Day 45, July 29th Colter Bay (Grand Teton), WY to Madison Campground (Yellowstone)

The night passed sans bear attacks... yay! and we were up bright and early with the cold weather. I guess that is just going to be how it is from here on out. Vance was up doing his stretches in his super cool yellow and red warm up suit with gloves and hat to top it off. We were much inspired.

Our other two mates were still slumbering, but we headed on back to the grocery to get some breakfast as it opened, and then take our snacks down to the beach and get our mountain fix.

We loaded up on cheap discounted eats, coffee, yogurt and some other nonsense. To our greatest pleasure, the Tetons were crisp and clear this morning and we spent almost 1.5 hours just taking them in.

Around 9, we decided that alas we must move on, so we hopped on our bikes to get our butts over to Yellowstone. The first part of the ride had its challenges, but we were still enthralled with the mountain/water scape on our left, and then viewing the enormous amount of damage still evident from the 1988 fire. It just amazed us that dead trees, some of which only were a hollow charcoal shell, could stand for 20 years. Amazing.

Our buddy Jay caught up with us just before we entered the Yellowstone, and I don't think we had even gone a mile when we stopped at "Moose Falls" where we lingered, dipping our feet and heads in, and just trying to absorb the beauty. As Andy later noted, these things are so beautiful you just want to be a part of them, and so sometimes engage in slightly dangerous activities you might not otherwise do. We didn't step on a geyser or anything though.

Moving on, we struggled to keep pedaling, between the small shoulders, gorgeous canyons, rivers, lakes, scary RVS and wildlife, it was hard to keep the momentum going. There was also about 5 miles of gravel road construction that was awfully unpleasant, but we might have actually been making better time through there just based on our adrenalin.

We stopped at Grant Village for some overpriced grub, bought another SD card with our camera (thank you Christie!), and I got a flat. So surprising. I took this one hard though, and it was super annoying. There was another Steve (from Oklahoma) at this place. A jovial fellow biking north through the parks and doing it at an awesome pace, like 10 to 30 miles a day, and just enjoying himself. Nice dude. Also there was another motorized bicyclist. We guess we'll take him too.

Getting late in the afternoon, we still had quite a ways to go, and some serious passes to climb. I was kind of upset from the flat (man I am such a girl) and being grumpy, when, we saw a bear! Granted it was pretty far away, but that is probably where it should be, and its wild presence helped get us over those climbs. We passed over the Continental Divide twice, again, and met 7 bikers. The first were a couple from Delaware on a tandem with matching yellow everything, even socks with sandals. We stopped Jeanne and Brian mid-climb, which they seemed to sort of appreciate, but it was awfully hard for them to push off with their tandem and trailer. You can check their progress at http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/teamhanson08.

We also met a group of five guys who all were carrying a musical instrument, from guitar to melodica to shakers. Very cool guys. They are sponsored by Clif Bar and have a van following them, that only carries their clif bars. We were a little disappointed they didn't offer us any, but we liked them just fine anyway. They are also making a movie about the trip, they're doing 7500 miles, or planning that anyway. Check out www.bikingthestates.com.

So that all took some time, and then there were the Cascade Falls, and by the time we got to Old Faithful, it was already 7pm. We split some chunky soup out of a can and a variety of other things as we waited for the eruption. A nice family behind us got us back to a better mood, especially as their daughter tried to figure out how to fit our bikes in their car to drive us the last 16 miles to Madison (we're not lazy, just getting dark and do not want to be eaten by wild animals). Around 8, Old Faithful blew her major steam, and we rushed off, really pushing ourselves that last bit. The terrain coorperated. It was pretty flat from then on and downhill. We were sad to not have time to look at the additional crazy blue and orange sulfur smelling geysers that look like the moon or Mars, but camping beckoned. We hope to return someday.

We made it to camp just as it really got pitch dark, just around 9, having seen another coyote in the middle of the road. We got set up for fairly cheap (for Yellowsonte that is). The cool thing is they have biker/hiker rates for camping. We set up tent, bear bagged or stuff, and went straight to sack.