Day 3 - The Desert
I fell asleep last night around 8pm. Slept well. I woke up at 4:30am but decided not to rush. I packed last night so I knew I had time. Finally got on the road at 7. My body is hurting. Specifically my wrists, knees, hamstrings, and right achilles tendon. In no particular order, and some are new some reoccurring. Some I'm worried about, and some I'm not. What's a struggle without some pain?
I'm heading from Lander to Muddy Gap today. I'm assured their is a convenience store there. The morning miles rolled by as they're beginning to do quite regularly. I had a feeling a climb was in store, and sure enough... But when I reached the top there was no downhill this time. It had brought me to an all new elevation that persisted for miles, and almost instantly went from high plains to desert. Along with the elevation gain came what you back east call a hurricane, but in Wyoming they call it wind. At time it pushed me forward making my pedaling effortless, and others it would blow me right across the shoulder. The noise was almost deafening.
When I'd open my mouth to eat the wind would whistle across my mouth as it was open. The wind was loud, but it didn't cover the distinctive sound of a rattle. I slammed on my brakes, and swerved back around momentarily forgetting about traffic but snapped out of it in time to notice their weren't any cars around. I whipped out my camera and found the source of the noise. My first ever rattle snake. I didn't get too close, the video isn't great... Once I headed my way back down the shoulder the snake turned and did the same in the opposite direction.
My next stop was the little gem of a town named Jeffrey City. As I rolled into town I became excited by the number of buildings. After all that desolate hot earth and driving wind I was looking forward to a little respite and some company. But as I got closer to town things looked a little strange. Their wasn't any movement around town. 
I only just found out that this once bustling Uranium Mining Town was abandoned in 1982. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_City The only still open business is the Split Rock Cafe, and as the white board tells ONLY business that hasn't closed. I rode around and looked at the buildings. Barracks and houses dot the once town but now are all empty, a modern day ghost town! I had lunch at the cafe (I guess when you're the only cooking, food, gas, anything for 85 miles in either direction you can server whatever you want) an interesting chicken sandwich and then pushed on down the road.
The route had quite a few historical markers on it. Most notably was a former stop on the Oregon Trail, Split Rock. It was later used as a Pony Express Fort, the placard noted that at one point Wild Bill rode horseback for 20 hours some 240 miles, to deliver a message at one point riding one horse at full speed for 24 miles while outrunning a group of Native Americans.
There was also a section where the steel covered wagon wheels of the pioneers had worn away the rock, and the remnants of the pony express station could still be seen. My resting spot for the night is Muddy Gap, a mere 7 miles down the road. What I didn't know when I chose this location is that Muddy Gap is only a gas station at a road junction. I'm camped out on the front lawn of the gas station, as they kindly offered my the space to avoid the rattle snake laden ground that exists everywhere else. I'm looking out on the road I descended not to long ago.
I'm fed up (by that I mean I ate) and ready to go to sleep. It's 7:30pm. The sun and customer's aren't going to let me sleep for a bit, especially since this is the main route to the Sturgis Bike Rally. But it is rattle snake free unlike all of the other ground in this area.
-Morning note: The wind blew all night 30-50mph. I slept maybe 4-5 hours.
