Day 15: Sula to Jackson

62 miles
3764 feet of elevation gain

So we started this morning with 2.25 hours of climbing. It took us that long to go the 16 miles up to Chief Joseph Pass, our first pass in the Rockies and a part of the Continental Divide. Dad and Jim restrained themselves from peeing, lucky me, mostly because they weren't sure exactly where to pee. The pass wasn't really any steeper than others we've done, but it was longer, which made it hard. But we did it, and we only have 3 more to go. It's kind of sad. I'm going to miss the mountains. I like just getting into my zone and going, it is relaxing.




After the pass we had just a little bit of a down hill, not to much since we're still at like 6400 feet tonight, but it was great. It was the first real downhill without wind to disrupt things that we've had in awhile. It was through the woods and then we emerged out into the open and it was just beautiful. We had mountains on three sides and farm/ranch land all around, so no ugly buildings to disrupt the view. Then we stopped to take a photo. The mosquitos were instantly on us. They were everywhere, biting through our spandex and double layers. We stopped at Wisdom for lunch at a homemade pizza place/bar and they had formed some sort of vortex around Jim's RV, they were everywhere.

Pictures Jim took around Wisdom

I discovered a very important thing today. Nothing motivates me quite like the thought of being eaten alive. My adrenaline kicked in and we took the last 18 miles really fast. There were a couple small hills and rather than following Dad up them I was pushing him to go faster because when we slowed to under 15 mph the mosquitos emerged. It was awful. I got a bloody nose and stopped to get my emergency kleenex and they were everywhere. I couldn't just sit there, so I held my bag of kleenex and rode while taking care of my nose. The plus side to traveling with Dad is that mosquitos seem to prefer him to anyone else, so I get fewer bites, but I still think I have at least a dozen.

So we're staying in Jackson, which has just as many mosquitos as Wisdom. I'm so glad Jim's here because we met an older couple headed for Virginia on the same route we are, and they have to sleep outside on the grass. Yuck. We're staying in the Jackson Hot Springs lodge area, and went into the springs to soak this afternoon. It was really hot, and we couldn't stay in too long, but my muscles are nice and relaxed now. I'm ready for our last few days of riding. Physically at least, emotionally I'm ready to just keep at it until we hit Virginia. Too bad Dad has to work.