 |
| Hell's Half Acre at sunrise |
A few miles down the road I came across Hell's Half Acre, more than just a half acre of badlands sunken off the side of the highway. The sun was still quite low and there was a chain link fence around it from the road so I wasn't able to get the greatest of pictures, but it was still pretty spectacular, especially considering the contrast to the surrounding land.
 |
| An original oil derrick |
After that short photo break, I continued riding towards Casper, the second largest city in Wyoming with just 55,000 residents (the whole state has over 500,000). It got it's start as an oil boom town and an original oil derrick monument with some history was one of the few places that I stopped to take a picture of while passing through the outskirts of the city along a bike path adjacent to the North Platte River. I stopped at a Daylight Donuts in Mills on the other side of the river where I ate a dozen doughnuts (!) for lunch. I crossed over into Casper proper where I then took a short break at the Casper Public Library before heading off again. Thankfully my investment portfolio was relatively unharmed from yesterday's unusual events and I continued on merry way. On the way out of Casper, I first stopped at a small, local burger chain called the Hamburger Stand (how original) for a burger (not bad at all and priced comparably to national chains) before stopping in at an adjacent Walmart Super Center to replenish my food supplies. I picked up another dozen doughnuts (just $4.50 and you can get fritters included in the selection!) and ate a few more before heading out for the rest of the day's ride. Not exactly the healthiest meals today, but I did end up riding over 90 miles for the day so I think I could eat quite a few calories without feeling too guilty.
 |
| Flyfishing for the day... |
As the day wound down, I came across another Google Maps conundrum: continue along Rte 20/26 which combined with Interstate 25 (three highways in one!), or take the more scenic route along back roads roughly parallel to the interstate. I decided to take the back route as I was still concerned about the legality of riding on interstates (I never saw any signs saying you can't like what you find on East Coast interstates).
 |
| Sizzlin' Steaks? I want one! |
However, a few miles down the road and right after I passed a power plant, the road turned into the worst washboard gravel road I had been on to date. I pushed on for a mile or two in the hopes that things would get better or it would change into pavement again, but my Garmin still said I had miles to go before I got onto a new road so I assumed it would remain crappy the rest of the way. Plus it was now pitch black out and I was getting tired of riding in the dark with my lights and there were fences on both sides of the road preventing me from easily finding a place to pull over for the night. I decided to turn around and head back to the I-25 entrance. Along the way I notice two water bottles lying in the middle of the road. They were mine and they had bounced out of my rear bottle cages it was that bumpy. I hadn't had a problem at all during the the previous thousand plus miles including a good hundred miles or so of bumpy, washboard-like roads. The road really was that bad. I finally got to the I-25 overpass and decided to make camp at the end of the T-intersection of Rte 20/26 and the entrance and off ramps for I-25 westbound. There was a blocked off road leading to some private land so I camped in the space between the fence around the property and the road. There was almost no traffic coming or going from I-25 onto the end of Route 20-26 (as there were entrances/exits closer to the towns further back along 20/26) so I didn't really mind that I was somewhat exposed to view in my tent. I don't think I even locked my bike up to the fence.
No comments:
Post a Comment