Lads on tour… on bikes. Holmes, Dowds & Reid cycle across the USA.

Day 47 – Lander – Dubois (78 Miles)

This is my first post. I will keep it sweet and to the point and only spend 5 minutes writing it. – unlike Chris who seems to spend an hour just to turn a computer on!!

We woke up in the City Park at our usual 6.30AM and realized that last nights leftovers of microwavable burgers and frankfurters from the BBQ did not look that tasty. I decided to head to the bagel shop where we went yesterday to buy a bagel whilst Dowds had phone sex with Tash and Chris took his usual 2.5 hours to pack up his tent and brush his teeth. I eventually found them outside the supermarket and Chris had bought a 3KG sack of Cheerios which he thinks will save him money as he will not have to buy breakfast anymore – Although that has not so far seemed to have stopped him consuming 17 times his bodyweight in ice cream and cookies!!!

We got on the road at about 9.30AM and we were expecting a 75 mile uphill day as the elevation profile on our map suggested. To our relief it wasn’t actually that hilly and this probably is what made me speed off and get shouted at by Chris & Dowds for going too fast in case I passed out with 20 miles to go. We stopped about 30 miles in to the ride to get some water and a guy told us that he ran a bike hosted where we could stay the night… for $15 a night!! He said we couldn’t have any dinner or a shower or breakfast for that matter but we could sleep on a mattress in his garage. We decided that he was just trying to make some dollar out of us and gave his garage a miss.
About 15 miles from Dubois, it got very very windy. We had to lean pretty much our full body weight to the left to stop us being blown over. We saw a small twister at the side of the road and Chris was stopped dead in his tracks, Dowds had the sense to unclip and then I took the full brunt of it and was blown off my bike into the shoulder of the road and ended up sitting on the concrete with my bike about 5 feet away from me!
Just before we got into town, after stopping to fix Dowd’s 1000th puncture, we met an elderly couple from Alaska and we cycled with them for a couple of miles. Before we left the guy said he was going straight to the pub – we thought he was joking. He wasn’t. He came to find us in the café we were in and told us to come to the pub where he would buy us a beer. We spent about 2 hours chatting with them about their trip and sharing stories.
We camped in the KOA campground…. Who are daylight robbers. They charged us $29 just to pitch our tents and have a shower!!! I still do not have my passport, bank cards or driving license which I left at a campsite about 2 weeks ago… I am praying that the woman who said she has posted them to this town is not lying!!

Day 46 – Lander Day Off

The boys were woken up by Brent this morning at 6AM. I wasn’t because I am sensible and wear earplugs to bed. Although earplugs do not stop you getting cold when you have rubbish sleeping bag and it is getting close to freezing outside!! We eventually got up at 8.30AM… which actually feels like a lie in nowadays. What is going on??

We left our tents and went to the swimming pool to relax. There was no public swimming session on but they did allow us, for $2 to have a shower which was quite nice having not showered since cycling 130 miles the day before! Then we went to the library so Dowds could watch some porn, I could take a nap on the comfy chairs and Chris could talk to his online cyber friends for several hours. We also put up a few photos on Facebook. Dowds then went back to the pool to do a swimming session with no goggles and now his eyes look like they are about to burst! Subway was the choice for lunch, where we now know the menu off by heart! We were then obliged to take Chris for his daily 10 cones of ice cream at the shop down the road before heading back to check on our tents and relaxing in the sun for a couple of hours. It feels like we have nothing to do when we aren’t cycling anymore!
Dowds and I later decided to take a ride to the supermarket to buy a disposable BBQ and some burgers & sausages for dinner. They took ages to cook and whilst we were waiting, a weird guy from a tribe came over with three plates of leftovers and some drink from his dinner. It was actually pretty good food. We were all tucked up in our sleeping bags and roll mats (which I have had a puncture in since the 2nd week!) by 9.30PM… which is a late night for us nowadays!