A little knowledge that acts is worth infinitely more than much knowledge that is idle. ~ Kahlil Gibran ~

The skies this morning are against us. Winds are howling, the clouds in dark processions are quickly moving on making room for the ones following and I can hear the rain speaking out loud. I don’t want to hear it’s message of patience, maybe of a wise one to wait another day before heading out. We have ridden in worse weather and yet the comfort and company of my Friends and their home, including their kitchen, has grown on us. There is no rush to leave. There is however a hunger and a thirst to roll those wheels down the awaiting roads to be transported body, mind and soul into new colorful and thoughtful stages.

It was a bad call. Last minute change of route thinking it would be more scenic, direct and entertaining to head north on 26 through Dubois to Jackson and then on West. The pass is over 9000 feet, I disregarded NOAA’s radar this morning and we got caught in a snow storm with the temperatures dropping to the mid thirties. U turn, makeshift plan B, holed up in Dubois, an expensive facet of being at the mercy of Mother Nature, an $80 room, worth half it’s price and yet 10 times more to dry out my soaking buddy Spirit, riding gear and not waterproof gloves as I have lost those.

We had finally left Lander with patches of blue skies trying to take over the dark shadows and as we rode on north they obviously lost the battle dumping first buckets of rain on us as unprepared it was then too late topped further more by the snow. So I am a bit disappointed, a bit bewildered, not as much as the lay over but the cost of being sheltered for one night. We had not ridden in such bad weather in a while and the lessons are always present. I wear rubber gloves over my riding gloves, yes, the thick ugly ones that really do the job. I must have passed the hardware store in Lander a dozen times, actually even stopped for a purchase come to think of it… but the gloves were not on the list. A couple bags leaked today, their enclosures are worn out, about ten years or more older they will retire tomorrow. I feel defeated tonight in this ugly and uncomfortable motel room. As they say, I got caught with my pants down. I think tomorrow my Friends in Lander will have to put up with us again for a couple of days till we get the green GO flag.

The next day has arrived. The forecast does not look good but the skies are all blue trying to fool us as this will not be a continuance of the present. We need to get back to Lander and sit tight till probably Monday. It is 25 degrees outside, Spirit was all perky on our early walk, it is June, I have no clue what is going on, all I know is this has totally slow down the momentum, for now anyhow.

We are now back in Lander.I refuse to unpack, much anyhow. A couple new waterproof bags and a stop at the hardware store for a pair of those wonderful ugly designed for handling acid rubber gloves have made their way into my inventory. “Old Faithful” is taking a bath now for the past couple days, we are eating too well, it is as we are Home. The skies look promising for Monday, we will this time try the South Pass as I am finally realizing that there are only two ways to get out of Lander, both higher elevation passes friendly to snow accumulations. Last night was a great pasta dinner, I think today will be a slow cooked roast, ice cream for dessert. There are no complains. The kids came and said good night with a hug, it felt better than good, I hope everyone with a child gets a hug and more than once for each day to come.

Backwards in time… The “Wyoming Dinosaur Center” was in itself an incredible Journey. No, I did not learn the names, I do not even know how to pronounce them, but their sights truly imposing made me wish and hope I could run fast the day I would come upon one “of those”. Most of them are real bones and if casted as the big guy in the center in the first photo, they do have the real bones stored and the main reason for the casts is the weight which I was told would destroy the foundation of the building. It is something not to miss when in Thermopolis, at least a couple hours if not more.

Ara & Spirit

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This entry was posted on Saturday, June 12th, 2010 at 8:31 am and is filed under travel, spirituality, pit bull, sidecar, motorcycle, cooking, photography, riding, homeless. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.