Day 36 – Lander, WY to Dubois, WY

78 miles

Another freezing night and the morning was a real struggle to get out of my tent. I went for breakfast with Tom after which he headed off, whilst I picked up some supplies. I waited around to get the tyres pumped up before the climb. Clearly, I was prolonging the inevitable hike that I was dreading. I did 40 odd miles and stopped at a rest area where I saw Tom, who had just finished his lunch. I decided to take it easy and cook myself some pasta before catching an afternoon snooze under a tree. However, this turn out to be a really bad mistake as afterwards I felt really sluggish and every mile seemed to take forever.

 

When I decided to do this trip I was told of all the dangers I might encounter and how I must be careful because of this and that. When it came to things that could potentially end your trip, I doubt anyone warned me of a flying tyre coming off a trailer. This was the closest thing to ending my trip so far, this tyre came off at about 60 mph and missed me by only a few inches. The person in the car behind seemed stunned and saw it fly past me into someone’s garden. I was bracing myself for something next but when I looked round, the cars had stopped and there were a few stunned faces who couldn’t quite believe what they had seen. I rode on and met the culprits up the road who seemed pretty cheesed off. We had a quick chat and a laugh about it and I carried on up the hills towards Dubois.

 

It had been a hard afternoon getting there and I was feeling better in the evening. I decided to camp behind a baseball shed rather than pay the $30 to stay in a campsite. I added a few more clothes to hopefully keep me warm for the night ahead.