Yellowstone!

June 24, 2011 – West Yellowstone, WY

Today was a very exciting day for the team.  We had a 90 mile ride to West Yellowstone, and since most of the team has never been to Yellowstone we were all ready to experience and see the beautiful scenery!  Our day started bright and early at 6AM with a Wes Crew Chief breakfast of half a bagel, half a banana, and a cup of cereal.  The weather for today’s ride was perfect and it stayed around 70 degrees the entire day.  About 26 miles into the rode we hit some sever traffic and unsafe roads.  So we stopped and waited for everyone could catch up together.  While waiting we were able to get some great pictures by the beautiful river that we have been riding alongside of all day!  The road we stopped at had a nickname of Dead Man’s Pass because of all the people that have been killed on that stretch of highway.  There were more crosses on the side of this road then we had team members.  And since safety is always our number one concern we thought it was best to rack all of our bikes and drive through the stretch of unsafe roads.  It is always better to be safe than sorry.  We drove 15 miles up the road to where we thought it was safe enough for us to continue riding our bikes to Yellowstone.  We were told about a bike trail that we could ride on for awhile, which we all gratefully road on since we all know how Montana drivers like to drive.  But sadly the bike trail lasted only 3 miles and we were again on the road with our favorite truck drivers.  The truck drivers that love to fly by us going 70 MPH, loudly honking their horn, and not moving over to give us more room.  Luckily we are all getting really comfortable with our bikes and are able to more comfortably handle these situations now.  But this is just one of the things you have to deal with when riding your bike across the country.  But each mile we rode towards West Yellowstone the beauty of Montana increased.  The mountains and raging streams created an awesome connection with Mother Nature.  There were even places where snow was still on the ground since it has been so cold lately!  At the gates of West Yellowstone we stopped to take pictures and to eat a tasty crew lunch.  After lunch the amazingly beautiful ride continued.  We stopped to take many pictures of the mountains, animals, and rivers so we could all this beautiful ride we are on that very few people in the world get to experience.  On top of the beautiful scenery today I hit 1,000^th mile that I have biked this summer!   This has been one of the best cycling days on the 2011 Journey of Hope.  A little later we arrived at our lodging at a local high school in West Yellowstone.  We all unpacked, showered, and got ready to go to an IMAX movie so we could see Yellowstone in high definition.  It was a great show and afterwards we treated ourselves to .50 soft served ice cream cones in the gift shop!   We where then treated to a sponsored meal at a restaurant called Gusher’s that Wes’s Granma and Grandpa paid for.  It was a great meal and a great day to spend in one of the nation’s greatest parks!