camping in the valley lost their lives.  Some got swept up by the winds into the black night, others drowned

City - City: Dillon - Ennis Miles: 85 Miles Total: 1,252 Video:  https://youtu.be/X_uj6g2TmcE? si=0VNpnq4-GyEOKx9n A picture with Kevin and Lisa on their deck      We got on the road fairly quickly, and waved goodbye to Larry, who had come to see us off.  With only about seventy miles to go, we took it easier, and had a tailwind for some of the ride.  We stopped for lunch near a historical site, and after lunch we saw a guy who had just finished mowing. The guy told us a little bit the cabin.   That cabin was a halfway point to stock up on supplies.  And from closet city, Virginia City, to that cabin, robber's made that highway a target because of the recently stocked-up supplies families would bring on the last stretch of their journey.  But the law was able to capture most of the outlaws, and five were hung in Virginia city.  In one of Virginia City's buildings, workers were reparing the ceiling took down the ceiling plaster.  There they saw five rope marks of the five outlaw

City To City: Sula - Dillon Miles: 101 Miles Total: 1,183 Video:  https://youtu.be/2UYeAQtOERs? si=-umYm2FAtCScK3HD At the top of Big Hole Pass Highest elevation point we've ever been on the trip A picture with Larry      We woke up early with ice on the table, and not wanting to sit on ice, decided to stand in the sunlight.  We packed up fairly quickly and with a hundred miles to go, and three mountains to climb, we didn't want to squander the time.  We climbed the first mountain in the beginning and at the top, it was cold.  Luckily with seven miles to the top, we weren't to cold.  At the top, the roads branched into a T, and instead of going back down into Idaho, we went up another mile to stay into Montana before heading down.  We stopped at a campsite for bikers only and ate lunch, and charged our phones there.  All during the lunch, my dad was on the phone trying to get a sewage problem fixed at one of his properties.  He and an emp

A 1000 miles into this trip has me pondering a few questions.  How in the world did I end up riding my bike across the country with two of my kids?  The story as I know it goes back to my childhood.  My dad would take my two brothers and I on canoe trips down the rifle river in Michigan.  It was a blast.  When I was 17 years old my mom passed away from a 5 year battle with cancer.  It was heartbreaking.  At the time I was consumed with my own grief to consider what my dad may be experiencing.  Now at 50 years old and father I can get a glimpse of the overwhelming weight he was carrying.  That summer, my dad and my two brothers started taking adventures together for the next 14 summers.  They were high risk adventures that took us places like Colorado, Saskatoon and Alaska.  We formed lifetime memories on these trips.  My dad was 50 years old when he started these trips.  They weren't cheap or easy on the body.  My dad put a stake in the ground to keep us together as a family and fo

City To City: Missoula - Sula Miles: 90 Miles Total: 1,082 Video:  https://youtu.be/RPH-i_tGVxw? si=M59gQ5TIakruTNYW A picture with Andy A picture with Ethel Up the mountain where it had rained hard Dinner Our soaking wet tent We slept more than usual, and luckily missed the rain in the morning.  After packing everything up, we headed off to Adventure Cyclists headquarters in Missoula.  At the headquarters, we ran into the two same guys we saw in New Meadows.  After chatting some, signing the guest book, and getting our pictures taken, we headed off to the cyclist's lounge and got an ice cream dessert.  While talking with man at the front desk, we mentioned that we had stayed with Ethel.  The man immediately jumps with a story about how Ethel a few years back wanted to tour some of Alaska.  One of Ethel's friend was concerned for her and asked whether if she should go alone or not.  to which Ethel had replied that as l