Jackson to Dubois — 105 miles.
Brrrrrr. There was ice on our tents this morning, but as we needed to pedal 19 miles to breakfast, we had to get on the bike & get moving. My hands were freezing before I got on the bike. I had almost everything warm on that I brought with me & I was still cold.
The 7 miles into Jackson were torturous, with scowling at every hill that blocked the still rising sun, & rejoicing when the sun rays hit my freezing fingers. I was not quite prepared for this, but I did make it into town & stopped at a coffee shop & got a hot mug to warm my frozen fingers. The coffee, combined with being past the sun-blocking hills made the rest of the trip to breakfast much nicer.
This might be a good point to talk about organized (supported) tours vs. the self-supported tour I'm starting next week. This Cycle America tour has been great. The staff is first-rate, friendly & extremely helpful. Our every need is attended to, be it meals, sleeping arrangements, water stops enroute, sag wagons, routing & mechanical help.
BUT, everything is on a schedule, & there is little room for deviation. So, for example this morning, if I were on a self-supported tour, I would have rolled over in my bag & gone back to sleep until it warmed up a bit. If it never warmed up, I might have stayed in all day. As it was, tent zippers were zipping at 5 AM, waking most everyone up. These are the early birds, or people who know they need extra time to get those 19 miles, and once they're up, only the soundest sleepers can stay asleep.
And while there is a picnic stop and dinner every day, they are at set times for set durations. Of course, you don't have to eat with the tour, but it's part of the package & there's no extra expense on your part, so most people stick to the plan & schedule.
As I said, self-supported, you can make your own, and different decision on when to eat & when to ride, but you are out there on your own otherwise.
Back to the actual riding.
After breakfast, a few people took the off-the-official-route detour around Jenny Lake. It added 10 miles to the trip, but it was definitely worth it. All the locals said it was a "must do" if you'd never been here before. The views of the Tetons were great, and as soon as I can, I'll try to get some pics uploaded.
We crossed Togwotee Pass at 9138 ft. & another crossing of the Continental Divide. We were above the snow line and I hopped in a snow bank and made a snow angel on the 4th of July! Once over this pass, the landscape soon changed. The vegetation thinned and the desert-like features appeared. Also much warmer temps — everything except the basic jersey & shorts were shed. There are some very interesting rock formations that would remind you of the painted desert in Arizona. Horizontal striations (sp?) of different colored rocks — very cool.
Dubois is a cool little western town. We all watched the fireworks and went right to bed after a hard day of riding.