The next morning started again with the sun burning onto my tent.

Before a small cereal breakfast I spent a few minutes looking the bike over, fixing a few things here and there and lubricating the chain.

Today’s leg of the trip would first lead me further south and finally east towards Yellowstone.

The land had become flat again making the wind really pick up. Any barrier like a few trees here and there was a welcomed relieve.

I passed two old towns which perfectly preserved the historic feeling of the old west and still looked like they did over a hundred years ago. These places never cease to amaze me. Especially considering that these were no movie sets but the real thing and this was the real west. It is easy to assume the street and the cars away and imagine the train arriving at the busy station a century ago with Claudia Cardinale stepping off.

The only alterations made on the buildings are the white lines of cement that mow insulate the old warped logs.

I strolled through the town which admittedly didn’t look as exciting from the inside as from the outside (main street).

Some buildings though were fitted with furniture and items from their times. The time periods varied but all the buildings were really small.

I left the town continuing south. Ever so often I took a little break to recover from the exhausting wind.

Soon the terrain was getting rockier and hills turned into mountains as I was approaching Yellowstone National Park. I passed a lake which had been the epicenter of one of the biggest earth quakes in North America in the previous century. Luckily it wasn’t in a densely populated area because it was powerful enough to lift the bottom of a lake many meters up, significantly changing the landscape (tilted lake) and causing huge landslides.

For a change I found a camp site before sunset. Since the sun was still up the camp host was still available and I could get some firewood from him before choosing a spot.

Again all around the camp site there were bears warning signs.

Travelling solo I had made it a habit on this trip to always carry my bear spray, knife and bear bell with me in the woods. I figured it would be pretty neat not have to regret anything.

 

I didn’t have much food left so after setting up my tent I drove to the next town which was a hour away where I stocked up my food supplies for the next couple of days. Among others I got a juicy steak I was going to roast on the fire. Back at the camp it was already dark but this time it didn’t take long until I got the fire going.

Lighter fluid did help.

A cut through the middle of the first half of the steak confirmed that it was done. I must admit I wasn’t sure this would be so successful. It was delicious.

After this feast I cleaned the dishes as best as I could (=not well) and stowed them away in my airtight panniers. It didn’t take long for me to fall asleep after crawling into my tent. Next stop: Yellowstone National Park.

As Winston Churchill said: This is not the end this is not even the beginning of the end but perhaps the end of the beginning.