You might notice that our city has changed from the original Big Sky location. No big deal, we just had to change our plans because we were able to more easily secure a stayover in Gardiner.
Today’s ride was dedicated to Gerald W. Connor. One of the teams met Gerald’s family while biking up to the Tetons. They had just discovered that he had passed away from lung cancer, and were setting out a memorial at an overlook in his honor. They thought it was fate to run into us, and we know it was fate that we ran into them. We were honored to get to ride for Gerald and his family as we biked further into Wyoming.
Because our stayover location changed, we got to go back into Yellowstone National Park to bike today! We got to see even more bison and elk. You might be both happy and sad to know that we never did see any full grown bears on our trip (so far, anyway). We also got to see the Mammoth Hot Springs in all of its glory. It is funny that something that seems like a mess up like a location change actually turned into a great day getting to explore more of this great National Park. There were some pretty unforgettable downhills today that were really fun to experience.
Tonight we are staying at Gardiner High School. So thankful to be indoors after several days of camping! We are also incredibly thankful to the local Subway that let us come in and order anything we wanted for free. It was so fun to get to make our own sandwiches and get cookies and chips and a drink! We are also thankful for the local laundromat that put up with all of us washing our smelly camping clothes in their awesome facility.
Today’s shout-out goes to Steven. Today we had a rider take a spill on the road and get a little road rash (Google at your own risk). Steven quickly stepped up and got out the first aid kit to clean out the cuts and patch our rider up. He is really excellent in stressful situations and we are thankful to have him as one of our ride leaders.