Whoooaa. We found out today how windy Wyoming gets. Unbelievably windy.

We had the wind at our backs in the morning and put a quick 12 miles or so in about 30 minutes. You could feel the wind pushing you up hills. It was great.

Then a terrible thing happened. We turned west, and the wind shifted toward the east. And became more and more unbelievably fast as the day went on. We spent 4 hours trying desperately to push through it, only making it about 20 miles in that time. By the end of the day, we were pushing our hardest and going 6mph downhill!

It was bad enough that we stopped and tried to hitch a ride a number of times with absolutely no luck. Wyomingites are apparently a hard breed to get to stop and pick up stranded bikers.

We made it completely exhausted to a rest area where we could at least get some water and perhaps try with better luck to get a ride into the next town. The wind was only getting worse, so there was no way we’d be able to make it the needed 40 miles down the road. Well, no luck on any rides. By this time, spirits were verrry low. Especially since we were running out of food and getting quite hungry.

Some time later, a Walmart truck driver stopped to talk to us, and ended up offering us these huge salads. Super nice guy, and very tasty Walmart salads. Spirits lifted.

Then a few hours at the rest stop, we realized there was a place to camp across the street!

It turned out to be a Mormon Handcart Historic Site–the Sixth Crossing. We pulled in to find some 50 people dressed in pioneer clothes! Apparently, groups come here to experience the same trip the old LDS church people made across Wyoming with handcarts many years ago. Pretty interesting.

As soon as we rode in, a woman ran right out to meet us, and straight away and made sure we’d eaten and had water. Even after we explained the salads and rest area water, she still brought us out a bunch of fruit, pudding, sandwiches and gatorade! Incredibly nice! We got to camp for free in a gorgeous spot on the plains. What a terrific turn of events.