Wyoming at 80 Degrees

If only it had been the temperature and not the angle of the Tiger as I fought side winds through 5 hours of travel. 

But hold that thought. First, the start of the day...

"We had a tornado warning yesterday!" This bit of excitement was courtesy the hostess of the hotel restaurant in Cody. She was friendly and full of sunshine this morning--all 5'2" of her. "And the day before that hail for 30-minutes!"

And with the local radar predicting rain within the next 60 minutes, it was time for me to ride east. Bit of a shame actually because Cody is a great little town (Population: 9,000 and a sneeze) and the Buffalo Bill Center of the West looks like a great way to spend a couple hours.

Between Cody and Greybull, the road was long but I enjoyed the panoramas. I didn't grasp how cold it was until I stopped for photos 30 miles outside of town.

From Greybull and a stop at the sweet little church in-town, it was on to Shell, home of Dirty Annie's and lots of paleontological sites--Wyoming is proud of its dinosaur history--and to the best part of the ride so far; Big Horn National Forest. The ride along route 14 east was full of twisties, spectacular views, and more than a few mule deer.

I didn't even mind the snow on top

From BHNF I picked up I-90 at Sheridan, which is when things got exciting. It seems that the stretch of highway between Sheridan and Moorcroft is often closed due to high winds. Today, the gusts were up to 40 miles an hour, which led to riding the Tiger at 80 degrees for most of the day and taking several unscheduled stops.

By the time I rolled into the KOA at Devil's Tower, I had 20 minutes to spare before the office closed. But the staff was very welcoming and upgraded me from a tentsite a heated cabin--snow is expected overnight.

Dinner of champions.