Phase 2, Day 5. Alcova - Douglas, WY

94 miles. A quick ride with 5 hours in the saddle and it felt good to finally not be bothered by the troubled rear wheel.

After yesterday's long and late day I wasn't excited about jumping out of bed at 5am to again ride all day. Turned on the TV to check local weather while having a coffee and wouldn't you know, the Tour de France channel came on! Watching the TDF always gets me excited to ride. Watched the race for an hour then had to ride. Never did see the weather forecast. Going anyway I suppose.

I finally left the high country and mountains today and rolled into the plains. Today was my favorite day this week.

A beautiful morning start and at mile 30 arrived in Casper, the biggest town since Salt Lake. I had to get back into the "town-riding" mode with the traffic, red lights and all the rest which always takes me longer than I would like. Casper is nice.

I hang a small US flag from the saddle bag, thought it would be fun for July 4th, but a funny thing happened: many happy horn toots with waving and the good 'ol boys now give me a very wide berth as they pass. That's my perception at least so the flag will continue to fly.

Mammoth wind turbines for many miles.

Most of the day was spent descending and riding up and down gentle rolling hills with a nice push from that Wyoming wind. I chose to add 10 miles from the most direct route to enjoy a very quiet and beautiful country highway for 2 hours. The extra miles were definitely worth it.

Self portrait on a wonderful day.

Arrived in Douglas, "One of the Top 100 Best Small Towns in America" they say. I love anything about trains and before I even found my motel, usually the first order of business when arriving, I saw a wonderful railroad museum. Had to stop to check out the rolling stock. When my family emigrated from England to California in the '60's we arrived by train from Chicago on The California Zephyr. One exhibit today was an original 'Zephyr dining car from the 1960's. That was fun for me to see..again. Then stopped at the old train depot/restaurant for a cold drink and ordered the Rocky Mountain Oysters. Exactly.

Dining car from California Zephyr, 1960s.  Perhaps I ate here?

Today was a very mellow day and I liked it. I even stopped here and there just to take it all in for a few minutes, something I wish I would do more.

Tomorrow's my last longish day at 105 miles to Torrington, just a few miles shy of the Nebraska border.