Rides on “A Bicycle Built For Two” – Adventures of Roy and Laurie

September 17, 2018

Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming….Day 1

After hearing about the Tetons for years both of us were very excited to visit the park. After a relaxing drive across Wyoming we lucked into a nice campsite at Colter Bay Campground inside the park. From there we took 3 nice hikes and a short bike ride.

The Tetons are the youngest mountain range in the Rocky Mountain Chain. They have no foothills but simply jut up out of the ground spectacularly. We will not be climbing any of these but will make it a significant way up to visit their peaks.

Just before entering the park we crossed the Continental Divide for the first time on the trip. This is the imaginary line that winds generally north-south in North America. The water that lands on the east side will reach the Atlantic Ocean and the lucky water drops that land on the west side will reach the Pacific Ocean.

Why wouldn’t Laurie smile? The marina at Colter Bay on Jackson Lake was a great place for a rest during our bike ride.

This was the view of our upcoming hike. We would hike 8.5 miles up the valley between the two Tetons. I suppose we will also have to walk back.

It is still a long hike but we are getting there right?

Boy that is a long hike just to get close to the summits!

We trusted that the huge boulders would once again stay put while we took the picture.

Check out the trust we are putting in those huge boulders!

Notice the Autumn colors in the foreground. It is only the first week of September!

What a great spot for lunch! No slipping though.

We finally found Bullwinkle on our hike! The first moose since New Hampshire.

Roy says: “Man that is a long way to the top”

An 8 hour, 17 mile trek gave us beautiful views of the Tetons up close and a wonderful day of all around scenery.

Many lakes provide an opportunity for boat enthusiasts to view the Tetons.

August 31, 2018September 1, 2018

Roosevelt National Park…South Unit

On our way west from Lake Superior we felt a need to stop in Bemidji, Minnesota. As a teenager I rode my bicycle from Seattle to New York and spent the 4th of July there. I have fond memories of that day including this statue of Paul Bunyan and his trusty sidekick Blue Ox. The statues have been there since 1937 and look in marvelous shape.

Had to get a picture of one of the many wind turbines we drove by on Interstate 94 traveling west across North Dakota.

Our campground “Boots Campground” is located in Medora just south of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park’s South Unit. We cycled our tandem bike around the loop in the center of the park.

At one of the waysides in the South Unit there was a free exhibit going on that let us look directly at the Sun through two different telescopes with powerful filters on them. We wish we had a screen shot of what we saw but, oh my was it amazing.

Not only did this volunteer couple know a lot about observing the Sun, they were experts at solar energy for RVs. We picked there brain a bit.

The beginning of a nice 30 mile tandem ride through the South Unit’s only road. I thought North Dakota was flat……WRONG!

No, we did not run it over with our tandem but it was the largest snake we have seen to date on this trip.

The South Unit or RNP has many bison but we only ran into a handful of them….not literally thank goodness!

This bison was “King of The Hill” for the moment. Can you find him?

Oh my is the scenery gorgeous. Not sure what the Grand Canyon has on this place but…..we will see in January.

Here are some good pictures of the scenery we had all afternoon while cycling.

Some other wildlife included about a billion prairie dogs and a number of wild turkey.

This little prairie dog was not bashful but made all sorts of strange noises when we stopped the bike to take its picture. These abundant characters live together in what are called “prairie dog towns” placed throughout the park.

These “turkeys” did not let us get close enough for a truly good picture but they are magnificent.

August 15, 2018August 23, 2018

In Retirement There Is Truly a Laundrylist Of Things To Do:

One thing we do miss on the road is the ability to simply go downstairs and throw in a load of laundry. As we met in a laundromat a bit over 20 years ago visiting one to clean our clothes is like a walk down memory lane.

Not quite as easy as a trip downstairs but when you have no downstairs??

This year, as we hike the Superior Hiking Trail, we noted that it uses this bike trail as a temporary detour as trail maintenance is being done on the SHT. As we had good memories of the bike trail AND it just happened to travel the 14 miles from our campsite to the town of Beaver Bay we decided that a short bike trip might be in order.

The max load for the Bob trailer is 75 pounds. We figured about 40 pounds of laundry would be a simple task for our sturdy trailer.

12 years ago we cycled our tandem around Lake Superior and had a wonderful time on the Gitche-Gami bike trial that covers almost 30 miles or so of the North Shore in Minnesota. You can read more about this wonderful bike path at http://www.ggta.org/

Do you think the caution sign is necessary with the “undulating road” sign above it? There were some nice hills though.

When riding over these wooden bridges our tandem sounded just like a freight train that hauls iron ore mined in the area..

Boy was it a hot day! Being out in the sun versus generally being in the woods really makes a difference. I remembered the trail as relatively flat and along the lake shore but Laurie remembered differently. She was right. There were many ups and downs as the trail “kissed” the shore and then left it many times.

We wondered how often they have to change this sign with the population resting at 181?

About an hour later we were putting our clothes into a machine at the laundromat named “The Mother Load”. Great name. Off to lunch at Camp 61, a nice touristy restaurant. Fish and chips were ordered as we actually saw the fisherman bringing in the fish we ate! Very good indeed.