It all looks sooo fab. Everyone reading the blog back here is green with envy. Not least as we have just left the wettest and greyest August on record for our first'autumn storm' that left 1 person dead in mid Wales and floods everywhere!
Keep pedalling and giving us our vicarious kicks.

Rawlins

We are in Rawlins Wyoming. We left West Yellowstone about 10 days ago and have had quite an entertaining time on our way here. We have completed a further 7 divide crossings, crossed various mountain passes, and encountered a variety of weather conditions and landscapes - including our first desert. The group has also very recently expanded in size from 6 to 7.

In something approaching chronological order, this is what we have been up to:

1. Yellowstone car trip

Apart from myself and Kate who were doing the driving, the rest of the team treated the day as an opportunity to catch up on sleep. Chris in particular showed a remarkable ability to sleep just about anywhere. We visited quite a few of Yellowstone's attractions, including the Old Faithful geyser which I managed to miss completely by visiting the bathroom just before it went off. The day was a reasonable one, but I think that we all felt a little detached from our surroundings being sat in a car. Cycling through the southern portions of the park the next day was definately way more entertaining.

2. Travis and Lucas

Our ride south through Yellowstone resulted in us meeting two lone cyclists. The first was Travis. Starting in May 2008, Travis had cycled from New York to LA, headed north to Vancouver and was on his way south when we bumped into him, before heading east to Columbus. A former USMC officer who had served in Iraq, Travis' total mileage of some 7000 miles was seriously impressive - particularly when account was taken of the fact that he done it all carrying a laptop computer, an electric guitar and recording equipment.

The second cyclist we met was Lucas - a sport science student from Switzerland who was cycling from Calgary to San Diego. Lucas joined us for dinner at Grants Village, along with Mischa & Susanne from the Netherlands who were travelling from West to East across the USA.

3. Union Pass to Pinedale

Union Pass is a high mountain pass in the Wind River Range of western Wyoming. The pass is located on the Continental Divide between the Gros Ventre mountains on the west and the Wind River Range on the east. The pass was historically used by native Americans and early mountain men. Last Friday we climbed it on our bikes. On descending the other side, a ranger in a 4x4 stopped to say hello - Maria suggested that we might like to stay the night at her Ranger Station in order to avoid the local bears.

Some hours later we arrived at the station to be met by Maria, Robert and their dogs - the only trace of civilisation in hundreds of square miles of wilderness. What followed was a very entertaining evening complete with hot showers, homemade lasagna, beer and trivial pursuit. It turned out that Maria's grandfather was at one time the British High Commissioner in Panama, and she herself had studied at Cambridge. Robert was a retired federal agent from Alabama and a very funny man. Robert informed us that due to a sickness that was killing local cattle, the surrounding area had become a smorgasbord for bears and wolves. The situation was such that they had recently been forced to send 2 bears to 'bear heaven' due to their aggressive behaviour around camp. They had found one of the bears in their kitchen. Needless to say, we needed no persuasion to stay the night. The next morning Robert topped off our visit by instructing each of us in the use of his 44 magnum.

4. Mike, Bobby and Emily

We were to experience the kindness and generosity of strangers once again on Monday. We had left the town of Pinedale and were on our way to travel across one of the tougher sections of the route - the Great Divide Basin. The basin is a desert at about 6-7000feet that occupies an area of almost 4,000 square miles. Our intended route across amounted to a distance of some 220 miles and would take 4 days to complete.

The first leg of some 55 miles took us to a small informal campground next to a water source known as Little Sandy Creek. We arrived in afternoon sunshine but, during the course of the evening, the sky filled with clouds and the wind increased. By 10pm we were in the grip of a storm that lashed our tents with strong winds and rain. The next morning the weather was still bad. Hywel went to visit the only other occupant of the campground to try and get a weather report. Mike worked as a rancher but also ran a business providing horse riding vacations for experienced riders (http://www.hwl.net/). Mike used the location as his base. He immediately suggested that we join him in a large tent for coffee and then got a wood burner stove going. Whilst we were having breakfast and warming up in his tent it actually started to sleet/snow. Cycling the 54 miles to the next camp would have been a little dangerous in the circumstances so we ended up staying with Mike until the next day. We learnt all sorts about ranching, horses, and dog mushing (Mike's daughter Emily being something of an up and coming dog sled racer). During the afternoon Mike's wife Bobby and Emily arrived in a 4x4. That evening they prepared us food before entertaining us with songs and Bobby;s guitar. They were lovely towards us and made what would have been a difficult and challenging day in cold and wet conditions a very enjoyable one.

We awoke the next morning to find ice on both the inside and outside of our tents. After breakfast with Mike and his family we continued on our way under a clear sky. The snow remained on the surrounding mountains making for some great views. The remaining ride across the basin was uneventful but spectacular. Chris' video provides some idea of just how big and empty the Great Divide Basin proved to be..

5. Scott

Just before leaving camp early yesterday morning we were somewhat stunned to see a lone cyclist pulling a trailer ride into camp. Scott's opening words were 'Hi - I've been trying to catch up with you guys for a month'. Scott had started on the great divide route in Banff in early August. It seems that on his way south he had been told various accounts of 6 cyclists travelling the same way ahead of him (including some woefully inaccurate acount of two 'attractive girls' from the UK travelling with 4 guys from N.Z). Scott is originally from New Orleans but has been living in Banff for a few years where he works as a ceramic artist and carpenter in an art gallery. His arrival has increased our team to 7 and has provided us with our first 'native' member. He had ridden 120 miles across the desert on Wednesday in order to catch up with us - he is clearly a little bit rock. As for the welsh contingent of the team, we are all quietly impressed by the fact that Scott is not carrying any underwear with him at all (the Bristol girls were already disgusted about the fact that we were only carrying one pair of boxers each). You can find out a little more about him here: http://porcelainrocket.blogspot.com/

Anyway, tomorrow we head into Colorado. With a decent tailwind and good weather we hope to be in Steamboat Springs sometime early next week.

To all those nice people who have read and commented on this blog/drivel so far - thanks for doing so! Your messages are a welcome source of entertainment when we get to towns with internet facilities.

Canucks can't spell!

Doh! Happy pedalling........

Would you like some cookies?

Hi guys. I am sure you are just about ready for another care package....Take care and peddle safe!
Sheila Flint

Hywel is getting a little obsessed with these..

Updated pics..

Chris with 'energy drink'

Chris without 'energy drink'

On our way to Beaverdam

Harriet descending Fleecer Ridge

Chris on lower section of Fleecer Ridge

Hywel tries one of Pat's Bear bullets for size

Harriet riding 4 miles in a straight line

Road from Bannack to Morrison Lake

Chuck Norris at Lima

Our long held fears confirmed...

Tattoos seemed like a good idea at the time..

Lunchstop on road to Lakeview

Antics on divide crossing No. 6

West Yellowstone

We are in West Yellowstone - just outside of Yellowstone National Park. We have travelled about 1000 miles since leaving Banff on 28th July. The journey south from Helena has taken us through some quite remote areas, and has resulted in us meeting some interesting characters along the way.

First mention has to go to Ian who we met at a campsite in Basin several nights back. Ian was a man in his 60s who was in town in order to take part in a shooting competition the next day. He was kind enough to not only show us his small armory of weapons, but also allowed us to play with them too - even Hywel. Kate has some photos kicking around somewhere - I will see if I can get some up at some point.

Second mention goes to Mike Williams from the bike shop in Helena. Mike's customer care knew no bounds. Having had enough of her trailer, Harriet wished to switch to racks and panniers. Unfortunately, the required racks were not available in town. As a result, Mike offered to take delivery of the panniers and drive them to our camp in Butte the next evening. Not only did he do that, but he also agreed to take responsibility for shipping the discarded trailer back to the UK. Mike was a top bloke.

On our way to Beaver Dam campground a day or so later we met a solitary walker - Jim . Jim was a retired chemical engineer who was walking the great divide route from the Mexican border to Canada. He had been on the road since May and was expecting to finish his stroll in September. It was somewhat reassuring to meet someone even more mental than ourselves in terms of the physical task being undertaken - at least we get to roll down the mountains.

Last but not least there was Pat and Nancy. We met them while we were sheltering/cowering from the heat of the midday sun outside a small mercantile store in Wise River. They were camping some 10 miles south of Wise River along the same route that we were to travel that afternoon, and invited us to drop in on their camp on our way past. This completely by chance meeting resulted in us being provided with shower facilities and being entertained all evening with food, wine and endless stories about their own travels and (formerly) delinquent children. In the end we stayed all night and were treated to breakfast too. They were great. I particularly liked them because they relentlessly took the mickey out of Hywel for all sorts of things...

The current plan is to remain in West Yellowstone for a few days before heading on south, so the SPOT signal is not going to change location until about Tuesday. Harriet and Kate have sorted out a hire car which will allow us to see more of Yellowstone National Park than we will be able to get to by bike alone. At the moment nobody actually wants to drive the thing, mainly because none of us actually understand how American intersections work! Any pointers will be gratefully appreciated.

Good to see you're doing so well: keep it up. Love the beards! I'm dead jealous.