Our rest day with the Bahige’s was great!!! We started the day off with a massive breakfast consisting of eggs, bacon, cinnamon rolls, and fresh fruit. I might say that berries are my favorite food right now given that I eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and clif bars like it’s a job.
We ventured around town buying bars, bear spray, and our daily dose of ice cream. We went to the Ice Cream Cafe in Gillette, and I was blown away by the smoothness and richness of the heaping spoonfuls. I was then surprised with a seasonal flavor for the ages, black licorice. Black licorice candy, specifically jelly beans, is my guilty pleasure, and who could deny it in ice cream form? I haven’t referred back to my trip-long ice cream rating yet, but I believe it would be a top 5 worthy experience.
We then got to ball up in our first indoor court of the trip!!! Bert is the principal of a local elementary school and gladly gave us a tour of the school and the gym. Bert’s school is dual immersion, so children spend half of the day learning in Spanish even in kindergarten. Charlie and I were both very surprised that some schools in Wyoming could be reforming the education system this drastically given what we had heard about how conservative the area is. Nonetheless, Charlie and I both wished we could attend a school like this growing up.
Charlie and I spent the afternoon eating and watching the NBA Playoffs; however, it does not feel the same without Steph Curry😭 When Amanda and Bert told us it was time to go to dinner, I already felt fettered to the sofa with a full stomach. We rolled into Pizza Carrello and ate some pies fresh out of the wood fired ovens. We chatted with Gigi and Drake, Amanda and Bert’s kids, about their favorite sports and any boyfriends and girlfriends😉 By this point, Charlie and I were both sleepy from a day of eating, so we returned home and watched Baby Driver before going to sleep.
The following morning, we started riding with low expectations because whipping winds were forecasted. Our route for the day took us north on Route 14 before curving west. With winds coming from the southwest, we started the day with a pleasant tailwind, and Charlie yelled through the gusts, “This isn’t so bad!” The ride was nearly deserted once we made it out of Gillette. We were both bored on the flat, open roads.
We reached one of the coolest stops of the trip in Spotted Horse, a “town” with a population of two. We stopped at the only building in town, the Spotted Horse Bar, and were greeted by a barking dog. Charlie dug into a burger while we sat outside soaking up the sun.
When we restarted, Charlie warned me that those 30 miles might be aggravating. He was right; the ride from Spotted Horse to Clearmont might have been my least favorite spurt of riding of the last few weeks. My self-consciousness of being slower than Charlie on the bike in addition to fighting a 30 mile per hour headwind really got to me. It felt like the ride would never end, and when we passed some motels 10 miles from our destination I was eager to call it a night. We kept pedaling, but I felt my knees grinding painfully. A highlight of the ride is that the Big Horn Mountains came into view! Their snow covered peaks definitely made Charlie and I glad we opted to go around rather than over.
We eventually made it to Clearmont without any tears shed, and we immediately stopped to buy some ice. We relaxed in the town park that we would be calling home for the night before Pastor Cody drove by. Cody without hesitation invited us into his amazingly modern and beautiful church to shower and sleep. Once again, the kindness of strangers is wonderfully lucid upon our journey.
A short ride to Sheridan today!!!
-Maddie