Today was an exhausting day in the van with Walt because we had to shuttle most of the groups over a 20-mile portion of unsafe highway because lack of shoulder. Only after about 2 hours of shuttling and a speeding ticket later did we finally arrive in Wyoming! All riders did a wonderful job of being patient (something we have all gained a lot of on this trip) and keeping their spirits up despite the frustration and delay during the ride.
The terrain seemed to really change once we hit WY into much more of rolling hills and barren desert. Wyoming is apparently the least populated state in the country so the next few days sure will be interesting…and very similar to the barrenness that we got introduced to today!
After Walt and I finished chalking and providing water stops, we headed to the host and decided to completely unload the van so that we could get it cleaned and vacuumed. It is really really gross with a scary smell inside so a cleaning is definitely necessary since we have 28 more days with this thing! It took us about an hour to find a place to get it cleaned (nothing is quick or easy on the 4K) but we ended up finding a car wash that let us use their vacuums for free! So we got the van a little cleaner and a little less smelly - hopefully we can keep it that way for the next few days.
Our host tonight provided us with a wonderful dinner and even took a video of us talking all about the 4K and what we do to show to the congregation the upcoming Sunday. It's always fun to spread our story around all across the country :). After dinner we all spent time cleaning our bikes and having a visiting alumni, Bradley, fix any problems we had! Bradley has done 4K twice (maybe 3 times…?) and is an amazing bike mechanic as well as friend. He stayed up so late to help us out with anything we needed fixed. We really wish we could adopt him to keep for the rest of the trip! With the help of Mitch, I also put new handle bar tape on my bike. It's a little more fun than the regular black that my bike came with :). Now that our bikes are all fixed and clean we should have a smooth ride tomorrow. Can't wait to see the rest of Wyoming and cross the Rockies in just a few days!
The terrain seemed to really change once we hit WY into much more of rolling hills and barren desert. Wyoming is apparently the least populated state in the country so the next few days sure will be interesting…and very similar to the barrenness that we got introduced to today!
After Walt and I finished chalking and providing water stops, we headed to the host and decided to completely unload the van so that we could get it cleaned and vacuumed. It is really really gross with a scary smell inside so a cleaning is definitely necessary since we have 28 more days with this thing! It took us about an hour to find a place to get it cleaned (nothing is quick or easy on the 4K) but we ended up finding a car wash that let us use their vacuums for free! So we got the van a little cleaner and a little less smelly - hopefully we can keep it that way for the next few days.
Our host tonight provided us with a wonderful dinner and even took a video of us talking all about the 4K and what we do to show to the congregation the upcoming Sunday. It's always fun to spread our story around all across the country :). After dinner we all spent time cleaning our bikes and having a visiting alumni, Bradley, fix any problems we had! Bradley has done 4K twice (maybe 3 times…?) and is an amazing bike mechanic as well as friend. He stayed up so late to help us out with anything we needed fixed. We really wish we could adopt him to keep for the rest of the trip! With the help of Mitch, I also put new handle bar tape on my bike. It's a little more fun than the regular black that my bike came with :). Now that our bikes are all fixed and clean we should have a smooth ride tomorrow. Can't wait to see the rest of Wyoming and cross the Rockies in just a few days!