  Day 22 - July 12, 2004 - Devils Tower to Newcastle, WY (75 miles) Forgot to mention that last night, the campground showed the movie Close Encounters for the Third Kind to anyone who wanted to see it. A bunch of people showed up and simply grabbed nearby lawn chairs and watched the 40+ inch TV that was mounted in a weatherproof enclosure near the main office. They show this movie every night so folks can marvel at the fact that they are sleeping next to such a famous monument that Richard Dreyfus scratched against. The ride today was quite hot but really awesome. The ride started with a 2 mile climb directly out of the campground which made the eggs and cereal I had for breakfast churn a bit too early. Luckily it did its trick and managed to stay down long enough to give me some energy for the morning.
We turned onto Highway 14 and took it into the town of Sundance..not much going on at 8am so we turned onto Hwy 585S and took this country road all the way into Newcastle. Finished 75 miles in about 5 hours...please tell me I am not turning into one of the crazy riders. It was pretty uneventful until just before the lunch stop, two llammas caught my attention. As I looked over in their direction, they began to run after me. They were located behind a fence of course but I could not stop laughing as these animals simply were infatuated with whatever it was I was doing. I tried talking to them and see if they could do any tricks but llamas are not very cooperative in that respect.
I did take a great picture which I will upload when I can get a chance. I am wondering if they talked to the cows and deer that I have encountered on this trip and wanted to see a dumbass cyclist up close. I arrived at the Senior Center at around 1:30pm. Yes..I said Senior Center. I left all the senior citizens back home to join a few here. Actually, they have been really great and are letting us have the run of the place.
At about 3pm, a few riders and I walked to the Mill Tavern to enjoy a beverage of our choosing. This of course, led into two beverages of our choosing and then...well..you get the picture. More riders joined us and we had quite the little happy hour going till about 5:30pm. The outdoor network, OLN, was on and we watched the Tour de France on tape delay (what else is a group of cyclists going to watch...bullfighting?). I think a few of them are going back this evening to catch more of it. I like this place because it actually has air conditioning..a real treat in these parts.
The drawback is that there is a train going by here at least every 20 minutes that shakes the nearby buildings. I suppose property is cheap here. Oh..thanks to all who has looked up info for me regarding my computer and the outlet connection. Folks from SSR are sending me the outlet that I need and I will owe them dearly. Hopefully now, I can stop using the car charger to provide power for my computer. Makes driving and typing at the same time a real pain.
Till next time 
