• Gillette to Devils Tower, WY
  • 77.5 miles (1532 total)
  • Rode 9.5 miles of Monday’s ride to arrive at rest-day motel in Hulett
  • Cool, cloudy start!

We had a tough night last night. The security lights in the gym would not turn off. Sheila had an eye mask, but I didn’t and I ended up waking 4 times during the night. This, coupled with my continuing cold, made it a miserable night. We had a good breakfast. The people here went way out their way to create good vegan meals for us. They made a vegan jambalaya for dinner and butternut squash/bean breakfast burritos for the morning. We took those to eat for dinner in Hulett.

We left Gillette in a thick fog with temperatures at about 55. We hadn’t been this cold since Skykomish. We rode for 10 miles before it broke open. Then we found ourselves in tandem-friendly terrain. There were fast downs with short ups that we blew by. Then it turned into straight flat lands. We were riding steadily at 20-21. Unbelievably fast for us.

We saw interesting things these last two days in Wyoming. Lots of oil wells pumping crude. We saw lots of natural gas sites. They are hard to describe except to say there are compressor type buildings with pipes sinking into the ground. Today we mostly saw coal trains. Long, long coal trains. Lots of them. Wyoming has a big stake in the energy sweeps. We learned that the largest employer in all of Wyoming though is…drumroll…Walmart!

Once again we were at picnic before 10. This time we successfully got in and out in 30 minutes with our panniers full of food to eat at lunch time. And once again, the ride became more challenging after picnic. There were pretty good sized hills, 3 of them, each 2 miles long. The payback was over the top of the last climb. It was a stunning view of Devils Tower (no apostrophe). It meant our week was nearly over. We made a quick run down to the valley floor, then faced 9.5 miles of headwinds as we fought our way to Hulett to our hotel.

Since then, we’ve done our laundry, done our blogging and are now ensconced in our room watching the Tour de France for the first time. I may not be able to stay awake until the end. This cold has me down. We aren’t even going to the big Margarita Party at Cycle America’s campground at Devils Tower. But I think the rest will do us both good.

I-90 as a rest day
Wyoming