It's all downhill from here...

Wyoming has been a rather challenging stretch, I must admit. The land and scenery has been unsurpassed by anything I've seen yet, but the towns really, well, suck. It seems like a constant struggle to do the things I need to get done while in town, there doesn't seem to be much information around to help people find what they need, and it always feels like swimming against the current for as long as I'm in city limits. I've said it before, though, and I'll gladly say it again: thank heaven for libraries and librarians, surely some of the most knowledgeable and helpful people on the planet.

It looks like I spoke too soon about the Tetons containing the tallest pass I'd go over; I crossed Granite Pass in the Bighorn Mountains yesterday, at 9033 feet. I think that's it, though - aside from some hilly residue, I'm through the Rockies, and it's smooth (read: boring) sailing from here. My body did pretty well with riding at high altitudes. For the most part, I never noticed any shortness of breath while pedaling, except when I tried to sing or play my harmonica at the same time; usually, that works fine, but I could scarcely manage to belt out three notes before I was sapped of all my air. Not terribly surprising, really, given that I'm only taking in about 75% as much oxygen as sea level with each breath (thanks, Boyle's Law!).

The Rockies at 9,000 feet

The stretch from Cody to Greybull was stunningly desolate, and I was a bit worried about a thunderstorm rolling in (like it has every other night), given that I was pretty much the tallest thing and the only piece of metal for miles, save for the occasional car. It never came, though, thankfully. As I was cooking dinner that night, I noticed a herd of wild horses watching me from a nearby hill, so I went for a walk and watched them as the sun set.

Ye olde wild horses...

...and the sunset.

There are throngs of flying grasshoppers literally covering the roads here, and it's a little unnerving to here the inevitable crunch crunch crunch as you cruise down the pavement. Not as unnerving, however, as the ones that like to fly up and get stuck between your eye and the lens of your sunglasses, or the fact that they are highly cannibalistic, and for every one that gets squished, five more pounce on it to chow down. A note to all you bug-eating reptiles out there, there's a serious niche to fill here.

I accidentally slept in the spot of a deer last night, and it showed up around midnight and coughed at me for a few hours. I felt bad, and even invited it to sleep next to me, but given that it was pouring rain, I wasn't inclined to move. It was still around come morning, though, and it looked happy enough, so I won't worry too much.

I went through and uploaded some more photos to my previous posts, and added some captions to already-posted ones, so if y'all have the patience to wade through the old stuff, you might glean a bit more context.