The secret to getting on the road sooner is--no surprise--getting up earlier. And the only way that makes sense is to get to bed earlier, which I managed. Then I started the day's ride with a somewhat longer jaunt to fill up with fuel--this one 65 miles, and almost perfectly on the 'Great Circle' line.
And, wonder of wonders, (especially considering how hot it was when I stopped yesterday) the morning was cool. Apparently some kind of a storm rolled through last night, although there wasn't much evidence of it left. The sky was overcast, if not all that threatening, and stayed that way pretty much all day.
The roads today weren't all that right-angle crap I dealt with yesterday, they at least angled a little bit, if not directly on the path I wanted to follow. So up to SR92 over to Arthur, then SR61 north.
I'm trying to take a break half-way through every tank of gas, but this is pretty desolate country. I'd been noticing alongside the road...I'm not sure. Sorta looked like old roadbed, but it was on both sides, more like a flowage ditch, but not constant, and quite broken up.
I slowed down, and pulled over onto it; got off the bike and stretched a bit.
Up to Hyannis, then SR2 west to Alliance and up to Hemingford, where I got my second tank of gas. Somewhere around here, the skies cleared up and the temperature started to rise: 80, 85...but it didn't last more than 10 minutes before dropping back down into the 70s.
I transitioned onto US20 at Crawford, and as I headed west saw a sign for the Agate Fossil Beds NM. I've got that stamp, but don't remember from when--seems I've been there more than once, but I don't think from this road.
Into Wyoming finally, and a mid-tank break at a handy rest stop before getting on to I-25 for 15 miles (with an 80 mph speed limit). Off at Douglas, and as I start up SR59 there's a "Next gas 75 miles" sign. A quick check with the RTE gauge shows 99, but I don't trust it at that range, so turn around and fill up, then blast north.
There are railroad tracks on the west side of the road, sometimes clusters of them. And I'd been meeting long coal trains all day--Wyoming is the largest coal producer in the US since 1988...
Finally I get up to Wright, my goal for the day. There's one motel here, but I figured if they were full, I could push 30 miles north to I-90 and Gillette. Not necessary, in the event, although it's pricey. However, there's a grocery up the street that Nuvi didn't know about, so I can get groceries for dinner and breakfast.
And the 'room' is actually an apartment [the building looks like an apartment building, and is surrounded by similar (although not identical) apartment buildings]. It has a full size refrigerator, counters, sink, etc, but where the range would be there's an ad-hoc desk tacked to the wall / counter. There's a bedroom, and another bed in what would be the living room, a full bathroom, closets... Overkill, but not bad for the price.
Motel: $96.25
Groceries: $16.58
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