We have written off Taco Johns fast food, but were pleasantly surprised by the McDonalds breakfast – from our 5 am sampling! Sadly there was already wind out of the west when we struck our way SW then W into the Great Divide Basin. Heads down and grinding into it.
After an early lunch we turned onto gravel and a NW road direction change saw us cruising till the road swung W again, then NW, then SW…We were surprised to cut out 65 miles by the time we camped that evening, tired but pleased to have gone so far.
Next morning, McDonalds-breakfast-less, we enjoyed 3 1/2 hours biking before the Wild West wind picked up again at 9am. We stopped early afternoon by the Sweetwater river and relaxed while the wind strengthened.
We weren’t so lucky on our last morning in the Basin, despite an early start, the wind rose to very strong by 7:30 and we fought our way into the tiny town of Atlantic City. After 3 days of no trees and few close features we were ready to hug the first green thing we saw taller than Sage brush.
The Great Divide Basin is beautiful, especially in the early morning or late evening light. There are wild horses and many pronghorn antelope who lope away at the first sound of us, but, we were glad to finish with it.
We enjoyed our respite from the wind at the Grubstake bar and restaurant in Atlantic City – sounds big but is more like a small frontier town, where we had a second breakfast, apple pie, lunch and dinner! We left after 7 pm as the winds were dying to camp an hour and a half up the road.
We set a four am alarm the next morning and enjoyed pre sunrise riding in the calm. We were alongside the Wind River mountains and the scenery was varied and interesting again and we were meeting the front bikers of the Tour Divide (more next post). We surpassed our expectations for the day and made it to the lovely town of Pinedale (75 miles – our furthest day to date), a comfy motel and the Wind River Brewery pub and restaurant for dinner. What a great day.
