More beautiful Wyoming scenery, and some nice bike paths...

We were on the road at 6:30am Sunday morning in order to do the steep climb into Bighorn National Forest. At that hour, temperatures are much lower and Sherman would have less risk of overheating.

In fact, now that we've done it I have little doubt that we would NOT have made it had we tried to do it on Saturday afternoon. Sherman had to work hard for a solid 8 miles (13 kms) while he climbed another 3,000'and there was very little opportunity to pull over and let him rest.

Doing it first thing in the morning meant that he did not overheat. But there was still one section where we thought he simply didn't have enough power... it was just too steep! I had the pedal to the floor and we were slowing down to about 10 mph. Just then, things started to level off and he picked up enough speed to make it to the top!

Looking back at where we had come up.

There's still some snow up here around 9,000'.

The highway pass tops out at 9,400'.

Looking back.

Beautiful scenery up here!

We even saw Bullwinkle!

Yes, it's a steep drive down as well!

Not as bad going down the other side though. I did a lot of it in 1st gear, but hardly had to touch the brakes at all.

Heading down towards the town of Dayton, Wyoming.

We stopped in Dayton and had some breakfast and put some gas in. I purposely had done that drive with very little fuel in the tank in order to lessen the weight. If we had a full tank, I doubt we would have made it! But with very little fuel in the tank, it was also a bit risky... when you've pretty much got the pedal to the floor for about 20 miles (32 kms), Sherman doesn't get very good fuel economy! You can almost see the gauge going down! Fortunately, coming down the other side with a nearly empty tank doesn't use very much. Probably 2 mpg going up, and 20 mpg going down.

We found some free WiFi in Dayton and while we were there, this young deer came and inspected us.

We had to get in the Interstate for about 10 miles to get to the small city of Sheridan (pop 18,000).

We went to the Walmart and did some grocery shopping and then to the library (closed on a Sunday, but they still had their WiFi on) where we parked up and got the bikes off. I had read that they have a great cycling trail network considering the size of the city, and boy were they right! We ended up doing about 13.5 miles (22 kms) on nicely paved trails.

Cowboy statue.

The trails follow some creeks that run through town. At one point, we had to stop and take photos of this deer family who was wandering along the creekside...

Bambi!

Mom.

Mom and her little ones.

The twins.

It was a pretty bike ride.

Even some Canadian wildlife!

On the bike trail.

Somebody's garden shed.

Sheridan, Wyoming is a nice clean city. We enjoyed our couple of hours exploring by bicycle!

We then got back on highway 14 heading towards Gillette.

A beautiful drive, with hardly any traffic.

I guess everybody else is on the Interstate!

We pulled into the village of Clearmont (pop 150) and pulled up beside their nice little park. It was so nice and quiet we decided to just spend the night right there!

Yesterday's drive 118 miles (189 kms).

Heading further east today. Probably won't bother stopping in Gillette. Doesn't look like they have much in the way of bike paths there.

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