Mood:  a-ok

For all of the poor weather than I went through, this current weather system is making up for it.  The sun quickly raised the temperature to a comfortable level.  As planned, I left around 7:30 AM, and had a hearty breakfast of eggs, bacon, pancakes, juice and coffee.  I would need something for lunch, but the grocery next door didn't stock them.  So I went back to the restaurant and asked the cook if he could make me a sandwich.  He refused.  I guess lunch would be a peanut butter Clif Bar and a Blueberry Muffin.  Not much, but it's any port in a storm.

There is a fine balance between the food consumed, which supplies the energy used, to the calories burned while pedalling. (The same is true of water consumed vs. water perspired) So I was not thrilled with the idea of not having much of a lunch for this climb which would certainly need a lot of exerted effort.  Wait!  What is that ahead?  It's another restaurant and it's right before the climb!  I'll just have a quick, early lunch, and then I'll tackle the Pass with all cylinders running.  I went inside.  The restaurant was closed.

Jim Walton had said to expect Togwotee Pass to be a grind, but a beautiful one.  He was right.  It was very pretty.  The road just climbed and climbed.  I knew that the more it climbed the closer I would be to the top.  Just keep those legs pumping. 

About 4 miles from the summit, I was passed by another line of cars, this one being led by an RV.  I watched as the RV suddenly swing off the road into a turnout area.  As I neared it, I thought "Hmm, it is towing a Subaru Outback.  Could it possibly be Chuck and Joan?  It was!  My Scrabble-playing-Boulder buddies from a couple of nights earlier were on their way home, saw me, and decided to pull over.  They had ice cold water, banana bread, and most importantly themselves.  They are such a nice couple and so generous with what they have.  I could have stayed there a long time, but I know that it was far more important that they keep to their schedule than it was for me.  After 15 minutes inside their RV, we parted.  What a small world!  Thank you Lord!

A couple of miles from the summit, there was road construction.  They would not let me ride through.  Instead the contractors loaded my bike onto a pickup truck and drove me to the other side.  It was only another mile or so to the top and soon I was flying downhill.   Only 30 miles to Dubois.  It was mostly downhill so I got there quickly.

Tomorrow would be a long ride to Lander--77 miles.  Tomorrow was also Sunday.  In my motel room I studied the list of places to worship, needing to get to an early service.  Even then I would be starting out late.  Wait a minute!  Here is a Mass at 6:30 PM tonight!  I could shower, eat and still get there early.  At 6:10 PM I entered the Catholic Church (I can't remember the last time I attended Mass.).  I was directed downstairs.  At the bottom of the stairs, I entered a large room, set up for dinner.  The motel information was incorrect.  Saturday Mass was over.  It started at 5 PM.  I guess God wanted me to go to the Lutheran 9 AM service.

Back in the room, I worked on the bike a bit, watched "The Parent Trap" and listened to a couple of chapters of "Ivanhoe" on my MP3 Player.  Then slept.

Will McMahan