learning about american geography the hard way.

Those last fifty miles yesterday were a mistake. But the kind of mistake you don't realize you've made until it can't be fixed and there is nothing to do but put your head down and turn your feet.

For the last fifty miles, and for the next couple of hundred miles - I am in the Great Basin, WY. Defining characteristic? EXTRODINARILY WINDY. Yesterday's 50 miles started out fine, than deteriorated.

Hour one: 15 miles
hour two: 12 miles
Hour three: 10 miles
Hour four: 8 miles
Hour five: 5 miles.

(the wind just got worse and worse as the afternoon progressed. I couldn't hear anything because of its howling in my ears. Like, I was riding on a highway - couldn't hear traffic. I think this accounts for the large amount of roadkill I've seen on these highways (i stuck to the large shoulder). I was counting 5-10 carcasses a mile. Everything from snakes, to rodents, to birds, to deer.

At the point that you are cycling at five mph, you are pretty much just on a grim death march until the end. My personal litany in times like this is: 'Just keep turning the pedals. This is how the bike works. If you are turning the pedals, its working. Keep turning the pedals. This is how the bike works.' and 'No you are not allowed to get off your bike until you fall off it.'

At three miles left I tell myself: Its THREE MILES you could be dead and still cycle three miles. You aren't dead, so quit whinging!' (I have all sorts of sayings for different mileages)

Today has gone much better. On the advice of fellow tourers (who are all going the other way than me - I think it has something to do with the wind) I left at 6:45 am. Was in Rawlings by noon (60 miles). I have now met almost a dozen tourers. Including one guy who was bringing his dog. I look at her and my first question is: how much does she weigh? 50 lbs. She's an AWESOME dog though, so I can see how he couldn't leave her.

At the campground in Rawlings. Am not really looking forward to the next couple of hundred miles. But then Yellowstone! And people tell me it gets good around there.