DRRRAAAAMMMAAAAA

Well, a lot has happened since I updated this last. After signing off from Jackson at the library, we spent several hours trying to find a place to sleep. Jackson apparently caters to the wealthy population who utilizes ski resorts, but has no place for anyone who wants to spend under $120 a night for lodging. There is a no camping city wide ordinance to "preserve the beauty of the town" which basically meant we were out of luck. Even the RV parks turned us away. Ian got on the phone with the sheriff to see if there was a place to stay the night, and was informed of a homeless shelter in town. Though none of us were terribly keen on the idea of taking someone's bed for the night at a homeless shelter, we were out of options. It was dark, and there was a thunderstorm blowing through, and it wasn't going to be safe to bike the next 10 miles out to the nearest place to pitch a tent, so we went to the shelter.
The people there were all very nice and understanding. The manager said he completely understood and that the shelter was there for all people in need of a place to stay. We had a bit of a restless night, as none of us still felt particularly good about being there, and they fed us a wonderful breakfast in the morning, and we were on our way.
The next day we crossed the continental divide, which was amazing! There was this incredible idyllic lake at the top with a beautiful view of the mountains in the background. About a mile down the road, on the down hill, there was a massive amount of construction, which they wouldn't let us ride through. We ended up hoisting our bikes into the pilot car and getting a ride down the first part of the down hill. We met up with a guy named Lyndsey from Scotland that we had been playing "tag" with all day at a campsite in a town called Dubois and hung out for the next two days with him.
We took a day off in Lander, at which there is free camping in the city park, as long as you don't stay for more than 3 days.
Since then, we have been plugging along in areas that are much less inhabited. We got stuck in the middle of nowhere because the town that we had chosen for our destination wasn't so much of a town as it was a confederate bunker with two separate barbed wire fences surrounding the property. There wasn't another town for 20 miles. We had no choice but to head to the next town. I was about at my strength's end, and it had gotten dark. There weren't many people on the road, but the occasional high beam was enough to blind us and make it even harder to see the ditch to one side and the rumble strip to the other. We finally made it to what we thought was the next town, which was just as bleak and closed off as the last (minus the confederate flag), so we kept going, hoping to make it the next 6 miles to the nearest rest stop. About 5 minutes later, we start to see lights coming from a building. A little farther down the highway, and we come to a cafe, THAT WAS STILL OPEN. We went into the cafe and talked to the owners and asked them where we could pitch a tent, and they said we could sleep on the porch of the abandoned house next door. We all went to bed without dinner, we were all so exhausted.
The next morning we got up and brought breakfast from them (a real one with eggs and hashbrowns!) and set off for casper.
In casper we sprung for a motel (none of us had taken showers for days) and ordered Chinese food and got a great nights sleep for once in a long time.
Woke up late this morning and began our trek for one of the small nowhere towns between casper and Lusk. Unfortunately the couple I am riding with have been having relationship problems, pretty much since we met up, which I have sort of ended up in the middle of. 20 miles down the road this morning, and she decides she is going to split off and head home by herself. He doesn't really know what he wants or what he is doing, but is worried about job stuff and is too preoccupied to make a decision, and I am left feeling frustrated at the pace and time and the fighting.
I want to be enjoying this trip, but more and more I am just ready to go home. It has become tedious, and outside of that, I have become the third wheel on my own adventure.
We shall see how the next few days go. Hopefully they get better.
Katy