Safe Return Doubtful

64 miles (103 km) – Total so far: 1,278 miles (2,056 km)

It turned out that Kemmerer had its busiest night for some time. 200 fire-fighters were in town to help extinguish a forest fire that had restarted the day before, and that number will double tomorrow. And the pile of people surging north to see the full 2 minutes of the 100% eclipse. I tried one city park. No sooner had I got the tent up than a police car arrived. He has extremely helpful when he realised the state of the town and directed me to a city park at the back of town, quieter also, he even helped me pack up and move stuff over.

At a chatty breakfast at Place on Pine (which was good) I noticed wind already, rare so early in the day, but today, perhaps unluckily for potential eclipse watchers, the weather is due to change. My ride was mainly south, and it wasn’t really until after 2 hours, 28 miles, that the wind got up any strength to bother, but bother it did. It was a south westerly, so right at me, and slowed my pace on undulating hills from 15-17 mph, to 9-10 mph. Plus it is so much harder work.

I got to the I-80 (Interstate) Junction at 11 am and realised that in order to proceed I needed about 10 miles east on the I road, strictly this is against the law. My GPS had last night routed me through some dirt roads, then tracks over the mountain directly south, a mission indeed. The I-80 goes up at 6% for 200 metres here, even with the wind now, it was hard work, then a 5 mile downhill into Fort Bridger, and a few extra miles to Lynam. I have a cheap motel here, booked in a rush last night, to get out of the sun before two big days, and as there is so few places to camp around, besides, I have paid only 10$ for my campsites in the last 4 nights.

A chatty breakfast with a couple here for fossilling and the eclipse. The area is supposed to be the best place in the world to find fossils, including of course, from dinosaur days.

Back up to the Kemmerer bypass and then south.

Wyoming plains for much of the day, gently undulating hills, this was before the wind got up.

Sunday morning riding – far less if any trucks on the road, and pretty much nothing until 11 am

Fort Bridger. The towns of Fort Bridger, Lynam and Mountain View and grouped together as a tri-town.

The year Nigel and Sandra were married was the year I started working in Chile. My term didn’t finish until the day of the wedding. Mum and dad had flown over and were there for the ceremony, just with close family. I arrived at the airport and was picked up by Gill who was also teaching at the time as I recall, and we hotfooted home to change, and then to the reception. This was at an excellent Italian restaurant in Houston and was a memorable occasion with tremendous food. Following that the party visited a few bars in the city, and Nigel and Sandra, as well as me and a few good friends stayed in a hotel in downtown Houston.

Nigel had rented a limousine for the evening to travel around in, and after the meal and a few drinks, mum and dad took Cameron and Annabelle home in the limo, whose driver had instructions to pass through the ‘lights’ of the city while they had snacks, drinks and party music in the back. It was of course a new experience for all.

Mum and dad stayed a few more days, in the lead up to Christmas, and we shopped, watched soccer, celebrated, and went out for some great lunches. Dad was never totally at home in the US, which is a bit of an understatement. He struggled, as I must admit I sometimes do these days also), ordering breakfast and lunch. What kind of bread would you like? How would you like your eggs? Which salad dressing? Which type of cheese? And tips of 20% for waiters and waitresses?

After they left for home Christmas Day came and went and Nigel and Sandra went away for a brief honeymoon. My job was to house sit, and dog sit. Sandra’s dog at that time was Heidi, a very highly strung chihuahua. She took an instant dislike to me and took great pride in pissing on my bed if ever I left my room open, or indeed anything that smelt of me left around the floor. Fortunately she was not part of the deal, and it was Nigel’s dog, Toffee, that I looked after. Craft beer was in its infancy at that stage, but still, I spent the short time testing several out, and chatting through the important matters of the day with Toffee. Just an addendum to this, as the years went by my relationship with Heidi mellowed. Mutual respect was the first step. The pissing even stopped. In her latter years she would climb on to my shoulder and lay down. We actually grew to like each other.