Today we rode from the A&M Reservoir in the Great Basin, Wyoming, US to the Teton Reservoir Campground 16km south of Rawlins, Wyoming, US. Sunny weather with clouds, rain + hail shower in the afternoon. Road conditions were easy today and included a good gravel road but mostly paved roads. Highlights of the day include sunrise at the A&M Reservoir, sunset at the Teton Reservoir, and laundry ;).

Riding statistics: on Tuesday, August 23, 2022, day 23 on the route, it took 10:38h (06:12h moving time), between 07:28 and 18:07, to cover 117 km (73 miles), including 696 m (2284 ft) elevation gain, with an average speed of 19 km/h (12 mph), while reaching a maximum speed of 45 km/h (28 mph). During this ride the average temperature was 29 °C (84 °F) with a minimum of 15 °C (59 °F) and a maximum of 58 °C (136 °F).

Totals: So far, it took 6 days, 20 hours, 38 minutes, and 5 seconds of cycling time to cover 2436 km (1514 miles), including 27354 m (89748 ft) elevation gain, with an average speed of 15.1 km/h (9.4 mph).

The day began early, at 0:30am to be exactly. Suddenly, the wind force increased so much, that I was not sure if my tent would hold. I already read about strong winds in the Great Basin, but it did surprise me. There was so much pressure on the outside of the tent that it was blown inwards. The inside of my tent just got a bit smaller. It made a lot of noise, and the tent bounced in the wind, but all seemed to be holding up. In my imagination my rain fly would tear and fly away, leaving me in my inner tent only. After a while I was convinced that all would be OK, and I fell asleep again.

We had not set our alarms for this morning, and we would see when we got up after the long day of yesterday. I have been awake a few times more that night, but at 6:20am I suddenly was awake and heard Anna already outside. While enjoying a beautiful sunrise, I got out of my tent as well. A little later our neighbors Melvin, Jack, and Max also got out of their tents. After getting some breakfast, and water from the trail angel, Anna and I were the first ones to leave the A&M Reservoir.

After getting back on the gravel road, we experienced a tailwind on a slightly downhill road. Along the gravel road we have seen cows, horses, squirrels, antelopes, and different kinds of birds. We made good progress. In no time we covered 20km (12.5 miles) and reached pavement again. At first, the road quality of the paved road was very poor. It was clear that this road was not used (and maintained) often. Later, the road surface became better. The landscape was still hilly, sagebrush, and some flowers next to the road (mainly yellow and some purple ones). We had to follow the paved road for about 45km (28 miles) and saw hardly any traffic. Only a few pickup trucks to came towards us (no traffic from behind at all). Gradually more ‘house’ appeared next to the road, but it was not always clear if there would be living someone. Often it was a big mess, both the house and the property. Eventually we could see a junction in the far distance. It turned to be 8km (5 miles) out form the first moment we could see it. From the junction it was a 4km (2.5 mils) uphill section in which we had to climb 150m (492 ft) in elevation. This road was busy. Fortunately, there was a very wide shoulder, and on the way up, there was a passing lane. After getting on top of the hill, we had to follow the road for little over 8km ( miles). We arrived at Rawlins at noon exactly and decided to go for the first gas station to check out our options. When arriving at the gas station, we saw a bar across it and decided to go for a warm meal first.

We ordered burgers & drinks and discussed what to do next. First laundry, then find somewhere to sleep. Or should we continue to cover some more miles? After finishing the meal, we cycled to a Laundromat which was close to the road and had a gas station nearby for some last-minute food shopping. We cycled through a poor neighborhood and arrived at (a poor looking) laundromat. A special card was required to make use of the laundromat. A woman inside showed as a card that was provided by a trail angel for visitors like us. We only had to deposit some money on the card and could use it for laundry. We wanted to clean as many clothes as possible, so one-by-one, we changed into bare minimum behind the laundromat building. I changed into my long johns and long sleeves. Anna into a dress. Perfect outfits to visit the bar next door while waiting for our laundry to be washed and dried. We had some drinks and talked to a few locals. Meanwhile thunderstorms were developing, and we were re-considering our decision to cycle on.

About on our later, our clothes were fresh again, and we had decided to move on. We stopped at the gas station for some more feed, and in total we got 2 gallons of water (about 8 liters). When leaving Rawlins, we could see parts of the town center in the distance. It looked like a nice downtown with old buildings and history. The areas surrounding downtown looked poor and sober.

Slightly outside the town of Rawlins, we had another hill to climb. Not a difficult climb, but a slightly longer one, and half-way it started to rain. We changed into our rain gear and continued our ride. It did not take long before the rain was pouring down. Gladly the rain gear was OK, and the temperature was not bad either. Otherwise, we might have regretted our decision to leave Rawlins. Rain changed into hail, and hail started to hurt our arms (fortunately we have bike helmets). The situation was funny, and we were both laughing. It did not last long, and quite soon thereafter we were riding in the sun again. The wind and sun got us dried up quickly.

After cycling a while in a nice afternoon / evening sun, we arrived at the Teton Reservoir Campground. This is a recreation around a small lake / water reservoir. There were picknick benches and pit toilets. However, no cover. No trees or bushes. All sand, gravel, sagebrush, and patches of grass. We already knew that there could be brutal winds in this campground as well. Because the water level was so low, we decided to get to the shore of the lake and camp over there. The hills would hopefully provide shelter. Hopefully there would be no rain shower during the night because then our decision to camp at the bottom of the hills we be a bad one.

We were glad we bought the two gallons of water. The water in the reservoir did not look appealing, and we think filtering would not have made any difference.

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