I slept better than I have the entire trip last night on a super soft motel bed with no threat of bears. I fell asleep with the TV still on some show about earth and all it’s natural beauty. I was up and on the road by 5:15 am this pleasant and beautiful morning.

On the way out of Pinedale, I saw three moose meandering back towards the outskirts of town. The picture quality is not ideal due to it still being a little dark at this time of morning.

The first 30 miles today were on paved roads, which meant that my pace was a little quicker and the ability to let my mind wonder was in high gear. I was able to witness an amazing sunrise over top of the mountain peaks, which set the tone for the entire day.

Once the pavement ended, I found myself on a dirt road that was just as nice as the pavement. It was so nice today as I was hoping for better road conditions in case my legs proved to be a little heavy from yesterday’s effort.

The views today were 360 degrees around in several spots as the road was like a roller coaster, up and down. It turned into a great ride where I had a blast building my speed on the downhill to see how far up the hill I could coast.

There was a small stretch of highway riding towards the end of today’s ride and prior to turning back onto a dirt road, South Pass Road. This road offered more roller coaster like topography and magnificent scenery on the way to my final destination.

After coasting down to the historic town of South Pass City, I prepared to climb up out of the town and then be able to have a long drop into the city of Atlantic City. Both towns offer great stories of the success and failures of gold mining in the late 1800s.

It was easy to find Wild Bill near his house and soon enough I found myself in Cabin 2 out back of the Miner’s Inn. The cabin is perfect and after a quick shower, I headed to Main Street to a bar restaurant for some lunch and snooping on some locals.

I found the spot Wild Bill recommended and enjoyed their barbecue tri-tip steak sandwich lunch special with baked beans and fries. I could not turn down the desert option as you can see, it was simply to die for.

As I was leaving, the annual hillbilly golf tournament was coming to a conclusion. The teams were given ten balls out in the middle of a field and had to get their balls through the sage brush and across a designated road while tallying their strokes. Once every team made it across the road, the teams were brought to the bar and puts were made from the left of the teepee frame to the hole made out of a cut up Gatorade plastic bottle buried in the ground. The organizer told me that it was simply a perfect excuse to drink early on a Saturday.

I just woke up from a nap that I took while writing this blog, sorry about that! Trying to prepare for Round 2 at the bar, dinner!