Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning!

I crawl out of my tent at the Highline RV park in Boulder, WY at 6 am.  The sky to the south was dark with clouds.  Sunrise over the Wind River Mountain Range looked ominous.  “Uh, oh, ” I say to myself, as I fire up my stove to boil water for my breakfast of instant coffee and instant oatmeal.

Sunrise over the Wind River Mountains

We ride off at 8 am towards Little Sandy Creek, our campsite for the night, 39 miles away.  M & E take off and that is the last I see of them, except once when I almost catch up with them at the Sandy River crossing.

We are stressed.  Our crossing of the Great Divide Basin is coming up and we discuss our strategy over lunch in a Chinese restaurant, with a plastic moose and waterfall, in front of it in Pinedale.  The Great Divide Basin is a large flat basin where the water, what little there is, doesn’t drain to the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans. It is noted for its heat, lack of water, lack of shade and herd of wild horses.  It is also a place where one can get lost.

I am queasy about the crossing.  So are M and E.  Some traveling buddies ahead of us texted us and said the GPS track was wrong so they missed one of the water sources.  Since, I ride slower and have only a paper map and no GPS, it became obvious that I risk getting lost.  It is going to be too hot for M and E to wait for me at the critical turns like they have been graciously doing for weeks.  As a result, I have to decide to ride alone for two days across the Basin by myself, but on the highway, the Trans-America route, not the Great Divide route.  I feel abandoned.  I will have the same issues, heat, lack of water, and lack of shade, but at least I won’t get lost.  And, I could flag someone down if I got in trouble.  But, I am upset. There are no good options for me.  I am grumpy.  I am angry.

So maybe that is why they rode ahead without stopping or maybe they knew the forecast called for rain at 2 pm.  I never checked the forecast and they never shared it,  but I watched the clouds warily as I rode along.

Pronghorn Antelope

Sandy River

The lonesome road

The Wind River Mountain Range

I get to camp at 1:30 pm.  They had their tent set up.  I quickly set mine up.  The clouds are catching up.  By the time I eat a peanut butter on a tortilla snack and they cook dinner, the wind starts gusting and rattling the tents and the dark gray clouds move in.  It was a good thing we are in the lee of a hill.  There is a flash of lightning and it starts pouring big-dropped rain.  We run to our tents and batten down our rainflies.

Here it comes!

I fall asleep for an hour and a half. I wake up and it is raining and windy.  I read my book.  It is raining and windy.  At 6 pm I run out during a lull, boil water, put it in my dehydrated lasagne and have to run back to my tent to eat it.  It rains.  The wind shakes the tent.  I finish my book by Ivan Doig.  At 8 pm there is another lull, just enough time for a quick pee break.  Then back in the tent for more rain.  I read brochures on the Mormon Pioneer Trail and the Oregon Trail.  Then I just lay there, take a few selfies and “go to bed” even though I had been in my tent, in bed, for 7 hours.  Some days you just have to be patient!

Bored in my tiny tent!