Halfway...at least in spirit...

Well...we made it to Jake's house in Longmont, CO. It took a push of 600 miles in 6 days, including crossing a 9600 ft pass and the country's highest continuous road, Trail Ridge Road, at 12183 ft. There were the 40 mph cross winds in Wyoming, to which one gas station clerk said, "wind...this is a breeze. We don't call it wind until it hits 60." And the deserts...oh the deserts. Apparently Wyoming has a lot of desert and we always ended up crossing these remote stretches at the end of the day. We did one 30 mile desert crossing starting at 4pm. I think I had heat stroke at the start because I wasn't really sweating too much. Then there was the rattle snake on the side of the road. I was going uphill at about 5 mph and I hear a rattle and look down. There was a 2-3 ft rattlesnake. I didn't see the head but the rattle was about two inches long. It was pretty crazy. That was my hardest day so far.

We made it through Yellowstone too, which was awesome. Definitely one of the most amazing and unusual places I've ever seen. Andy and I took a bus tour around Ring of Fire. It was great except for the two and a half hour bison jam. We were stuck on the bus the whole time. We did luck out on the animal sightings though. We saw bison, elk, a coyote, and a grizzly bear with her cub.

Yesterday, crossing trail ridge road was nuts. We started out at 7am and I think it was in the 20s. There were a bunch of elk at our campsite. This one young buck, about an 8 pointer (4 on each side) was about ten feet from us. He was pretty curious but we were getting a little nervous. Then, when we got near the summit, a bunch of goons passed us on road bikes with no gear. One of them asked me if I wanted anymore weight. I would've pushed him off the mountain if the air wasn't so thin. Then, at the summit, the winds kicked in. They were a solid 40 mph. Headwinds, tailwinds, crosswinds. They were all there because the road kept winding around the mountain. It was super sketchy. I had to look at a spot on the road 10 feet in front of me because I felt like I was going to get blown off the mountain.

Lastly, Jake's crazy. We tried to go tubing on the Pooter River today and it was so high that everything was glass three and higher. We stopped this one spot to check it out and a raft full of people with life jackets and helmets flipped and dumped in the water. It was nuts. Jake climbed this rock and dove, head first, into the river 30 feet below. There was no way in hell that I was going. Check out the picture for proof.

Oh, I almost forgot. We got to our first Yellowstone camp site at around 1pm. After setting up we decided to hitchhike up to Canyon Village to check things out. It took us a little bit but we got a ride in the bed of a pickup truck. Really safe, yes. But the way home was priceless. This van finally stops and the mom asks us if we're going to the Madison Junction on the way to West Yellowstone. We say yes and hop in. Inside was the awesomest family ever. There were two kids, a boy of maybe 6 and a girl of 9 or 10, who wouldn't stop hitting each other. Then there was the cousin who had atleast 10 piercings in his face. He looked real angsty. The mom and dad were hilarious and very hospitable. No one had their seatbelts on. Mom offered us a can of beer to split. We declined saying the ride was enough. So the dad drank the beer while he drove. It was one of the most interesting glimpses into the "typical american family" I've ever had.

That's all for now. I think we'll have better internet access coming up. Wish us luck with the winds in Kansas. I'm hoping for tailwinds the whole way.