Day 27 - Lander - rest day

This morning we woke up and decided to take a rest day here. What a great feeling. We had planned to take a day off in Rawlins in a few days time but had heard that Rawlins ain't so great and as we haven't had a cycle free day for 2 weeks we're staying put for the next 24 hours. Lander was apparently voted 5^th nicest small town in America so that's good enough for us.

No chance of a lie in though when you're in a tent which isn't in the shade, but we had a relaxing morning making use of the free wifi here under a shady communal pavilion where the owner's dogs came to stop by and make eyes at us until they got bored and realised we weren't going to feed them.

Lander was originally a cattle and sheep ranching town, then after that oil, coal and later uranium in the 1900s but more recently it's well known for tourism and environmentalism. The national outdoor leadership school was started here in the 60s – they started the 'leave no trace' philosophy to do with low impact camping. Afterwards we wandered into town, browsed a few bookshops, ate bagels in a cafe and checked out the Pioneer Museum, which was really interesting. So many pioneers came through these parts and the stories of life on the trail are fascinating. Matt was so inspired by these tales he decided he wanted a book on the pioneers so we went to another bookshop, but he ended up buying Homer's The Odyssey. Will keep him busy for a bit, I should think.

This area is also good for rock climbing, we stopped by a cool outdoorsy shop where we browsed for ages knowing we can't buy anything (because we can't carry anything else – except giant greek tragedies) and we also visited a bike shop. We didn't need anything but we are instantly drawn to anything cycling related and had to go in. The owner guessed we were touring after looking at my hands. I will post a picture but basically they are tanned in a rather ridiculous patterned manner from my crochet cycling gloves and it was a sure giveaway. In the end we bought a rear view mirror which attaches to sunglasses so we can see traffic coming up behind us. We haven't had any problems in this area yet, but had seen a lot of other cyclists using these and thought it made sense.

We met another cyclist, Kim, at Safeway as we were about to stock up on supplies. We've already met him twice already on the route, firstly in Missoula and then at Yellowstone. We discussed the options for where to stay at the next destination – Jeffrey City. Everyone on this section speaks of Jeffrey City with disdain or trepidation. It's basically a ghost town, but we know no more yet and will find out tomorrow what its all about!

We ate out at the Lander Inn on the main street where we had delicious pizzas followed by icecream from the 'Scream Shack' next door. There seriously aren't enough icecream parlours in the UK. I'm thinking of opening one up.

We have a few more days in Wyoming and then will be in Colorado. I feel like I really don't know what to expect from the next few days, I'm excited and curious. We've both really liked Wyoming, there's a strong sense of history here, but it also feels forward looking too, which perhaps we weren't expecting but it all seems to fit together well.

Sarah

Comments

[Dan]

Are you planning to go through Laramie? Say hello to my alma mater if you do. You might also meet a Peruvian man named Orlando - he was big man on campus.

Oh, and if you get to Cheyenne, raise a glass to my great-great-great-great-something-uncle Marshall Smith, who was the lawman of the town. Not sure when, I can't find out anything else about him.

[Greig & Katie]

Hey folks! Got your message. We are crawling our way up to Hoosiers Pass at the moment. We should be in Breckenridge tomorrow night then somewhere around Rand the night after and Saratoga the night after. Hope to bump into you two somewhere! Greig & Katie

[Matt Law]

Hey Dan - we didn't get down to Laramie or Cheyenne we scooted down via Walden and Encampment. Cheyenne is the capital of Wyoming - he must have been a big shot. There must be some local historical society or something?