Lander, Wyoming, to Jeffrey City, Wyoming -- 60 miles

We had planned to get up earlier, but slept in until 6:15 am. We packed up camp and rode to McDonald’s for breakfast, then biked out of town at 8:00 am. On the road, we met brothers Ed and Ernie MacPhearson, who are biking to Washington State. Ernie is from Coburg, Oregon, a town on the Adventure Cycling route, and Ed is from Washington. They were biking to Ed’s home. We took their photos. 

The scenery was comprised of dry brown hills and sagebrush. We stopped at a rest area and ate lunch with Ed Thomas from England. As we continued biking, we hit a strong headwind. It looked like a storm was coming in - we were riding with blue sky and clouds on the right, and dark clouds, lightning and thunder on the left. We got to Jeffrey City at about 3 pm and it was like a modern-day ghost town - lots of abandoned buildings, and only a few places were open. We stopped at the post office, and the clerk mentioned that people left town after the uranium mine closed. We checked in at the J.C. Motel, and were lucky to get a room because there was only one or two left. The room had air conditioning and was a delight after the miserable night we spent in Lander. 

We had dinner at the Split Rock Cafe. When we walked in, we were not sure if it was open for business because there were no people there and all the lights were out, even in the bar. Lorraine believes it was to keep the place cool because there was no air conditioning. We went into the bar side of the building and asked the owner if he was still serving and he said yes. The owner was working as bartender, waiter, and cook - he was gruff and a bit strange to us, like many we have met in the state of Wyoming. The burger Lenny had and the roast beef sandwich Lorraine had were quite good. The french fries were freshly cut by hand. There were four cycle tourists that came in just as we were finishing our meal. Lenny decided to have a beer to hang out with the locals who were drinking and chatting in the bar. On the cash register was a bumper sticker that said, “Don’t trust a government that tries to take away your guns.” A number of café customers came in and the owner seemed annoyed, like he wanted to spend time on the bar side with the locals instead. 

Lenny was taking photos around town and met two of the cycle tourists who were on a tandem - Martin and his son Claus Versluys. Lenny took their photo. Martin had participated in the BikeCenntennial ride in 1976. They were riding for two weeks from Pueblo, Colorado, to Missoula, Montana. He owns the Acorn B&B in Virginia with his wife Kathy. He mentioned that the owner of the cafe said that the mine shut down after Three Mile Island. The banks pulled out, and that was the end of the mine. He said, however, the mine has been reclaimed and they are now mining it again. Bill Coats, the owner of the J.C. Motel, told him that he used to pump millions of gallons of gas and had about 8 pumps. He said there used to be about 2,000 people living in the town - now, there are just 100.