June 26:

‘So, do you think we should get a ride with them?’ I ask furtively.

‘Naw man, we can’t get a ride,’ Dee replies, then pauses, ‘Well, let’s think about this.’

In the background, we can hear the TV movie playing for some of the other people staying at the hostel in Jackson. The basement bunkhouse is nice and cool, and the social room has plenty of room for us to spread our maps.

‘Okay… if we leave today, we can spend a couple of days in Yellowstone then bike thru Wyoming in about 5 days and meet them on the 3rd, right?’

‘Okay…’

‘And if we get a ride, we can hang out with them in Yellowstone from the 28th to the 2nd and then just ride with them across Wyoming. The question is: Is the rest of Wyoming as interesting as Yellowstone?’

‘Hmmm… I don’t think so. I mean, last time I went thru Wyoming it was pretty boring, but I think a lot of it was at night.’

‘Well, okay. I think we should just spend our time in Yellowstone then.’

‘Okay fine, but we still need to call them to make sure they can meet us and offer us a ride.’

‘Hello?’ A mans’ voice, third ring.

‘Hi, is this Stewart… Shipman?’ I ask.

‘Yes.’

‘Hi, this is Mark Chen, Vicki’s friend who’s riding across the US.’

‘Yeah! Hi Mark. Where are you guys?’

‘We’re in Jackson right now. I remember you saying that you’re going to be in Yellowstone, and that maybe we could hang out with you.’ I explain our thinking and how we’d love a ride across Wyoming.

‘Hold on a sec and I’ll get Sarah on the line, too.’

‘Hi Mark!’

‘Hi Sarah!’

‘So,’ Stewart explained, ‘Mark was wondering if he and his brother could get a ride to Newcastle after checking out Yellowstone with us. He thinks they’d like to spend more than just a day in Yellowstone and if we give them a ride, they can do that.’

‘Well, let’s see…’ Sarah reasoned, ‘there would be 7 of us in the car plus all our stuff plus the two bikes. I don’t think we’d have enough room. We could try getting bike racks and maybe we could borrow our friend’s Suburban.’

‘Whatever is least inconvenient for you, and we’d be more than happy to pay for gas…’ I say, ‘um… and we have trailers, not panniers…’

June 30:

‘Too bad we couldn’t fit,’ Dee remarks.

‘That’s okay. We’ll meet them on the 3rd in Newcastle,’ I reply.

‘It’s before 10, mostly downhill, and we’ve got our shades on. Maybe we’ll beat our record.’

‘Let’s roll.’