Dubois to Riverton, WY

Posted on July 6, 2004 by Kevin

We returned to Daylight Donuts for breakfast before getting on the road. The lunch stop was at a rest area near Pilot Butte and the Wind River Canyon, both of which I recall from our family trip in the area ten years ago. I did just one hour on the trainer today, which let me catch an earlier van into the next town. I saw Robert when I got there, he had stayed on the first van and arrived earlier. We asked Peter to give us a lift downtown, which was probably about a mile and a half from the Riverton Middle School. Our first stop was The Boot bar. Robert had not eaten at the lunch stop, so he had a cheeseburger, fries, and a beer, while I just had a Heineken Dark. We stopped and had a donut at a coffee shop next door.

The main street of town was completely demolished; it looked like they were laying down new sewer lines or something. This make it hard to browse the storefronts, so we basically just walked down the back alley until we could look back to the main street beyond the construction zone. We stopped at the Hilltop Lounge for another beer, then I stopped at the public library near the school to catch up on e-mail.

Robert is a 49-year-old former bank executive from near Atlanta, originally from Dallas. I think I mentioned earlier that he has been having knee trouble. It started on the very first day. He took a couple of days off to let it rest, then tried riding partial days. Unfortunately, it got progressively worse. He said he had starting thinking about cycling across the country thirteen years ago. He has been a great help to me as we have been able to share our feelings of disappointment about the outcomes of our trip, not to mention his frequent help with my tent, duffle bags, sleeping bag, etc. I feel bad for him; although I am uncertain when I will be able to resume cycling, I am encouraged by daily improvement, while he has face daily uncertainty, hopeful days followed by frequent let-downs. As of last night, he made the decision to fly home at the end of this week to try to let his knee fully rehabilitate. If all goes well, he will try to re-join us for the last two weeks of the tour. I will miss him and I hope to see him again, if not on this tour, then maybe one in a future year.

After dinner, we all gathered in the school cafeteria to watch a tape of today’s Tour de France stage. A local cycling fan had taped it and lent it to us. I went to bed soon afterwards.