We stand in awe.

Thursday 13 August - Day 17
Montpelier, ID to Cody, WY: 300 miles

Well we have officially hit both extremes on this trip. A few days ago when we pulled into Redding, CA it was 100 degrees. This morning while riding in western Wyoming we hit 33 degrees. Let us tell ya…it was a cold one this morning.

We slipped into Wyoming under the cover of darkness:

Shawn snapped this photo while Doug was unaware...what a jerk! (Shawn that is...)

We stopped for gas and coffee in Jackson, Wyoming and then headed north. As we crested the hill outside of Jackson, what to our wondering eyes did appear but the Grand Tetons shimmering in the sun. These mountains truly take your breath away. You must all see them some day.

After spending a little bit of time gathering our jaws from the ground and putting them back to their normal position we headed north again. This time we set our sights on the granddaddy of them all: Yellowstone.

Before entering Yellowstone we hit major construction on the John D. Rockefeller Parkway. There were many times where we just sat for up to 15 minutes. To top it all off, the road was down to loose gravel…not the best terrain for bikes like ours. Here is a pic of some of the construction:

We eventually hit Yellowstone and headed directly to Old Faithful. Luckily, when we got there it was only a 40 minute wait for the next eruption. We grabbed lunch at the Old Faithful Inn and waited for the show. Oh, there were like 1,500 other people waiting with us…it was crazy full and busy.

Here is Old Faithful...she was 20 minutes late:

After Old Faithful we rode around Yellowstone Lake and exited the park on the east side. We then rode about 80 miles to Cody. Cody is the quintessential Old West town. It is full of cowboy clothing stores and old time saloons. There is a small shop dedicated to the dinosaur digs that are taking place in Wyoming. We decided to head in…while chatting with the woman in there; we came to find that her parent’s family was originally from Johnstown, PA! She goes back there from time to time to visit relatives. She was really nice and let Gumby get his picture taken with their T-Rex.

Tomorrow we continue east across northern Wyoming. We will be stopping in Gillette to do another oil change and then continue on to Sundance. We hope to stop and check out Devil’s Tower National Monument which is just outside of Sundance.