Day 8, Ride to Cheyenne.

Rising out of Jackson

Leaving Jackson we rise steadily into the mountains up winding roads to the snow line. It is bright and sunny with puffy white clouds, excellent for photographs. We stop often.

After crossing the continental divide we descend to high plains.

It is arid scrubland. No trees, no cattle, only sage brush, which is probably why it is an Indian Reservation. This scenery changes little for the next 100 miles.

Although just a two lane road, the surface is very good. You can see the ribbon extending for miles in front only disappearing when a low hill comes in sight. There is no traffic.

Scrubland

We travel at 70mph.

Finally we reach some road works, traffic comes from nowhere, we bunch up. Wyoming’s idea of resurfacing is to first rip up both lanes, exposing only clay and pebbles. Us poor cars are then used to compact the surface. Six miles at 20mph, bumpity bumpity, thump!

We want to stop for lunch. Pulloffs are not marked ahead. Surprise, you just missed one. At Rawlins we join I80 and find a rest area.

I had made a table for the front passenger. The intent was to use it as a computer stand while driving. I should have realized that the motion on a table would be too severe to type. I have instead been using a board with the laptop on my knees to type these notes which works quite well. It is cool and windy. We decide to picnic in the car. Now we have a new use for the ‘puter table. A picnic bench.

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