We got out at 6:30 as planned. Opened the door to the outside world, and noticed the weather was…different from our last several days. It was even sprinkling a little!
Leaving our shelter.
The rain was only sporadic, and I didn’t bother to put even my Shake Dry jacket on.
Looks more ominous than it was.
I pulled off to try and determine the source of the noise that Tilmann was making. I thought maybe sand had gotten clogged in the rear fender with all the sealant that had sprayed there back in Oregon. I found a piece of shredded truck tire rubber, and scrapped the inside of the fender. Nope, that didn’t stop the noise.
Several miles in, we stopped at Split Rock.
Split Rock was a landmark on the Oregon Trail and Pony Express. It could be seen from miles away, and guided the pioneers.
I messed with my bike a bit more, thinking maybe I needed to add air to the front tire. Nope, noise was still there…maybe even a bit louder.
We continued on to Muddy Gap, where there was one of our new favorite things…a convenience store!
Not fancy, but had the necessary goods…chocolate milk and little donuts. I also packed out one of those Bai Coconut drinks.
We’d been dealing with a crosswind. At Muddy Gap we turned right, and voila, a tailwind! Sadly, it didn’t last long. But, it wasn’t too bad. I was thinking we had to climb over Muddy Gap, but instead we went down to it! We didn’t even have much of a climb over the Continental Divide (crossing #5, but no sign).
From Muddy Gap to Rawlins, there was nothing. For lunch, we pulled off at a short side road. I set up my chair (Doug seems to prefer the squat method). After lunch, I decided to really try to determine the source of the noise. I took all the panniers off, and flipped Tilmann over. The only thing I discovered was that the lower S&S coupler was loose. I tightened it, and put everything back on. Fingers crossed that solved the noise. It didn’t. Instead, I turned on my music really loud to drown out the noise. What did it sound like, you ask? To me it sounded like rubber squeaking. It was incredibly annoying.
I stopped again, thinking something would magically show itself. I noticed a very small puncture in the front tire. The sealant did its job. I continued on.
Great Basin between Divide crossings.
We had another Continental Divide crossing coming up. This one was not so easy. We could see the climb from a long ways away. Interestingly, I did this climb on the Great Divide. It seemed to go on forever, but eventually the all important Continental Divide sign came into view.
Our 6th crossing (had to use one of Doug’s fingers.
We had about 6 miles to go into Rawlins. We had decided to stay at the same KOA that Derek, Connor, and I had stayed at on the Divide. Besides hotels, there weren’t many options. Last night, I had talked to Nole (I don’t think that’s the right spelling), the Irish guy, and told him that if he stayed in Rawlins, we could all share a tent site. Just as we pulled up to the KOA, he pulled up too! Of course, he had already been in Rawlins for 2 hours. KOAs are expensive, but not bad when you split it three ways.
We just got our tents set up when a thunderstorm rolled through. We all dove into our tents until it passed. Now, it’s sunny again. Showers have been taken, and all is well. There’s a picnic shelter and kitchen to cook our dinners.
With the ride off route to the KOA, we did 70 miles.
Oh…and the noise? It stopped. My only guess is that maybe there was too much air in the front tire. With the tiny puncture, a little air leaked out, and then the tire was happy. I don’t know…that doesn’t really make sense, but it stopped after I noticed the tiny puncture. We’ll see what happens tomorrow.
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