Short day

August 27th - Star Valley Ranch, Wyoming
(between Enta, Wyoming and Thayne, Wyoming)
Mileage: 74.55 km
Total mileage: 1272 km
Ride time: 4:13 hrs

Started cycling south on Hwy 89. Strong headwinds, slow going. Very wide valley here and flat road, but for the wind.

Followed the Snake River to the Palisades Dam. Here the climbing began and the valley changed to forest as we followed the Palisades Reservoir for approximately 30 km. Some steep climbs, some long descents, very windy and beautiful. I took to cycling behind Deby until it became time to climb and then went on ahead.

We continued on through Alpine which is at the south end of the reservoir. Just a mile out I got another flat tire. Yes, a sharp stone went right through my impenetrable slime liner. Fixed it and went on.

The valley widened and became agricultural. We cycled on to Etna and were directed to the Star Valley Ranch campground 6 miles down the road. Absolutely beautiful place. This whole valley we were cycling is known as the Star Valley. A lot of Americans from the south come here for the summers to escape the heat. High elevation, never gets to hot (only 89 degrees today) in the day and cools off a lot at night.

Met a guy named Wyatt here. He was camped while his house was being renovated. Man, could he talk, but very interesting. We had lots of common interests and he had a real zest for life. Wyatt felt as I do - get in the things you want to do while you're young so that when you're old you have something to talk about.