July 26th 5th Day of Rest in Lander, WY

Since Andy's cellphone had most likely spent the evening in the movie theater, we decided it would be best to wait till it opened, or till we could find some chap to open it, to set off. So we resigned ourselves to pretty much enjoying a day off, since afternoons tend to be trickier for riding in this climate.

Our first morning stop was the bookstore/coffee shop on Main Street, where we met some super nice people who helped us with our woes, served us good coffee, and let us use their cellphones. Kathy, the owner, whose daughter lives in Portland and son in Manhattan, got us the numbers for the owner of the theater, etc. And Emma, the 20s barista let Andy use her cellphone over and over to make some calls. We also met Jim and Sue Downham. A retired English teacher, Jim gave us the rundown on Lander, giving us the impression that it is the blue dot in a mostly red state. At some point Andy left and regained control of his phone. Hurray! Emma's mom also came in, she writes grants for the NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School) which has a headquarters here. She offered her house and laundry facilities to us, which we didn't take, mostly because we were lazy and didn't want to bike the 3 miles out of town. Our loss.

We made our way around town. Ate good food for lunch, explored the various sites, including the gallery that connects to the town's foundry. The mother of the foundry owners, Trudy, a very sweet lady, was babysitting the gallery and showed us around the western oriented bronzes. She gave Andy the manager's name and number and they ended up having a long telephone conversation. Always looking for job opportunities. Apparently, in the future, we may move to Lander, WY. Who knows?

Went back to the park, reset up our tent. Taught Andy a yoga class, where I made him open his mouth really wide and resplit his lip open. Still, he seemed to feel better about it, and I definitely needed the practice. Then we went to eat dinner at Tony's pizza, where our entire conversation consisted of naming euphemisms. We pretty much exhausted the town's restaurants while we stayed their, although I think we missed the Maverick Lounge and the Folklore Cafe.

The winds were picking up back at the park, so we staked everything down, and crashed, with dreams of living in Lander. Ahhh.