Kevin – Thursday. Desperate to avoid the heat, Mark and I decide to leap-frog bike today and let Denny have a day off. We get up at 4 AM, prepare and are out the door at 5-ish. We scouted the highway route (WY-220) from Casper out to where dirt road Natrona County-319 intersects the paved highway. We turn north on 315 (back towards Casper) and drive until we spot where we stopped yesterday. Turns out we had ended our Wednesday just 8 miles short of the highway.
Kevin starts biking at 6:20 AM. Mark motors five miles ahead, parks the car, hops on his bike and starts his first stretch. In about 30 minutes I (Kevin) reach the car, throw my bike onto the carrier, then motor up to Mark who is almost 2 miles into his stretch. We coordinate that at WY-220, I will turn right (west) and proceed about 3 miles where I will park and that will be the end of Mark’s first 5-mile stretch. I’ll start my second stretch from there. Happily, it’s early in the day so traffic on WY-220 is light.
And, may I say here that I don’t know if it’s the stiff winds of Wyoming or if the State DOT actually sweeps their highway shoulders, but WY-220 has very clean bike lanes. Oh, you get the occasional patch of small gravel and grit, but for the most part, almost nothing in the bike lane/shoulder. Makes for much safer biking. Thank you Wyoming.
Mark catches me about two miles into my second stretch and we stop for a minute to view the landscape. From where we are Devil’s Gate (not to be confused with the Devil’s Backbone) is clearly visible as a cut in the mountain. It’s visible from almost when you peak at Prospect Hill, 25 miles away if you know where to look. Of course, I forgot to snag a photo, but here’s a screenshot from Google Maps. We'll try to replace this one when we go back to get gas early next week. Conserving gas is a major concern in this location.
Denny had laid claim to biking into Independence Rock as her section, so, to honor her demand, Mark stops his second stretch at about the 3-mile point, short of the Rock. We pack up Mark’s bike and complete our 18-mile day of biking at 7:30 AM. Then, it’s back to Casper via WY-220 (shorter, faster and not dusty).
Another reason for starting so early is that it’s moving day. It’s arranged for us to arrive at Martin’s Cove a day sooner than expected. Happily, there’s a parking slot for us at the Ranch 66 Missionary Village. It’s part of the church’s Visitor’s Center and Handcart Trek experiences at Martin’s Cove and surrounding locations. After gassing the vehicles and filling the RV propane tank, it’s off the 70 miles from Casper to the 66 Ranch campground. The Oregon Trail route is decidedly less hilly. Denny & Becky take the County Road 319 so Becky can see the places we've seen on our bike rides. We all rendez-vous at the Independence Rock parking lot and head for Ranch 66.
After deciding where to park in the campground (shade or no shade?), we set camp, lay out our equipment, eat some dinner and generally try to relax for a few minutes as it’s been a busy week for us all.
The evening however is occupied with (as Denny says), “Meetings, meetings, meetings.” From about 5:30 PM until after 8-something, we were constantly on the phone or online with meetings. They’re part of life. Even in the 1800’s, ‘all camp’ meetings were held to discuss issues, try to solve problems, plan for the next day or week and resolve disputes. The captain of the company held great sway, making the final decision in some cases, in others, arbitrating the various views, and in some cases, holding an election where the participants had a final say. So it was with the Willie Handcart Company in 1856 and with the Donner Party in 1846. Their group decisions may have not been the best, but they were a group decision, and you can’t fault any one person for what happened.