Wanderlust

I just got down from the mountains, if you can call 5,000+ feet of elevation down, and I’m on a library computer so this will have to be shorter than it deserves. 

I realized yesterday, pushing up an enormous incline through 30+ mph headwinds, that at this point, I can do anything. When I ran cross country in high school, I used to tell myself that I could do anything for five minutes when I was really feeling bad. I’ve used that technique on this trip, usually to the tune of "I can do anything for a mile, or two miles, or five miles". But really, I can ride up hills for as long as they last, at this point. It’s a beautiful thing to know, a wonderful thing to do. I feel sometimes like a different species entirely from the slothful tourists trundling into and out of their monstrous RV’s and panting their way fifty yards to the scenic viewpoint. 

On my way up into Yellowstone I took an afternoon to laze around on the banks of the Shoshone river, and in the evening, just as I started to feel sorry for myself, not having anyone to talk to, two men from the next campsite over came to offer me firewood and invite me to join their fire. I happily accepted, and was soon ensconced in a camp chair, Keystone light in hand.  I struck up a conversation with Lucy, who was sitting next to me.  There were three couples and an indeterminate number of children, all from Powell Wyoming, born and bred. Lucy starts telling me how wierd her husband Leon is – he hates the smell of disinfectant – any cleaning type product, he detests – but he really enjoys the smell of rotting flesh. Apparently he works as a taxidermist, because their garage, she says, is constantly full of animal heads that are full of maggots.  They’ve got 20 or 30 of them in their all winter, and when the summer comes they start to smell something awful.

At this point, I wanted to say "Jesus christ, lady! DO NOT let your husband keep rotting animal heads in the garage! Are you insane?"

But I didn’t, because I wanted another beer.

It was, I have to say, one of the strangest conversations I have ever had.

I have more pictures of the past few days than any of you probably want to see, but posting them will have to wait until I have more time.  I have several entertaining series of buffalo in the road, taking their time, just moving along.

Something I’ve realized in the past few days, that I hope I’ll take with me after this journey is over, is that I should never let my current self be beholden by decisions my past self made for me.  If I don’t like the plan I made, or things aren’t going the way I’d hoped, time to change the plan.

Wheee!!!