Be Seein' Ya, Wyoming

The last few days have been amazing, bar none the best bike rides I have ever experienced. What's even better, the rides are probably only going to get more beautiful as we continue towards Seattle. Yesterday we rode out of Dubois and headed across the continental divide via the Towgweti-I think I'm spelling this right-Pass. This, we've been told, is a mere warmup for Teton Pass. We'll be tackling that one tomorrow, and I hear it's a real doozy. We'll also be heading into Idaho and leaving Wyoming, which is a bummer. But let's step back from the future and hypothetical and talk about how amazing the ride was yesterday.

We were told by our four fearless leaders that Towgweti would be a fairly gentle ride, only about a five percent grade stretched out over twenty miles. It's certainly not a walk in the park, but after putting something like thirty five hundred miles under our legs, it wasn't too bad. As it turned out, the real climb was even shorter, maybe only eight or nine miles. We did, however, climb to around nine thousand feet, almost ten actually. There were defintely moments where I felt the altitude. The beauty of the pine forests, the wildflowers, and the mountains behind made it all worth it. I didn't think I could ever be anywhere so beautiful as that mountain pass. And then we descended.

The best parts of climbing the pass were unquestionably the descent, especially since our lunch site was infested with mosquitoes. Apparantly they don't mind the thin air much. After taking many pictures of the elevation sign at the continental divide, we were greeted to seventeen miles of downhill at six percent grade. We also saw scenery that topped anything we'd seen climbing up the pass. I don't know if any of you have ever seen the Grand Tetons mountain range, but those are probably some of the most breathtaking peaks that I've ever seen. I've been told that they're even more impressive than the Alps, and I believe it. You all should google image search Grand Teton if you haven't already. Then blow up that picture a million times, remove the screen, and that's what I got to look at for nearly four hours. We rode into and then parallel to that mountain range all the way into Jackson.

Jackson's a story in and of itself. First of all, it's probably one of the most touristy places I've been to in years. It's also gorgously tucked into the mountains and full of a mix of nice and mean people. In the space of the day riding into it, I was alternately honked at, sworn at, and asked if I needed help while I tried to fix three flats on the side of the road. Ohh, that's the one thing that dampened the experience. I blew out three tubes. I was upset. However, I was rescued by a really gnarly triathlete that I flagged down. Real chill dude on a Specialized tri-bike, had just finished a race in fact and was still wearing his number; gave me a tube, saved my life. But Jackson, yes.

We had a build day in Jackson today, one that we weren't too excited for because the Habitat chapter didn't seem too enthused by our group. Apparantly a previous group of riders had tarnished Bike and Build's reputation a bit. We were pleasantly surprised by the build today though, which I have to say was the best organized build that I'd been on during this trip. Possibly ever. Trace and Katie are two of the raddest people ever, let alone incredibly good with carpentry and team organization. I daresay our group had never been so productive as we were today. I spent most of my afternoon marking area for re-bar, nailing in spacers in the foundation form, laying cement for foundation, and placing re-bar into cement. The rest of the group was spread throughout the other two build sites we were working on.

The neighborhood we worked in was equally incredible. Because Jackson is inhabited primarily by millionaires and tourists, it is incredibly difficult for a working class person or family to be able to afford housing there. As a result, the majority of the workforce in Jackson commutes from other, more affordable areas surrounding it. A typical home in Jackson costs about 1.2 million dollars, with a single room condo selling for about 540,000. Average wage is fairly high at sixteen dollars an hour, but obviously is insufficient to pay for housing. Thus, while the typical Jacksonian is not poor or impoverished in the way we might think they are, they are unable to purchase a home. Thankfully, the Habitat chapter there has been able to make homes that are affordable for that workforce. Because Habitat Houses have to be up to the standard of the neighorhood, the houses are all quite beautiful. The stained cedar siding was a welcome change from vinyl and steel siding, plus they're all larger than most Habitat homes. They're also within sight of some gorgeous mountains. But enough gushing.

In short, the last few days have been some of the best of the trip, and they only promise to get better. I look forward to posting about more of them as they come. Peace out, Hombres.