Day 6: Craig, CO to Jackson, WY

I give my highest recommendation to the Hampton Inn & Suites in Craig, CO. As I was getting Trigger loaded up the five Harley riders surrounding Trigger were fascinated by a Ducati on a long distance tour. We had many questions. I was very good not to denigrate the antiques they were riding. Please! I have four electronically selectable riding modes that select different suspensions, traction control, anti-lock braking, and engine mapping on the fly. It reminded me of Star Trek: First Contact when Zefram Cochrane's spots the Enterprise back from the 24th Century.

This was a long day through bleak country. Heading north out of Craig I ran across the old Overland Trail from Missouri to Oregon. I cannot imagine how the pioneers made it across the desert with only oxen or horses to pull their wagons. It seems like this country goes on forever.

You can still see the ruts from the wagon trains that rolled through here.

There is no place between Craig and I-80 to rest except for these Points of Interest. So the first gas station on I-80 could not come soon enough. As I pulled in a couple on a Harley bagger were being chatted up by some guy in shorts and polo shirt. Apparently he was impressed by the fact they would trust their lives to this crappy contraption. As I was pulling off my helmet I hear Mr. Preppy comment on how bright my helmet was. The Harley rider says, "Its to they can find his head." I wanted to respond that he and I had the same theory on helmets. Only spend as much on a helmet as you think your head is worth. But I kept my mouth shut, cleaned the bugs of the faceshield, used the facilities, got a bottle of water and headed on down the road. With my luck Wyoming is a Stand Your Ground state, and shooting a person who is disparaging your ride is considered self-defense.

I got off I-80 in Rock Springs and pulled in for gas behind a van with a Jayhawk in the back window. It turns out the wife in the family attended KU Law School the same time I was in graduate school. And she took Larry Wrightsman's Psychology and the Law class. So we had a class together! Small world, huh? No one else in the van were KU alums, or even fans. So they were trying to hustle Mom back in the van before we started the Rock Chalk Chant:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h51be27dN8c

The road north from Rock Springs to Pinedale is pretty desolate, but the traffic from all the fracking reminded me of home. Lots of big tanker trucks speeding through the desert. I got behind one and let him clear out any police radar for me. But once I hit Pinedale the scenery improved. The last fifty miles into Jackson is through the Snake River Canyon. There were not any safe places to pull off and take pictures, but I had the video going. Unfortunately, I cannot get the video to upload to the blog. If you come around the house when I get back I'll show you the videos from the whole trip.

Jackson is a tourist trap. I got an room at an old '50's style motel where I could park Trigger right in front of the door. Made unloading Trigger a lot easier. The room was nice, but because it was in Jackson, it was way overpriced.

I took a brief walk around the historic downtown square, ran into another Jayhawker, found a place to eat, then headed back to the room. I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. I did not even get the chance to post to my Walden class. I must have slept nearly 12 hours. And tomorrow will be a long day, too. Not so many miles, but slow miles through Teton and Yellowstone National Parks.