Day 12 –Lander, WY, to Mile 228 Rest Area I-80, WY 143.1 miles

Ah… dry clothes, but cloud covered skies again. I was much more at ease knowing I had two options on filling tubes in the event of a flat.
Adam and I set out at 7am hard and fast. I needed to get my blood moving and the wind was blowing from the northwest. We made short work of the first 80 miles after crossing the continental divide a couple more times. We saw the sun for the first time in a few days, and the wind grew stronger the closer we made to Rawlins. It was a fantastic day and a boost to the morale. It was good to have someone talk to and we related on many topics on the road. I finally saw more than 500 ft around me and saw Wyoming’s interior: sage brush. There were signs overrun by the Wyoming weed describing how they were trying to thin the sage brush. Personally I love the smell of sage, but could understand why too much of a good thing would be a nuisance.
About 80 miles in we crossed with 2 ladies headed west to Portland. They were knowledgeable and hearty, it was good to see a couple females on the road besides stinky men. Unfortunately, pedaling after stopping for the chat became very difficult and the knees responded poorly. Adam tried to lead but the BOB trailer he used had a habit of kicking up all the rocks on the road.
We tried to stop at Grandma’s Café in Lamont but the employee there said it was closed because the owner had an orthodontist appointment. We had not stopped since Lander and my legs were tired. We kept going less by choice and more of necessity, storm clouds were approaching.
We arrived at Rawlins around 3pm riding some good storm winds. We stopped at a diner and Adam had a 1lb’er burger. The burger met its demise in a few short minutes. He said he would not go any further for the day. Seeing I had another 5 hours of light and good storm winds to pull me to Laramie, I set my sights high and maybe was a little greedy. I reviewed his adventure cycling maps and it showed I-80 as the route, a little concerning to me. My route didn’t include I-80. Plus, it was 10 miles shorter if I took the interstate all the way to Laramie instead of US-287. I had my angels and demons battle it out on my shoulders as I set out onto I-80 getting pushed along from the storms at 25 mph. Not bad after 120 miles of pedaling. I stopped in Sinclair under an underpass to wait out one of the passing storm cells. I decided to call in back up – my wife. Since my blackberry couldn’t do motion on the weather I had her navigate for me, she said a half hour wait would put me on the road again. She was excited that I would be so close to Denver by nightfall.
On the pedals again I hauled back on to the interstate and made for the exit at US-287, deciding I did not want to take I-80 all the way to Laramie. I made it about 4 miles before the storms enveloped me and sent me to yet another rest stop at mile marker 228. Since I was a little seasoned this time, I went straight for the picnic shelter that afforded the most protection from the wind. I bagged myself and sat on my sleeping pad, it was 7:30pm. I decided if I could make Medicine Bow about 40 miles away by nightfall I would be satisfied. The rain fell harder and the air was thick with fog. Sleep came heavy on my eyes and after sending out tweets and various other things to keep me entertained and awake, I saw a state trooper circle the parking lot… and then again… 5 minutes later he passed again, and this time with some kind of government truck. Ugh, what was I going to do? I waited for them to arrive at my two walled house for eviction. They never came. I talked with my wife again about the weather and it seemed I was going to stay at the rest area for the night. She was very disappointed. I think I slept the best that night in a long time… 80 miles to Laramie, then see how far I can get to home base by night fall. It looked to be about 200 miles tomorrow.