Day 3 - A Short Day
(Laramie to Dubois, Wyoming, 294 miles)
Our route, Friday, July 26h, 2002.
Squish, Squish, Squish. That's the sound that my feet made as I made my way across the wet carpet of the deluxe motel we felt fortunate to find in Laramie. I didn't EVEN want to know where that water was coming from. And to think that I only paid twice the normal seasonal rate for this experience. Man, what a deal. Oh well, it would get better I thought and indeed it did as I took my morning shower and got everything packed up. While loading up the bike, I started to get a bit excited because this day might be our first day of great scenery. I was not to be disappointed.
Not willing to partake of the healthy, free continental breakfast of doughnuts and weak coffee at our five star accommodation, Ken and I departed from the "motel from hell" and stopped at a Petro truck stop restaurant on the western fringe of Laramie along the interstate for some "real" food. While there we checked the AAA Travel guidebook for motels in the Teton/Yellowstone area. It became very apparent as we read that if we wanted to hold down motel costs, staying anywhere near those two parks would be a bad idea. We located a town only about 50 miles from the park that had motels which were easily half to one third the cost, so we made that town, Dubois, WY. our destination for the day.
After finishing our breakfast we got on I-80 where I put the throttle right on the ST1100's sweet spot (that speed where the harmonics of the engine & frame meet to create the ultimate smooth ride) and headed for Rawlins. At this town we got on Highway 287 and headed for Dubois. As we proceeded up the road we experienced constant high winds and mile after mile of very arid landscape. Parts of this area reminded me of the Big Bend of Texas. We also began to see quite a few touring motorcyclists. To my surprise, they were mostly on cruisers, primarily Harley Davidsons. It made my back ache just thinking about doing long distance riding on one of those. As we approached Dubois, we finally began to see some nice scenery. This was just the first in what can only be described as an eye-candy marathon that would last for the next ten days.
Our first "real" scenery. Somewhere between Rawlins & Dubois, Wyoming.
We wheeled into Dubois in the early afternoon and got a very clean, reasonably priced room at the Stagecoach Inn. This establishment was located in the middle of town and was run by some really nice folks. Since we had all afternoon and evening to relax we decided to do a walking tour of this very small western town after we finished unpacking our bikes. We walked in and out of a couple of little "gingham chicken" type stores where they sold scented candles, old books and the like. Two of the more interesting stores however were the local hardware store where they sold snowmobiles and a general store that sold hardware & western clothes. I had never been up close & personal with a snowmobile before and I found them interesting (I'd love to ride one sometime). We eventually wound up at a little cafe next to our motel for coffee (I *think* it was the Cowboy Cafe). When the waitress told us about their homemade cinnamon rolls I decided to try one. It turned out to be one of the biggest, best tasting cinnamon rolls I've ever put in my mouth. After that, Ken & I went our separate ways for the rest of the evening. I went back to my room and just relaxed and read a book I had brought along. I tried to get to sleep early but a local eating establishment across the street decided to fire up a live band. Fortunately they shut down about 9:30pm and off to sleep I went.