Day 90 - Friday, August 27
Today’s route began with an epic section of 22 miles from a remote overnight to the town of Evanston. The main route to this town is on I80 which is illegal for pedestrians. The other option was to cut through a mountain range which scaled to 8,200’. At 4:45am I left the RV in the dark of night and as I walked up the trail into the sky, I thought Chris must be looking at me out of the window thinking I must be stupid. Chris on the other looked at me and thought I was dead. Mountain lions, grizzly bears and other assorted predators lurked in the mountains but thankfully I didn’t come across any as I ascended one plateau after another into the sky. The temperature was a crips 42 degrees but adrenaline and effort kept me warm up the 10 mile climb. It felt like I was transported to the prehistoric period where sheets of ice created flat, lush and fertile grass at the top of the mountain and animals just roamed unafraid of their ultimate predators - humans. The area which was 20 miles by 20 miles is managed by Wyoming Land Management and leased to various parties such as Amoco, Chevron and even Florida Power & Light.
I came out of the clouds 22 miles later to a wonderful surprise…not the rear flat tire that Chris fixed up but my coach and good friend Lisa Smith-Batchen! Amazing how spirits pick up when you have company. And, she joined me for the last 6 miles of the day as we screamed & chatted away going into our usual 30mph headwind.
Once we finished up, we headed back to Walmart in Evanston to meet our other compadre, Bob Becker who flew in to join us in our 2 day mission to Salt Lake City.
Chris whipped up a fantastic chili, apps of cheese and olives and with a bottle of Montes Alpha Cabernet, we were all in a great mood.
Our nightly accommodation tonight is boon-docking on the side of a railroad yard right over the Utah border where will begin tomorrow.
I love each solo daily mission I am on,, but a mission with good friends is unsurpassed.
All for today -
Cheers,
David.
Coming off the mountain top…below are all of the images on the 22 mile mountain crossing
End of the days run
Bob realizes Lisa is here!
Dinner for 4
Chili with fixins
After dinner, after ice cream walk off
The Bunks
