Day 32

Conquering

Sunny skies! Not one cloud! Amazing!

I woke up and packed the bike to a very brisk morning in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. 39 degrees to be exact but supposed to warm up to the mid 70's.

I rode up to the motorbike repair shop and found that my bike parts were overnighted from Texas and were at the shop and waiting for me at 10:15AM. So I had about 2 hours, maybe a little less to wait outside in the nice sun (it was warming up nicely today) while the new spricket and chain were getting installed.

I wanted to back-track a bit here and say that, in Montana, I noticed a bunch of Lewis & Clark signs all over the place. I believe one or both of them sidetracked up to Montana for a bit. Just some fun history for you all. Also, Matt had asked me if I was going to Devils mountain or peak or whatever its called. You know, from the movie "close encounters of the 3rd kind" I agreed that it would be a pretty cool sight to see, but after googling it, I found out that it is WAY up NE Wyoming, and I wasnt about to sidetrack that far out of my way. Maybe another trip, on another day.

The bike was finished, and she rode GREAT all day. The ride through the rest of Wyoming was a bit of a drag. flat, straight and pretty boring. But once I finally got into Utah. the colors changed, and the mountains returned. But this time, they were oranges, yellows, reds, browns. Very cool colors and very different from the grey and silver and white peaks of the north. I think I have finally reached the South. Less green, more browns. The roads also changed. twisting and bending through the mtns which became a very fun ride through northern Utah. and it warmed up to mid 80's today...perfect! and still no clouds!!

I saw chipmunks EVERYWHERE. Heck , one lil fella almost bit the dust underneath my bike tire, but thankfully he lives to see another day.

So today I thought about how one conquers things. I recently conquered riding a motorbike, and rode across the continent to Alaska. Something I wanted to prove to myself... and did! Personal goals that in many ways will enrich our lives and change us. I'm not so sure I feel a huge change yet, but I do notice differences that I see in life, people, places and even how I interact with them. Even how the world is filled with so many people. I have to say that I've run into more positive and friendly people then bad. I've also noticed that there is a WHOLE lot of uninhabited world out there, and...thats pretty cool. Though sometimes I miss the big city....but then...sometimes I don't

312 miles today

8,452 miles

I still randomly honk at cows, I just don't count them anymore after all the millions I rode past in Montana and Wyoming.

I'm really looking fwd to seeing Ashley and the bub, and of course her Mom & Dad too. I'll be in new Mexico in about 3-4 days.

...and of course resting and chilling for a week or 2.. and hoping to be able to bend my fingers again.

miss you all