Greetings From W. Yellowstone

Whew! Day 5, first blog on the ride! Guess I should backtrack from the begining:

After a late start in F.C., due to car troubles (stupid cars!) we made moves up to Lander WY. A 6 hour car ride later we were abandoned by our drivers and left alone with just our gears and bikes. We stayed at a city park in Lander for free, great spot! Late that night we spotted our first other tourers setting up camp next to us.

Ride-Day 1
In the morning we chatted up our tent neighbors and found out they were from Denver and heading in the same direction after a day off in Lander. We on the other hand were on our way, after coffee, a tire change, and a few hours of lolly-gagging.
After only a short amount of riding we soon made friends with a half-starved pup named Skip. Skippers followed us up the road for awhile. Finally a couple from CA pulled over to let us know there was a dog chasing us down... after we filled them in they turned around picked up Skip and took him back to a vet in town. They paid for a few nights of boarding and tried to call the owner who apparently was from IN! This couple helps restore faith in the good of people... We hope Skip and his owner are reunited soon (maybe in a month if he is still there I'll bring him home!)
We treked through the Wind River Indian Reservation as fast as we could trying to make it to Dubois (do-boys). After 75 miles on day 1 we pulled into Dubois, WY and went straight for pizza at Playa Deli and a KOA.

Day 2- Day 2 should've been a big climb over Togwotee pass (Ta-goat-e), and there was a good bit of climbing until we were stopped and shuttled over the top because of construction. A 7 mile shuttle on our first big pass was kind of a downer, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't at least a little happy about it! On the way down the pass, we stopped at Angler's campground and were given a great view of the Tetons. Some animal rucus at night made us a little restless, and we didn't have the best night of sleep, but the view in the morning made up for it.

Day 3- I was reminded in the morning that sunscreen is very important... with blackened shoulders and a slight chill, I remembered my face, but forgot the part that was facing the sun for the entire first day! Riding day 3 wasn't too bad and we settled in for camp at Colter Bay Village in Grand Teton NP. They have a special hiker/biker campground, which seems to lack a special hicker biker rate as they still charge per person. At CBV we met J. MO, a dude from Oregon heading to Pittsburg and Hunter and Rick, a father son duo completing the entire great divide! As we sat with J. Mo around the fire later that night our conversation was interupted with a very distinct "ROAR!"... after a few more minutes of chatter we all look at eachother and asked aloud, "we all just heard a growl right?" And sure enough one more very bear-ish "Roar"... it had to have been just behind our neighbors campsite... The three of us quickly loaded everything we could into the bear box and stood around like a group of militia, waiting for the bear to attack. Toby held his light into the trees, I handled the bear spray can for dear life and J.Mo suddenly discovered in his pocket a packet of Hot Tamales that he ran to dispose of in the bear box as well. Even now, I can't help but laugh at how we must have looked!

Day 4
After all walking to the bathroom together, we went to bed early and surprisingly got a good night sleep. Woke up to rain on the tent-top and cooked some breakfast and heading on for a day of climbing. We powered on through  the day, climbing up to the entrance to Yellowstone. At our first big climb we were greeted at the top by a strange man waving at us with his straw hat... turns out that was my friend Ray!

 So happy to see Ray I immediatly begin ripping things off my bike for him to bring back to Fort Collins. We took his fruit said hello and just as we were saying goodbye, who shows up but our first friends from Lander Park. We thanked Ray, waved goodbye and went forward with Scotty and Lucy, forces joined together like a bunch of Power Rangers!
As a group we moved on until Lewis Lake, where we split camp with our new friends. Just as we began to set up for dinner flakes of snow began to fall... and then harder and then just a little more. Journal quote of the night, "Please God, let tomorrow be just a little warmer! I hate the idea of having to get up in the middle of the night to pull my pants down and pee." not graceful, but at this point I am dirty and feel less than graceful, but very grateful... This journey so far is amazing!

Day 5
Woke up with the tent frozen shut, but little accumulation on the ground. A morning fire sizzled while we packed up camp and made breakfast. We rode through day 5 covered from head to toe, our bags suddenly lighter since we were wearing just about everything we brough but our sleeping bags. We climbed up and down... crossing the continental divide 3 times.
Apparently bikers in Yellowstone are as big of an attraction as the bison and bears, as many people stop to take our pictures and ask us questions about our journey.

From now on we are thinking about asking $ for each picture and letting them know that "biking across the country isn't cheap, you know!"  We also got up close and personal with a bison crossing the road... and plenty of tourists in their RV's who wouldn't let us pass by. Finally after much patience with the traffic through the national parks, pushing us against the side of the road, pulling over in front of us etc, I lost my patience and shook an angry fist at a giant RV who pretty much forced us to shake hands with the bison in the road. We stopped to watch Old Faithful blow her top. We headed on and stopped about 3 miles outside of camp to collect firewood on our bikes (what a site!), then headed onto Madison Jct. to share another night of camping with Scotty and Lucy. We dinned and winned over the campfire with our most delicious meal yet (rice and summer elk sausage with green beans and Lucy's spices) and shared stories of life until we could not stay up another minute.

Day 6

It has started to be routine and packing our bags is not as much a science as it seemed but now just a more natural progression of our day. 14 miles later we arrived in West Yellowstone, MT. It's up in the air where we will head from here. Currently paying $3 per half hour to use the internet I am trying to type fast and recount to all of you the past 6 days. I'm sure it cannot do it all justice. Toby's posting some pictures (sustainablebicycling.org)... I will try my best to figure it out without paying for too much internet....

Life is going well.... more to come as internet is available!