july 29
day 81
23 miles
total 2,109
you know what gets frustrating
is only being able to post a tiny fragment of each day.
i get to see so much
meet such interesting people
and learn more every day.
it is impossible to convey the wonder of it all.
my day started with rain outside
grim weather forecasts
ugly weather radar
and 9 miles of mud.
yes, wyoming had decided to stop the lazcon by removing the first 9 miles of us 20.
it was great to hit that little treat on a sunday.
with the way the weather looked i was just hoping to get thru the mud.
we spent way too much time zigzagging to find the best track
and ducking rainstorms.
by days end we had sought refuge in harold’s van 5 times,
and walked thru lighter rain about 20.
it was like i never left nebraska.
the sky spun out one rainstorm after another.
and i showed ben what i have learned on my trip
by predicting which ones would hit us
and which ones would miss.
particularly satisfying
since ben is a water professional
and mostly told me things about water i never knew.
not sure how much more my brain can store before i have to start forgetting things i know to make room
for things i never even thought about.
later tricia miller joined us.
a genuine rancher from a rodeo family, it made for a delightful afternoon talking about the raw beauty of
the high plains, bulls, and having to take rattlesnakes and mountain lions into account when training for
ultras.
after watching the endless line of storms rolling down 20 and dumping on us, with clear skies only a mile
away to the north and south
we finally caught a break as a series of massive thunderheads formed to our north and we got to watch
the show as they headed east to pound someone else for a change….
until the last one wheeled to the south and came right straight at us
in the capricious manner of these dam western storms.
with a wall of black from horizon to horizon there was no debating whether we were going to get hit.
it was whether we could make the hundred yards to harold’s van before we got beat to death.
as i walked up to the van a golf ball size chunk of ice whizzed past my ear and shattered on the
pavement.
you never saw 4 people get in a van so fast.
and just in the nick of time, as all hell broke loose.
we waited this one out before finally walking the last 4 miles uneventfully!
so my mileage was subpar.
but it took a hell of an effort to get it.
with all the zigzagging and craziness
it probably took 28 miles to get 23.
but dam what a fun day i had.
gotta get cleaned up and get to bed.
new adventures are waiting for me tomorrow!
laz